In 1917, Earle Dickson married Josephine Frances Knight, and quickly noticed that she was prone to nicking her fingers in the kitchen. The big bandages that he used to help her treat the cuts were too large and clumsy. Gauze secured on a wound with tape would not stay in place on her active fingers.
In 1921, Dickson solved the problem by affixing squares of gauze in intervals to surgical tape. To keep the tape from sticking to itself, he put down a band of crinoline over the adhesive side of the tape. He then rerolled the tape so that his wife could unwind and cut off what she needed.
Dickson was working for Johnson & Johnson at the time, as a cotton buyer in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He mentioned to a fellow employee what he had created, and was encouraged to approach management with the idea. The Johnsons were not initially impressed, but Dickson demonstrated that he could easily apply a bandage to himself. The Johnsons thought this was a great feature.
Johnson & Johnson already manufactured large cotton and gauze bandages for hospitals and soldiers when Dickson brought forward his Band-Aid. The original handmade bandages did not sell well, with only $3000 in sales during their first year. The low sales may have been because the initial versions of the bandages came in sections that were 2 and a half inches wide, and 18 inches long.
Sales continued to be poor until Johnson & Johnson distributed an unlimited number of free Band-Aids to Boy Scout troops across the country, sparking widespread use. By 1924, the company was producing different sizes of Band-Aids by machine. The bandages were completely sterilized in 1939, and spun out in sheer vinyl by 1958. Over 100 billion Band-Aids have been made since they were first released.
Dickson eventually was promoted to Vice-President of Johnson & Johnson, and he remained in the position until he retired in 1957. He was also a member of the Board of Directors until his death in 1961. By the time Dickson died, the company was selling $30 million of Band-Aids annually.
Dickson held five patents, all related to his work on bandages and dressings, including U.S. Patent No. 1,612,267.
Dickson was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2017.