Brand Names that Have Become the Go To Names of Products

When you cut yourself  or scrape your knee, do you say "go get me an adhesive bandage"?  My guess is no.  I'm guessing you say, "go get me a band-aid."

Earle Dickinson, an employee at Johnson & Johnson, invented the Band-Aid in 1920 after his wife kept cutting herself while cooking.

Most people don't say cotton swab when they are needing to clean their ears.  Most people use Q-Tip for any form of the cotton swab.

Leo Gerstenzang invented the cotton swab in the 1920's and named the "Baby Gay." However, over the years they just became know as the brand name Q-tips.

You don't tell your child to zip their hookless fastener do you?  You tell them to zip up their zipper, or the zipper is broken, or my zipper is stuck.

Several people contributed to the hookless fastener, but it seemed none stepped up to patent the device, so lots of people claim to have created the hookless fastener.  However all contributed to what the zipper is today.

Elias Howe- Automatic, Continuous Clothing Closure -1851
Whitcomb L. Judson - Clasp Locker -1893
Gideon Sundback -1913

It was the B. F. Goodrich Company that started calling it the zipper in 1923.

Bayer patented Asprin in 1917.  Although it is known throughout the world as asprin.  Bayer still holds the trademark for Asprin.

Kleenex is the term most of us use for a facial tissue.  You pick up a box of Kleenex at the store, even though you probably buy the generic version.

Kimberly-Clark Corporation created the first facial tissue in the western part of the world in 1924 and also patented it.

A form of tissue has been used in Japan since the 17th century.

Most people refer to zipper storage bags as ziploc bags.  "I'll just put the leftovers in a ziploc and send them home with you."

Robert W. Vergobbi was the first to patent the zipper storage bags in 1954.

It was in 1968 that the Dow Chemical Company started marketing the bags as Ziploc and it has stuck!