Marion Donovan
Marion Donovan was born in 1917 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She received her B.A. in English from Rosemont College, and a degree in architecture from Yale. As a young mother she encountered the problems of wet diapers. She first invented what came to known as the "boater," making the first model from shower curtains. The boater was meant to be worn by infants over diapers and it kept wet diapers from wetting everything else. The boater was reusuable and its snaps eliminated the use of dangerous safety pins. Rights for the boater was sold in the 1950s for a million dollars. Donovan's next invention was the disposable diaper, an invention that was initially mocked. It took ten years before Pampers took up with Marion Donovan's idea. The idea of a dispposable diaper which eliminated the necessity of safety pins was not unique however. At about the time Donovan was developing the idea, Stanley Mason of Trenton, New Jersay patented the contoured, safety pin free diaper.
Marion Donovan received patents for dozens of other inventions including the soap dish that drained, a device to enable women to zip up zips on the back of dresses, the dental loop (a circular loop that allowed a person floss easily) and the hanger for hanging up to thirty garments.
Vesta Roman Goddess of the Hearth
References:
Women Invent by Susan Casey (Chicago Review Press, 1997) p. 12.Patently Female by Ethlie Vare and Greg Ptacek (John Wiley, 2002) p.3, pp. 149-150.
Web Sites
Marion DonovanMarion Donovan and Disposable Diapers
Marion Donovan
The Bottom Line
Marion Donovan
Obituary
