Earle Dickson
Earle Dickson (October 10, 1892—September 21, 1961) was an American inventor best known for inventing adhesive bandages in the US. He lived in Highland Park, New Jersey, for a large portion of his life.
Earle Dickson
- Name
- Earle Dickson
- Born
- 9 October 1892
- Birthplace
- Grandview, Tennessee, United States
- Died
- 21 September 1961
- Place of death
- Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
- Spouse
- Josephine Knight
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- inventor · designer
- Honours
- National Inventors Hall of Fame
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
Earle Dickson (October 10, 1892—September 21, 1961) was an American inventor best known for inventing adhesive bandages in the US. He lived in Highland Park, New Jersey, for a large portion of his life.
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Note VALÉORINE
Earle Dickson (1892–1961) was an American designer and inventor. The designer died in Kitchener.
Works by Earle Dickson are held at Museum of Modern Art. The designer received National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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wikidata · Q740618 · wikipedia · Earle Dickson
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Earle Dickson • Born — 9 October 1892 • Birthplace — Grandview, Tennessee, United States • Died — 21 September 1961 • Place of death — Kitchener, Ontario, Canada • Spouse — Josephine Knight • Institutions — Johnson & Johnson • Significant Projects — BAND-AID adhesive bandages
Biography
Biography
Dickson was a cotton buyer at the Johnson & Johnson company. His wife, Josephine Knight, often cut herself while doing housework and cooking. Dickson found that gauze placed on a wound with tape did not stay on her active fingers. In 1920, he placed squares of gauze in intervals on a roll of tape, held in place with crinoline. James Wood Johnson, his boss, liked the idea and put it into production. In 1924, Johnson & Johnson installed machines to mass-produce the once handmade bandages. At first, the product sold poorly, with only $3000 worth of bandaids sold because individuals did not know how to use them. To promote sales, they sent out salesmen to show the people how to use them, and sales eventually rose. Following the commercial success of his design, Dickson was promoted to vice president.
Identity
Identity
Earle Dickson is recorded as inventor and designer.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1892
Earle Dickson born.
1961
Earle Dickson died at Kitchener.
Primary material
Documents and archives
scholarly publication
- Dickson, Earle (1892-1961), inventor, American National Biography Online, 2009
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2009
Institutional database
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q740618: Earle Dickson
Scholarly · Wikimedia Foundation
authority file
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
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References
Citations
References
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scholarly publication
Institutional witnessInstitutional database
Wikidata, structured authority record Q740618: Earle DicksonWikimedia Foundation
Institutional witnessauthority file
VIAF cluster 5159818537913810003 for Earle Dickson, aggregating national library name authorities.OCLC
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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