Born on this date in 1892 was Earle Dickson, the man who invented sticking plasters. 10 things you might not know about his invention:
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Dickson was a Cotton buyer at the Johnson & Johnson company. He combined some of the company’s products to make a bandage that his wife could apply herself when she cut herself when she was cooking.
He went on to tell his boss what he’d created. His boss told company president James Wood Johnson, who saw the potential for a new product.
The product, Band Aid, wasn’t a great seller at first because people didn’t know how to use them. This was solved by travelling salesmen who were hired to demonstrate their use to likely customers such as pharmacists, doctors and even butchers.
Following the commercial success of his design, Dickson was promoted to vice president of the company.
The first adhesive bandages were made by hand, measuring 3 inches wide and 18 inches long.
This changed in 1924 when Johnson & Johnson invented a machine to make plasters which were 3 inches long and three-quarters of an inch wide, so didn’t need scissors to cut them. They also introduced a little Red string to help open the packets.
The word “plaster” comes from old English and means “a bandage spread with a curative substance”. This in turn comes from the Latin word “emplastrum”, meaning “plaster” or “bandage”.
The Band Aid brand was used on the front lines in the second world war and was even part of the medical kit the Apollo astronauts took to the Moon.
It’s often said that the best way to remove a sticking plaster is to rip it off. However, the advice on the internet is not to do that, but rather to hold an edge of the plaster and lift it while using your other hand to hold the surrounding skin taut. Gently remove the plaster, keeping it close to the skin and pulling in the direction of hair growth.
At one time all sticking plasters were beige, but in the 1950s, different colours began to appear. These were mostly American patriotic designs but paved the way for the cartoon characters found on plasters for children today. The beige colour also blended easily with white Skin. Hence people with darker skin couldn’t so easily hide the fact that they’d cut themselves. Nowadays plasters are available which can blend with different skin tones.
Beta
(Combat Team Series #2)
Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?
Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.
Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream.
Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.
Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.
Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.
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