1949 Reusable, impermeable diaper cover, leading to disposable diapers

Donovan, a mother tired of changing wet crib sheets, strongly felt that cloth diapers served "more as a wick than a sponge.” Donovan ripped her shower curtain off of the hanger, cut it into pieces, and sewed it into a waterproof diaper cover with snaps instead of safety pins. This led to a diaper cover with an insert for an absorbent diaper panel and a breathable parachute cloth. However, no big names manufacturers were interested, so she started manufacturing herself. In 1949, her waterproof diaper was a great success at Saks Fifth Avenue. A couple years later, she sold her company and her patents to Keko Corporation for a million dollars because even though she considered continuing her creation of a diaper with absorbent paper, executives apparently were not interested. The first mass-produced disposable diaper, Pampers, did not hit the shelves until 1961. Donovan's invention was made famous by Procter and Gamble in 1961 under the name Pampers.

holds 32 patents, including waterproof disposible diaper; dental floss; garment holder; envelope & writing sheet combination; facial tissue holders; improvement to looseleaf binders; acuator for slide fastener; hosiery clasp; containers; 2-way envelopes; check/record-keeping book

Category:
Health Sciences

Completion Status:
yes

Patent Number:
5560377;4169534;4523600;2556800;3270950;2627974;3595554;3599274;3338469;3007605;3067478;3292841;2811281;3270948;3620553;3119516;2575165;2575164;2575163;CA799825A;CA689521ACA799824A;DE840081C;GB1146535A;GB1135079A;GB960722A;DE1265650B;DE3226129A1;DE8413563U1;ES39242Y;DE1486987A1;CA482174A

Co-Inventor:
none