In 2000, based on the results of a wide-ranging public opinion poll conducted by French sociologists, a list was compiled of the 30 most important inventions of the 20th century that radically changed everyday life humanity. This list includes such useful things as an airplane, a TV, a computer, as well as disposable diapers, which in Russia are traditionally called diapers, although this name is just one, albeit the most famous, brand of this product.
Now it's hard to believe, but three decades ago, most of the inhabitants of our country did not even think that a baby diaper could be used and thrown away. Long before the birth of a baby, diapers, panties and gauze for diapers were stored in gigantic quantities, and when he was born, all this wealth was washed and dried daily. But the problem was not solved that way.
How many times a day did the child have to wash and change clothes? The most unpleasant was when "ay-yay-yay" happened in the winter on the street. Not surprisingly, the appearance in our stores of Pampers labeled packaging in the early 1990s was accepted with what they say with a bang.
The first attempts to design a disposable diaper for mass production were made as early as the 1940s. The pioneer in this business was the Swedish company Paulistrom, which used the development of German scientists Zellstoff dressing material obtained from wood. The Swedish diaper was a set of reusable waterproof panties and disposable absorbent liners made of soft corrugated cellulose. Judging by the fact that production was curtailed after a while, the product was not in great demand.
In 1949, the American Marion Donovan, who was not only the deputy editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine, but also a mother of many children, tried to make humanity happy. Combining a career and caring for babies was not easy, Marion was sorely lacking time to wash diapers, and she decided to come up with something that shortens this endless pipeline. Having spoiled more than one meter of oilcloth, she built waterproof panties that were worn over a regular gauze diaper. The invention was called "boater" (from the English boat "boat"), because it helped the baby to stay "afloat".
J. de Latour. Newborn. 1640-1649
Donovan offered her invention to a small pharmaceutical company, which released the first batch for trial. Boaters sold out with such success that later they were sold in one of the most prestigious department stores in New York, Saks Fifth Avenue. Donovan sold the company the rights to her invention for a hefty sum, but didn't stop there.
Her new version The diaper was indeed disposable. Oilcloth in it was replaced by synthetic material, and the same soft cellulose was used as an absorbent layer. In 1951, Donovan received a patent, but her invention did not interest any manufacturer: the idea of a disposable product seemed impractical to consumers.
In the first half of the 1950s, in addition to the experiments of Marion Donovan, several more varieties of disposable diapers were patented, but, in fact, these were either non-woven diapers that practically did not retain moisture, or variations on the theme of plastic pants with an absorbent pad. The first ones were relatively cheap, they could be thrown away without wasting time on washing, but they got wet just like ordinary ones. The latter for some time did not allow the contents to seep out, thereby making life easier for the mother, but the baby experienced discomfort while in a wet and dirty compress.
Yet the breakthrough finally happened. In 1957, Victor Mills, a leading chemist at Procter & Gamble, invented diapers, named after the English verb to pamper (to pamper, undead).
To prevent gauze diapers from slipping off the baby, they were fastened with special pins.
Procter & Gamble, the largest company producing household, beauty and health products, by that time had been carefully studying the existing world experience related to the production of disposable diapers for several years, in particular the products of the American company Johnson & Johnson and the Swedish SCA of their future competitors in this areas. All diapers known at that time were unreliable, uncomfortable, expensive, and they were bought mainly in case of an extreme situation, like a long trip. Success required a fundamentally different approach, and Mills found it.
experiment on grandchildren
The media unanimously composed touching stories about how caring grandfather Victor Mills looked after his little grandchildren and how he was so tired of changing and washing diapers that he sat down and immediately came up with one of the miracles of the 20th century from scratch. The truth in all this lubok splendor was only that Mills really had grandchildren, on whom, by the way, he tested his invention.
He realized that the diaper should be made three-layer. The task of the waterproof top layer was to firmly lock the contents of the diaper, protecting the sofa, stroller or mother's knees from trouble. The inner layer adjacent to the skin was supposed to pass moisture into the middle of the diaper and not allow it to return back. In other words, what was needed was a non-absorbent but permeable membrane that remained dry for a long time. Only synthetic materials had such properties, and from them it was necessary to choose one that would not irritate the skin and be hypoallergenic. As for the middle layer, it was required to absorb moisture and much better than a cellulose napkin.
The first diapers were successfully tested on the inventor's grandchildren, but widespread testing of the pilot batch failed miserably. For some unknown reason, the tests were conducted in Dallas in 30-degree heat. Few of the parents decided to put plastic panties on the kids in such weather, and those who nevertheless agreed, instantly got the result in the form of irritations and diaper rash. A wave of negative feedback almost ruined the experiment, but Mills did not give up.
The work went on for over a year. Instead of dense plastic, a thinner and softer one was used for the outer layer, capable of passing air at least a little (the invention of "breathable" diapers was still ahead). Finely ground cellulose, which clumps when wet, was replaced by granulated pulp that swells and turns into a homogeneous mass. Such a “filling” was able to absorb a volume of liquid that was six times its own. In addition, Mills improved the drawstrings that fit the baby's legs, and developed two types of fasteners, plastic buttons and adhesive tape.
Talc helps protect baby skin from diaper rash.
The first batch of new diapers hit the stores in March 1959. It cannot be said that the success was brilliant: poor parents thought that paying 10 cents for a thing that would last a maximum of a few hours was too wasteful, and continued to wash the gauze for free. Nevertheless, a powerful advertising campaign helped people start buying diapers, and an increase in production volumes made it possible to reduce prices in a short time. The market was won, Mills became a millionaire and after two years he retired to take up expensive extreme sports.
Over the next 20 years, Procter & Gamble firmly held the leadership in disposable diapers, constantly improving their products. In the mid-1960s, cellulose was replaced by polymeric absorbent gels, which were 50 times or more absorbent. Currently, sodium polyacrylate is most often used, which has the properties of a pH buffer, bringing the pH of alkaline solutions (including urine) closer to a neutral value.
Washing diapers and disposable diapers took a lot of time and effort from housewives.
For newborns, they produce special diapers labeled Newborn.
Over time, the shape of diapers changed from rectangular, they turned into an "hourglass". Diapers began to be differentiated by age in accordance with weight, special diapers for newborns with a more porous inner layer appeared, as well as diapers differing in the location of the absorbent layer separately for boys and girls. Experts have come up with new models with Velcro fasteners, with indicator pictures that allow you to determine whether the diaper is worn correctly, as well as the degree of its fullness.
The unsuccessful marketing policy of the 1980s led to the fact that Procter & Gamble's position in the disposable diaper market was noticeably shaken. The company had serious competitors: Johnson & Johnson, SCA, Kimberly-Clark, and only entering the Russian market, which was not yet saturated with similar products, helped to rectify the situation. Until now, despite the abundance of brands of diapers sold, diapers remain the number one brand in our country.
Currently, each manufacturer is trying to produce diapers, at least in some way, but different from similar products of competitors. There are diapers specifically for newborns with a hole in the belt for a healing umbilical wound. There are diapers with elastic sides for babies who are just starting to crawl. There are special diapers for the pool. They do not let water in and do not let the contents out. Abroad, such a diaper is a prerequisite for bathing a small child in a common pool.
Half a century has passed, the kids, who were the first to experience the novelty on their butts, managed to become not only parents, but also grandparents. However, among conservative mothers and fathers, there are still myths about the dangers of diapers for children's skin, musculoskeletal system, men's health and even the psyche. None of these fears are supported by medical evidence, but the use of disposable diapers raises another serious environmental problem. In the soil, used diapers, like other polymers, decompose for an extremely long time, and they cannot be burned. Therefore, scientists have to solve the difficult problem of their safe disposal.
The size and style of the diaper depends on the age and weight of the child.
The drawings on the bottom of the diaper can signal: if it is time to change the diaper, they blur.
Who Invented Pampers?
The history of what we call "diapers" began somewhere in the middle of the 20th century, when Procter & Gamble's leading chemical technologist Victor Mills was forced to look after his three grandchildren. Mills thought - no need to wash. Must be thrown away.
The essence of Mills's invention was dictated not by caring for children, but by the ordinary desire of a person to make life easier for himself. Victor mobilized several of his employees to put the idea into practice. The main task is to create a pleated pad with a high absorption capacity.
And already this gasket was planned to be placed in special-shaped plastic shorts.
Mills experienced the first models with a sense of deep satisfaction on his own grandchildren - in general, he tested everything on members of his family. His wife and daughter perfectly remembered the time when everyone brushed their teeth with tooth powder, and they did it with liquid toothpaste, which was invented by the same Mills. Home tests confirmed the promise of the idea, there is very little left - to create an experimental batch and see how it reacts to New Product picky American population.
The public reacted extremely negatively, and the idea of disposable diapers almost died in the neonatal period.
It was difficult to think of conditions for testing more unfavorable. They tried to use disposable diapers in the summer in the city of Dallas, when the thermometer did not fall below +30 C. One can imagine the reaction of parents who, in the described weather conditions, were offered to put plastic shorts on their child.
And the few daredevils who agreed very quickly stopped experiments on babies, because skin irritation arose almost instantly. But, as you know, a negative result is also a result. And, fortunately, the hands of the developers did not fall. As a result, March 1959 became the date in the history of mankind that marked the first successful mass use of disposable diapers.
By this time, an experimental batch of 37,000 diapers had been prepared. The creators abandoned dense plastic, which almost ruined a good undertaking, the product became softer, absorbed moisture better, moreover, two options were offered at once - with buttons and with Velcro.
The test field was the city of Rochester, New York. They liked the button model more and two-thirds of the families participating in the experiment recognized the fact that the new disposable diapers are better than the old and familiar reusable ones.
However, this item of care for babies appeared more than half a century ago in the United States and a little later in the West.
1. Before the invention of disposable diapers, parents around the world used fabric pads from any absorbent materials. In ancient times, grass, moss, leaves, skins, soft wool or linen were used in this capacity.
2. Invented the first disposable diaper Procter & Gamble Chemical Engineer Victor Mills(Victor Mills). The inventor was considered a legend of his time: he worked on the creation of artificial rubber; found a method that reduced the production time of Ivory soap from a week to a few hours; suggested a solution to make Duncan Hines cake mixes free of lumps; came up with a new technology for making chips, which involved not cutting and frying potatoes, but grinding them into gruel and baking - this is how Pringles special-shaped chips appeared. Especially valuable, from the point of view of parents, the achievement of Victor Mills can be considered the development of disposable diapers.
3. This story began in 1975, when Victor Mills was asked at work to come up with new and extraordinary ways to use paper. Shortly before this, the engineer became a grandfather and often talked with his grandchildren. One day, the inventor came up with the idea to put in diapers, which his daughter used as diapers, shredded blotting paper. Pediatricians liked this solution, as it made it possible to avoid diaper rash on children's skin caused by constant moisture from cloth diapers. In addition, they could be thrown away immediately, and not washed endlessly. By 1959, Victor Mills' team had perfected his invention - and by March, the first large experimental batch of disposable diapers had been prepared, which had been successfully mass-produced. It was the prototype of the diapers that later became known to the whole world under the Pampers brand.
4. Now, instead of the word “diaper”, people very often use the word denoting the brand of the product - “diaper”. In English pamper verb means "pamper", "cherish", "pamper".
5. In 1968, the American company Kimberly-Clark, which at that time was one of the largest paper manufacturers in the country, began manufacturing its disposable diapers. The product was called Huggies (from English it can be translated as "hugs"). Since then, the disposable diaper market has been intense competition between Kimberly-Clark and Procter & Gamble using technological developments and marketing programs in the fight for customer loyalty.
6. Since the 1980s, environmentalists have begun to actively oppose the use of disposable diapers, as they turned out to be quite difficult to dispose of. According to rough estimates, diaper decomposes in the ground for over 100 years(which means that the diapers made by Victor Mills have not yet rotted!). However, subsequent studies have shown that, in terms of environmental pollution, there is no difference between the use of ordinary cloth diapers and disposable diapers.
Good Sunday morning, dear readers!
With today's thread we open new series of articles about the history of the invention of various "children's gadgets". Strollers, nipples, chamber pots, baby monitors, nimblers - after all, someone once invented all this for the first time. Honor and praise to the people who made life easier for parents! Disposable diapers alone are worth something. About them today and will be discussed.
Diapers existed in antiquity. They were made from pieces of animal skins, putting grass, moss, leaves inside, and later linen and wool. And these diapers were used for a long time.
What do you think, who invented the first diapers, not requiring washing? Of course, a woman! American housewife Marion Donovan was so tired of washing diapers that one day she sat down at a sewing machine and sewed the first impervious diaper. from the most ordinary bathroom curtain! This significant event took place in 1947, and already in 1949 Marion received 4 patents for her invention. The inventor symbolically named her diapers The Boater (boat in English means "boat"). Unsinkable boaters were in great demand. At that time, rubber "panties" for babies were already sold in stores, but diaper rash often occurred from their use. Marion's invention was distinguished by the fact that inside the oilcloth there was a soft cotton liner, and the diaper itself was equipped with plastic rivets. A couple of years later, Marion earned her first million dollars. In the future, this shrewd woman patented about 20 more inventions. Basically, these were things that make life easier.
Around the same time, in 1947, an Englishwoman Valerie de Ferranti I was also tired of the round-the-clock attraction of washing diapers. As the granddaughter of the famous British inventor and founder of Ferranti, Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti, she quickly realized how to make parenting easier. Sitting down at the sewing machine, Valerie sewed the first semblance of a modern "diaper": the inner layer is made of gauze and cotton wool, the outer layer is made of parachute nylon, which her military husband brought home from work. After use, the inner layer was thrown away, and the outer layer, if necessary, was easily washed and dried quickly. At the request of her friends, she I sewed almost 500 of these diapers at home in the kitchen! Soon she got tired of this occupation, and she sold her know-how to Robinson and Sons. Her diapers soon went on sale called "Paddy" and were in great demand in Europe, until they were replaced by completely disposable "Pampers".
In 1942, the Swedish company Pauliström also tried to establish mass production of disposable diapers. But their diapers were a kind of modern women's pads: they were simple absorbent cellulose pads.
The era of famous diapers began in the 1960s. Completely disposable diapers were invented by the grandfather of three, Procter & Gamble chemical engineer Victor Mills. The idea came to Viktor in 1957. This was followed by a series of experiments and improvements: the first filler was sawdust, then cellulose. In 1961 the first diapers (from "pamper" - pamper, cherish, cherish, undead) went on sale. "Used - thrown away" All parents love these diapers.
In the USSR, diapers appeared only in the 1990s. Although Soviet cosmonauts already in the 60s used super secret development domestic scientists, very reminiscent of modern disposable diapers. Until that time, our mothers and fathers, grandparents diligently washed mountains of diapers. It's great that you and I got more! Thanks to the inquisitive minds of inventors!
To be continued...
Inventor Story by: Victor Mills
Country: USA
Time of invention: 1956
Disposable diaper (in colloquial speech"diaper" or simply "diaper") - a type of underwear in which there is a layer filled with superabsorbent, and the basis of this underwear is most often made of cellulose and is designed to absorb urine and prevent contamination of outer clothing. They are used in most cases by children, astronauts, assemblers, climbers, divers, bedridden patients, patients with severe mental or neurological diseases.
In Russian, the word “pampers” has stuck to disposable diapers - after the name of one of the most popular brands in the world, one of the first to enter the Soviet market.
In most European languages, the diaper is denoted by the same word as the diaper - Amer. English diaper, German. Windel, in British English, a diaper is called nappy (lit. diaper, diaper, from napkin - diaper, diaper).
Today, thinking about diapers, few parents can imagine life without this wonderful invention. Diapers have greatly facilitated the care of a newborn baby, and even radically changed the idea of raising children from birth and older.
AT antique period there were absorbent diapers made of skins, the absorbent material of which 
were grass, moss, leaves, linen and wool - the first mention of absorbent diapers can be considered the myth of the birth of Orion in which Zeus and Hermes urinated into the skins.
Hundreds of years ago, our ancestors, in their own way, got out of the situation and showed, in truth, creativity in creating a kind of diaper for children. In South America, it was practiced to bandage the buttocks of babies with wickerwork woven from weeds. The Eskimos built the prototype of baby diapers from seal skins. In tropical countries, where the sun shone all year round, the babies remained completely naked. In Europe, children were constructed like diapers from windings of old fabrics.
In 1954, Victor Mills (VICTOR MILLS), an engineer and developer of Procter & Gamble (Procter & Gamble) became a happy grandfather, his grandson was born! After a week off with his family, Victor Mills suggested that Procter & Gamble start work on developing an alternative type of diaper that is different from the usual cloth reusable diapers.
The first disposable diaper appeared in 1956. and was made on the basis of sawdust.
The goal was to develop easy-to-use and convenient diapers, for the comfort of the baby and the convenience of the mother. Already in 1961, the world's first diapers, familiar to us today, appeared. 
The diapers were released under the brand "Pampers", which means in translation from of English language cherish and pamper. Since then, all disposable diapers are called "pampers" in everyday life.
By the end of the 60s, disposable diapers filled the shelves of American stores. But the “pampers” of the distant 60s were seriously different from the disposable diapers we know today. The diapers of the 60s were heavy, not very comfortable for the baby. There were only three sizes of pampres: small, medium and large. Pampers were attached to the body of the baby with straps, the adhesive “wings” familiar to us today did not yet exist.
In those distant times, disposable diapers were not very convenient, unimaginably expensive and were a luxury item, not a necessity. But time has made its own adjustments. Over the decades, disposable diapers have evolved significantly.
Mass disposable diapers began to be introduced around 1961 and were called "Pampers" from 
English verb "to pamper" - "pamper" or "cherish", "pamper". By the end of the 60s, Pampers had become a worldwide brand. They were originally issued with velcro and button closures, but since the 1980s have become the predominant form of closure.
In 1968, Kimberly Clark, then one of the largest manufacturers in the United States, makes the first attempt to start production of its children's disposable diapers, called "Huggies" (literal translation of "hugging").
The continuous production of these diapers began only in 1978, and in 1984, adult diapers "Depend", in 1982 she began producing Pull Ups diapers intended for children from 1 to 3 years old, in 1993 Dry Nites (in the USA called dialectism - Good Nites), intended for children from 4 to 6 years old, and later for children from 7 to 12 years old and teenagers from 13 to 15 years old (in the second half of the 2000s they began to produce also in the form of improvised boxers).
Later, Procter and Gamble began to produce similar products - Easy Ups and Underjams - for children from 1 to 3 years old and from 4 to 7 years old, respectively, even later Japanese companies began to produce the same products - Moony Man Big, Moony Man Super Big, Goon Big, Goon Super Big, training and nighttime versions of Goon and Moony, since the late 2000s also Merries Big and Merries Super Big, while television advertising for these products is shown only in Japan itself.
All of these diapers were without fasteners, except for one of the options Goon Super Big, Moltex Junior and XL and 
some others, and only in the fall of 2011, the American underwear company Tiger Underwear, which previously produced cotton diapers, released cellulose diapers Star diapers for children and adolescents from 8 years old, and on July 28, 2012, the same company released diapers " Race Car" for children of the same age.
Around the same time, Wal-Mart resurrected the White Cloud brand of diapers (lit. "white cloud"), which had been produced by Procter and Gamble and discontinued in 1993, among which White Cloud Training Pants and White Cloud Sleep Pants.
There is an opinion that the prototype of diapers was invented in the USSR during the preparation of the first manned space flights. At the same time, household cellulose diapers were completely absent until the 1990s. In the 1990s in the states former USSR American and Swedish pulp diapers of the brands Pampers (at that moment it was Pampers Uni), Huggies (at that moment - Huggies Standard), Libero began to be imported, and since 1994 their advertising began to be shown.
In the early 2000s, the first imported diapers for adults appeared in Russia - first Seni, at the end 
2000s - Tena, in early 2010 - Euron. In the mid-2000s, Pull Ups and Dry Nites also began to be imported into Russia, while from the same time, advertisements for Huggies Pull Ups diapers began to be shown in Russia.
It would be unfair not to mention one more person along with Victor Mills - Marion Donovan - a mother of many children, part-time deputy. editor of the mega-popular glossy magazine Vogue. With her journalistic life, she definitely didn’t have enough time to wash her daughter’s diapers.
So she created waterproof children's underpants, called them The Boater (boat in English "") and earned her first million dollars long before Mills in 1949. Then she came up with disposable "boaters". Two years later, in 1951, Donovan registered a patent for her invention, but her business did not go further. I had to wait another ten years until the era of Victor Mills.
Milestones in the history of disposable diapers:
1960s: Start of production and distribution of disposable diapers.
1970s: Beginning of the production of diapers with adhesive tape for fastening, which eliminated dangerous piercing pins.
80s: invention and introduction of absorbent gel - AGM - a kind of polymer capable of absorbing liquid 30 times its weight, while the cellulose used earlier is able to absorb liquid only 4 times its weight.
90s - production of diapers that stretch on the sides.
2000s: The outer layer of the diaper, previously made of plastic, was replaced with a "breathable" material that does not allow the liquid accumulated inside the diaper to flow, but allows oxygen to pass through the diaper. This has become a real revolution in the use of diapers.
Today, modern disposable diapers are very comfortable for the baby, do not interfere with the mobility of the baby, are presented for a wide variety of age categories, and even certain types of diapers have been developed, such as panty diapers for growing babies, diapers for girls, diapers for boys, diapers for swimming, and night diapers for older children suffering from the problem of nocturnal enuresis (urinary incontinence).
Today, about 95% of children under the age of one year wear disposable diapers!
