Who invented diapers and how?
Rescuing parents from the tedious task of cleaning diapers was made possible by a Swedish paper mill, a Connecticut housewife, and a Proctor & Gamble engineer.
Paper mill Pauliström Bruk put treated paper pads in rubber pants and produced the first diapers that would end up in the trash in 1936. These disposable paper pads have not been successful in captivating the baby products industry. Thanks to a creative housewife named Marion Donovan (1917-1998), a more commercially successful product emerged more than a decade later.
Using nylon instead of rubber pants and completely eliminating the use of paper, Donovan created "Boater" in 1946. Donovan's plain nylon diapers outsold rubber pants for one simple reason: diaper rash.
"We couldn't articulate that, but this product treats diaper rash and many doctors recommend it to their patients," said Donovan. When it was introduced in 1949, the Boater quickly became popular. The lottery hit her when Donovan sold the copyright for the product for $1 million in 1951.
Donovan focused on making a disposable and leak-proof diaper. Focusing on reprocessed papers, Donovan showed prototypes to various companies but did not receive the attention he expected. In the late 1950s, one of these companies, Proctor & Gamble, also focused on paper diapers and asked engineer Victor Mills (1897-1997) to perfect these prototypes. In 1961, Proctor & Gamble introduced the world to Pampers.
Inventor of the diaper: Who is Marion Donovan?
Marion Donovan was born on January 01, 1917 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA.
From Rosemont College, Pennsylvania; She then graduated from BA English Literature in 1939. She then went to New York and got a job as an Assistant Beauty Editor at Vogue Magazine.
She married James Donovan after working for Vogue magazine. She moved to Westport with her husband.
Donovan, who later became a mother, faced difficulties such as dirty baby clothes, changing diapers, etc. with the birth of her daughter Sharon.
She thought that diapers could be made in order to change the diapers of children, which was one of the most important problems of working mothers during the Second World War.
Diapers were invented by Marion Donovan in 1951.
Donovan is a prolific inventor who has patented more than a dozen inventions to make life at home easier, including multiple hangers, dental floss, and an easy-to-close zip on the back of clothes. Traditional cloth diapers were used with nylon panties that were usually put on after being tied; but nylon used to trap the moisture too much and cause diaper rash.
Convinced that there had to be a better solution, Donovan experimented with various diapers and eventually decided that parachute nylon was the best solution. The sealed diaper panties he made went on sale in 1949.
Developed the disposable paper diapers along with the leakproof panties. The idea took such a hit that Donovan couldn't keep up with demand and sold US 2,575,163 patent to Keko Corp., a company with the power to manufacture diapers.
Donovan graduated from Yale University as an Architect in 1958 at the age of 41.
She worked for the John Hancock Insurance Company in Boston for 26 years. She worked at Massachusetts General Hospital for 10 years in Boston. She then worked at the John T. Berry Center for 4 years and at Shaughnessy Hospital for 10 years.
Donovan, who has more than 20 inventions, produced furniture solutions that can generally be used at home in the 1980s.
Donovan died on November 04, 1998 at Lenox Hill Hospital at the age of 81.