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This little series is named after little known facts I read in a book and was amazed by them.
BAND-AID
Int he 1920s, the Johnson & Johnson Company was in the business of manufacturing large cotton-and-gauze bandages for hospitals and soldiers wounded on the battlefield. One of the employees of the company, a man named Earle Dickson, had a wife who was very accident prone, frequently cutting or burning herself in the kitchen. Though the injuries were painful and needed tending to, they were far too small to require the company's large sterile dressings. In a moment of inspiration, Dickson cut a little patch of gauze, placed it at the center of an adhesive strip---and invented the Band-Aid.
Johnson & Johnson was soon marketing them, but sales were poor. In a clever advertising gimmick to popularize their new product, the company distributed an unlimited number of free Band-Aids to Boy Scout troops across the country. Sales skyrocketed. The company estimates that since the product was introduced in 1921 more than 120 billion Band-Aids have been sold worldwide.
BARBIE DOLL
A little hard to believe, but the Barbie Doll started out as a human being! She was Barbara Handler, the daughter of Ruth and Elliot Handler, cofounders of the Mattel Toy Company. The idea of a teenage fasion doll came to Mrs. handler one day when she noticed that her preteen daughter, Barbie, was losing interest in playibg with baby dolls, Instead, she preferred paper cutouts of young women in fashion magazines, even changing their attire by snipping and gluing on changes of clothing.
Barbie Dolls were introduced at the New Yprk Toy Fair in 1959. To date, more than 500 million have been sold.
By the way, the handlers had a son. His name was Ken.
BLUE JEANS
Levi Strauss was a tailor who arrived in San franciso at the age of seventeen during the Gold Rush of the 1850s. Levi noticed that the miners needed tougher pants, ones that would hold up to the rough work they were doing. seeing a business opportunity, he stiched tent canvas into overalls. Though coarse and stiff, they held up so well they were soon in great demand.
Not entirely happy with canvas, Levi started using a new fabric, one that was much softer but almost as tough and sturdy. Weavers in the Italian city og Genoa wher the fabric was made called it "genes" Strauss changed the spelling to "jeans." Tp minimize stains, he found it was best to dye them indigo blue.
Today, "blue jeans" are the best-selling type of pants in the Western world.
BREAKFAST CEREAL
One night in the nineteenth century, Ellen Gould White dreamed she met God. He told her that people should lead sinless, healthy lives, and refrain from using tobacco, eating meat, and drinking coffee, tea, and liquor. The dream had such an impact on Miss White that she founded the Health Reform Institute at Battle Creek, Michigan.
Guests were served grain and nut croquettes in place of meat and a cereal-based beverage as a substitute for coffee. The latter was concocted by Charles W. Post who called it "Postum." He also created a dry breakfast cereal he called "Elijah's Manna." People liked the taste but not the name, and post changed it to "Grape Nuts."
Another person at the institute was Dr. W. K. Kellogg. Primarily to help one of his patients who had broken her false teeth, he made crisp flakes of ground corn. The doctor named them "Corn Flakes," and went on to open the Kellogg cereal company.
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