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“Catamenial Device,” Earle C. Haas, September 12, 1933.

Earle C. Haas created the first tampon with a disposable applicator in 1931, and when he received the patent, he sold the rights to businesswoman Gertrude Tendrich who took the tampon design and started her own business, the Tampax Corporation. Tampax’s two-part applicator was cardboard and promised ease as well as added sanitation by eliminating the need to touch the cotton of the tampon during insertion. The new applicator tampons and smaller “purse sized box” Tampax sold them in preserved “feminine daintiness.”