First Versions: June 2015

Pampers (diapers)

Pampers logo 1961

Name: "Pampers"

Category: Health

Subcategory: Baby products

Inventor: Victor Mills

Producer: P&G - Procter & Gamble Co. (founded by William Procter and James Gamble on October 31, 1837)

Production start: 1961 - Peoria, Illinois, USA

First price: 10 cents per diaper in 1961, 6 cents in 1964.

Features: Victor Mills is recognized as the most productive and innovative technologist at Procter & Gamble. In 1955, he disliked changing diapers on his first grandchild: consumers weren't happy with cloth diapers and wanted a better way of diapering; baby wetness and laundry problems associated with cloth diapers were also present in hospitals, so the medical profession was interested in an improved diapering system. Mills saw the opportunity and assigned researchers in Procter & Gamble Exploratory Division to look into the possibility and practicality of a diaper that was absorbent, prevented leaks and kept babies dry - and could be discarded after each use. Beginning in 1956, this collaborative effort resulted in the development of the first Pampers. The first diapers were tested in Dallas, Texas in 1957. Two versions were tested - pin-on and tape-on. They were disposable paper liners that fit inside plastic pants, but they proved to be too hot. A home economist, Norma Baker, was also hired to test the diapers locally. She would talk to mothers and find out what they liked and didn't like. Others on the diaper development team also tried out the product, including Bob Duncan on his twins. Norma Baker and Bob Duncan are the Pampers patent holders.

Interesting facts: 37,000 diapers were hand-sewn for the Rochester, NY test market in 1959. The first machine-made product was test marketed in Peoria, Illinois, in 1961, the year Mills retired. The diaper was available in 2 sizes and the average price was 10 cents each; consumer feedback was that the diapers were too expensive for everyday use. To reduce the cost of each diaper, Procter & Gamble's engineering and manufacturing groups sought ways to produce at higher speeds and greater efficiencies. The result? Pampers, which offered a complete replacement for both cloth diapers and plastic pants, at a price parents could afford on a regular basis. In 1966 Pampers launched a "wingfold" design and by 1969 started a "third size". Procter and Gamble replaced the pin-on design with tapes in 1971. The name "Pampers" was coined by Alfred Goldman, Creative Director at Benton & Bowles, the first ad agency for the account.

Slogan (1961): «Instead of a DIAPER... Pampers»

Property: Procter & Gamble Co.

Official website: http://www.pampers.com

Figure from Patent granted to Robert C. Duncan and Norma L. Baker, members of the Pampers development team (Jan. 31, 1967, original filed July 17, 1961)

Pampers, earliest diapers package (1961)

Pampers, some early packaging formats (1960s)

Pampers, first diapers in a short commercial video (early 1960s)

Pampers advertising (1967)

Pampers, the adhesive tapes rolled out replacing diapers pins (1971)

Pampers advertising (1974)

Victor Mills (Milford, March 28, 1897 - Tucson, November 1, 1997), the chemical engineer who created Pampers diapers. His work included development on Ivory soap, Crisco, Duncan Hines, Jif and Pringles. Victor Mills contributed to P&G's 1995 National Medal of Technology Award.

Pampers become Procter & Gamble's first $10 billion brand (2012)

Lipton

Lipton logo 2015

Name: "Lipton"

Category: Drink

Subcategory: Stimulating drinks

Inventor: Sir Thomas Johnstone Lipton

Producer: Thomas J. Lipton Company

Production start: 1890 - From Sri Lanka (Ceylon)

First price: Tea was selling for 50 cents per pound in 1890, which Lipton believed was too high a price for the working-class family. He believed that he could grow and sell tea himself for about 30 cents and still make a hefty profit simply by cutting out the middleman. By doing so, he would open the tea market up to a much broader spectrum of the population. Lipton also devised a clever marketing scheme to sell the tea. At the time, tea was sold out of large chests and weighed out for the customers. Buyers often had no way of knowing if the tea was fresh, or if the seller was giving them the proper amount. Lipton decided to sell tea in packets by the pound, half pound, and quarter pound. Besides being fresher, the tea would be easier to handle and more marketable in colorful, neat packaging.

Interesting facts: In 1871 Thomas Lipton opened his first provision shop - Lipton's Market - at 101 Stobcross Street in the Anderston area of Glasgow. This enterprise proved to be successful and Lipton soon established a chain of groceries, first across Glasgow, the rest of Scotland, until finally he had stores throughout Britain. While Lipton was expanding his empire, tea prices were falling and demand was growing among his middle class customers. In 1880, Lipton invested in the young stockyards of Omaha, Nebraska, founding a large packing plant in South Omaha which he sold to American interests in 1887. In 1888, when his empire had grown to 300 stores, he entered the tea trade and opened his tea-tasting office. In order to provide his shops with goods Lipton, in 1890 Lipton visited Sri Lanka and made business deals with James Taylor, who introduced tea gardens to Sri Lanka (Ceylon) with Tamil workers from India. Lipton's company purchased Ceylon tea, distributing it through Europe and the USA beginning in 1890.

Slogan (1890): «Direct from the tea garden to the teapot»

Property: Unilever

Official website: http://www.liptontea.com

Lipton's Market, the first Lipton shop (1871) at 101 Stobcross Street, Glasgow

Lipton's promotional voucher (1877)

Lipton Tea crates moved on elephants out of the Mumbai factory (1890s)

Lipton Tea advertisement (Mar. 26, 1892) on the British weekly illustrated newspaper "The Graphic"

Lipton Tea advertisements (top: Dec. 10, 1892 - bottom: Feb. 29, 1896) on the British weekly magazine "The Illustrated London News"

Lipton Tea advertisement (1931)

Lipton Tea, some early productions

Sir Thomas Johnstone Lipton (Glasgow, May 10, 1848 - London, Oct. 2, 1931), entrepreneur, inventor of the Lipton Tea brand, also became well known worldwide as a yachtsman.

Lipton launches the "Be More Tea" campaign with commercials starring the Muppets as a promotional tie-in with the movie "Muppets Most Wanted" (2014) and celebrates 125th anniversary (2015).

Nike (shoes)

Nike "Swoosh" logo
1971
by Carolyn Davidson

Name: "Nike Moon Shoes"

Category: Fashion

Subcategory: Shoes

Designer: Bill Bowerman

Producer: Nike Inc. (founded by Bill Bowerman and Philip Knight on January 25, 1964 as "Blue Ribbon Sports", changed to Nike Inc. in 1971)

Production start: 1972 - USA

Features: The company was founded on January 25, 1964 as "Blue Ribbon Sports" (BRS) by University of Oregon track athlete Philip Knight and his coach Bill Bowerman; it initially operated as a distributor for the Japanese shoemaker Onitsuka Tiger (now known as Asics). In 1966, BRS opened its first retail store, located in Santa Monica, California. In 1967, due to rapidly increasing sales, BRS expanded retail and distribution operations on the East Coast, in Wellesley, Massachusetts. By 1971, the relationship between BRS and Onitsuka Tiger was nearing an end, and the company changed to Nike Inc. In 1972, the first line of Nike footwear is introduced, including the so-called "Moon Shoes" and the Nike "Cortez", that became the company's most popular product. The first Nike retail store opened on November 21, 1990, at the corner of Southwest Sixth Avenue and Salmon Street in Downtown Portland, the city center of Portland, Oregon, United States.

Interesting facts: The company takes its name from Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. In 1971 the co-founder Bill Bowerman used his wife's waffle iron to create a new sole for footwear that would grip but be lightweight. The shoes was named "Moon Shoes" because of the resemblance of the waffle-patterned tread to footprints left by astronauts on the Moon.

Quote (Bill Bowerman): «If you have a body, you are an athlete»

Property: Nike, Inc.

Producer website: http://www.nike.com

Nike, the first Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS) retail store

Nike origins: the first Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS) retail store opened in 1966 at 3107 Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica, California. The store distributed Onitsuka Tiger shoes.

Nike shoes U.S. patent (filed August 30, 1972) granted to Bill Bowerman. «An athletic shoe suitable for use on artificial turf is described including an improved upper of a porous multiple layer construction and an improved sole having integral polygon shaped studs. The upper is preferably made of nylon tricot fabric outer layer, a polyurethane foam middle layer, and a porous synthetic fabric inner layer. This greatly reduces the weight of a football shoe made in accordance with the invention so that it is approximately one-half the weight of a conventional leather football shoe as well as providing great comfort and enabling use in wet weather without damage. The sole has short multi-sided polygon shaped studs of square, rectangular or triangle cross section, having a plurality of flat sides which provide gripping edges that give greatly improved traction».

Rare Nike handmade "waffle" prototype shoes by Bill Bowerman. Jordan Geller, who owns hundreds of original Nike shoes housed in his ShoeZeum in California, bought these shoes in 2014 for $1,500 from an Oregon man, Jeff Wasson. Jeff says he was given the shoe in 2010 by Tom Bowerman, one of the sons of Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman.

The original waffle iron that inspired Bill Bowerman to create Nike's "waffle" sole, and one of the shoes unearthed in a rubbish pit on Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman's property, on display at company headquarters near Beaverton.

Nike Moon Shoes (1972). Nike handed out this shoe to athletes competing at the U.S. Olympic Trials Eugene, Oregon, 1972. The sole was designed to minimize its weight, maximize traction, and prevent blisters.

The American runner Mark Covert wearing Nike shoes (1972). Mark Covert, placed seventh in the 1972 U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon in Eugene, Oregon, became the first person to cross a finish line wearing a pair of Nike shoes.

Nike "Swoosh" logo was designed by Carolyn Davidson while a graphic design student at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. For her services, the company paid her $35 ($206 in 2015 dollars). The Swoosh was first used by Nike on June 18, 1971, and was registered with the U.S. Patent Office on January 22, 1974.

William Jay "Bill" Bowerman (Portland, Feb. 19, 1911 - Fossil, Dec. 24, 1999), American track and field coach, designer of the first Nike shoes and co-founder of Nike Inc. with Philip Knight.

Nike Cortez advertising (May 1972). Originally designed in the mid-sixties by Bill Bowerman, an early 1967 catalog described the Cortez as «Designed to be the finest long distance shoe in the world. Soft sponge midsole through ball and heel absorbs road shock; high-density outer sole for extra miles of wear».

Nike Cortez advertising (June 1973). When Philip Knight and Bill Bowerman ceased importing and distributing running shoes through Blue Ribbon Sports and launched Nike as a designer and maker of athletic shoes, the Cortez silhouette carried over to the new brand.

Nike, the first retail store opened on November 21, 1990, at the corner of Southwest Sixth Avenue and Salmon Street in Downtown Portland, Oregon, United States.

Nike Cortez, the iconic shoe designed by Bill Bowerman at the end of the sixties and released in 1972, returns in its original colorway - as seen in the cult movie "Forrest Gump" - to celebrate 43th anniversary (2015).

Nike 50th anniversary (1972-2022)

Casio (calculator)

Casio logo 1957

Name: "Casio 14-A"

Categories: Electronics, Home - Office - School

Subcategory: Calculators

Developer: Toshio Kashio

Producer: Casio Computer Co., Ltd. (founded by Tadao Kashio in April 1946 as Kashio Seisakujo, the company name changed in Casio Computer Co., Ltd. on June 1, 1957)

Prototype made in: 1954

Production start: June 1957 - Tokyo, Japan

Discontinued: September 1959

First price: 485,000 JPY

Toshio Kashio
Tokyo, 1925 - 2012,
the engineer who invented
the Casio 14-A calculator

Features: Casio 14-A was the world's first compact all-electric calculator. The name 14-A indicates that the calculator operated with fourteen-digit numbers and was the first in its generation. Technology: 342 relays, housed in a cabinet on which the typewriter-size key-entry terminal sat. Weight: 140 kg. Dimensions: 1080 × 780 × 445 mm. Display: illuminating pad. Memory: 3 groups of 5 component digits. Power: 100V. Consumption: 300W.

Interesting facts: In 1946, Tadao Kashio set up his own business called Kashio Seisakujo, in Mitaka, Tokyo. At the end of 1956, the Kashio brothers decided to unveil their completed calculator in Sapporo, but they ran into a snag when taking the calculator to be loaded onto the plane at Haneda Airport. The person in charge told them that it exceeded the allowable size, and asked them if they could detach the top part. The brothers turned pale. The top part included the display and keys, which were very important for the operation of the calculator. They tried to protest by saying that the calculator could be irreparably damaged, but finally took the machine apart for loading. After arriving in Sapporo they put the calculator back together, but just as they had feared, it no longer worked. They tried in vain to repair it, but it was completely unsalvageable. Although they went ahead with the presentation using slides, it seemed to end as a failure. Just as the brothers arrived home, somewhat discouraged, a representative from Uchida Yoko Co., Ltd., paid them a visit and asked to see the calculator. The branch manager who had seen the presentation in Sapporo had told his head office to investigate the new invention. A contract was signed with Uchida Yoko as the exclusive dealer, and in June 1957, marketing for the world's first compact all-electric calculator, the "Casio 14-A" begins, and Casio Computer Co., Ltd., was established as the development and production company for the relay calculators.

Property: Casio Computer Co., Ltd.

Producer website: http://world.casio.com