D is for Disposable Diaper: Inventions by Women A-Z

We have Marion Donovan to thank for the Disposable Diaper, but it was not an easy path convincing manufacturers the product was even needed. Marion's father was an industrial manufacturer by trade, so the manufacturing industry was not new to her. She understood that persistence would eventually pay off, and as Vogue magazine's previous Beauty Editor, she had a professional understanding of the business world. 

Marion Donovan (1917-1998) showing the "Boater."

Marion's idea for a diaper cover came to her as a new full-time mom dealing with wet diapers, bedding, and baby clothes. She was fed up with the mess. There had to be a better way, she thought to herself. The only product at the time, plastic pants that fit over the cloth diaper, not only pinched the baby's skin and leaked at the sides, they caused diaper rash. (I remember they also cracked and split).

The old way: Plastic pants over a cloth diaper.

Marion put her baby down for a nap, turned on the sewing machine, and began constructing a new diaper cover. She started with an old shower curtain, cutting it up and going through several versions, playing with ideas, realizing at some point she needed a new material. She tried a parachute material and the fabric was perfect. 

Adding plastic snaps and foregoing the traditional safety pins, the "Boater" was born (a fitting description because it did indeed look like a boat). Unlike the old plastic pants, it was waterproof, didn't cause diaper rash, and didn't pinch baby's skin. 

A cloth diaper is inserted into an opening in the Boater

 

Marion with baby Sharon wearing "The Boater."

 

Manufacturers pooh-poohed her idea, so Marion found a way to manufacture the diaper on her own. In 1949, Saks Fifth Avenue became the first store to sell the Boater. It was available in pink, blue and white and sold for $1.95. The diaper cover was an instant success.  

The Miami News, Jul 3, 1949

Marion later received a patent in 1951, and sold the rights. But this was only the beginning . . . The diaper was still only a cover. Marion wanted a fully disposable diaper, and went to work on a new design. She found a special type of paper that was strong, absorbent, and kept the baby dry. Again, manufacturers pooh-poohed her idea as "impractical" and "superfluous." 

Meanwhile, others ran with her original idea for a diaper cover, and hybrids like the Playtex Dryper (1950s) were born. Then, almost a decade later in 1961, Victor Mills used Marion's idea for a disposal product, and manufactured the first real disposable diaper, Pampers . . . but the credit as inventor goes to Marion. 

(Vintage) Pampers in 1961

Marion went on to receive a degree in Architecture at Yale University in 1958, and even designed her first home. She filed twenty patents unrelated to diapers over her lifetime.

 A quote by her son, commenting on his mother's strengths:

"She looked at problems or tasks that had to be done in a traditional way, and said, 'This could be better'."




Sources:
http://www.metroactive.com/papers/cruz/03.10.99/women5-9910.html (From the March 10-17, 1999 issue of Metro Santa Cruz, Kelly Luker); http://www.women-inventors.com/Marion-Donovan.asp;
http://jaypgreene.com/2010/10/page/4/http://dirtydiaperlaundry.com/marion-donovan-inventor-of-the-modern-cloth-diaper-the-boater-1946/

Copyright 2015 © Sharon Marie Himsl