Earle Dickson was employed as a cotton uyer when he invented the band-aid in 1921 for his wife Josephine Dickson, who was always cutting her fingers in the kitchen while preparing food.

Earle Dickson 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. 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. Following the commercial success of his design, Dickson was promoted to vice president.