Editing Johnson & Johnson (section)

=== 1887–1942: Early history ===
The company sold medicated plasters such as Johnson & Johnson's Black Perfect Taffeta Court Plaster<ref>{{Cite book|title=Pharmaceutische Rundschau|publisher=Fr. Hoffmann|year=1888|volume=6|location=Harvard University|pages=181}}</ref> and also manufactured the world's first sterile surgical products, including sutures, absorbent cotton, and gauze.<ref>{{Cite book| vauthors = McDonnell G |title=Block's Disinfection, Sterilization, and Preservation|publisher=Lippincott Williams & Wilkins|year=2020|isbn=978-1496381507}}</ref> The company published "Modern Methods of Antiseptic Wound Treatment", a guide on how to do sterile surgery using its products, and in 1888, distributed 85,000 copies to doctors and pharmacists across the United States.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book| vauthors = Pickersgill HE |title=Frederick Barnett Kilmer in History of Middlesex County, New Jersey 1664- 1920|publisher=Lewis Historical Publishing Company|year=1921|location=New York and Chicago}}</ref>{{Rp|3–99}} The manual was translated into three languages and distributed worldwide.<ref name=":3"/> The first commercial [[first aid kit]] was designed in 1888 to support railroad construction workers, who were often hundreds of miles from medical care.<ref name=":3"/> The kits included antiseptic emergency supplies and directions for field use. In 1901, the company published the ''Handbook of First Aid'', a guide on applying first aid.<ref name=":3"/>

In 1889, the company hired pharmacist [[Frederick Barnett Kilmer|Fred Kilmer]] as its first scientific director, who led its scientific research and wrote educational manuals.<ref name=":3" /> Kilmer's first achievement as scientific director was developing the industrial sterilization process.<ref name=":3" /> He was employed at the company until 1934.<ref name=":3" />

Johnson & Johnson had more than 400 employees and 14 buildings by 1894.<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=1893, 1907, 1929 and Today|url=https://www.kilmerhouse.com/2009/02/1893-1907-1929-and-today|access-date=October 23, 2020|website=Kilmer House|language=en}}</ref> In 1894, the company began producing Johnson's Baby Powder, the company's first baby product.<ref name="History" />

The company introduced the world's first maternity kit in 1894 to aid at-home births, called Dr. Simpson's Maternity Packet, presumably after Scottish [[Obstetrics|obstetrician]] [[James Young Simpson]]. The kit included a washcloth; safety pins; sterile sutures, sponges, and gauze; antiseptic soap; an obstetric sheet and ligatures; flannel to wrap the baby in; and a chart for keeping birth records.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jenkins |first=Elizabeth |date=May 11, 2017 |title=Oh, Baby! Why Johnson & Johnson Created Dr. Simpson's Maternity Packets |url=https://www.jnj.com/our-heritage/why-johnson-and-johnson-created-dr-simpsons-maternity-packets |access-date=May 24, 2023 |website=Johnson & Johnson}}</ref><ref name="History"/> The products were later marketed separately, including "Lister's Towels", the world's first mass-produced sanitary napkins.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Lister's Towels, Johnson & Johnson, ads at MUM|url=http://www.mum.org/listers.htm|access-date=October 23, 2020|website=www.mum.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=February 26, 2020|title=How did companies sell 'unmentionable' sanitary towels?|language=en-GB|work=[[BBC News]]|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-51297025|access-date=October 23, 2020}}</ref> Kilmer wrote "Hygiene in Maternity", an instructional guide for mothers before and after delivery.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H8eEF8xhJNgC|title=Red Cross Notes|date=1898|publisher=Johnson & Johnson.|language=en}}</ref> In 1904, the company expanded its baby care products with "Lister's Sanitary Diapers", a diaper product for infants.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Facts about disposable diapers as P&G celebrates 50 years in Cape County|url=https://www.semissourian.com/story/2629488.html|access-date=October 28, 2020|website=Southeast Missourian}}</ref>

During the [[Spanish–American War]], Johnson & Johnson developed and donated 300,000 packaged compressed surgical dressings for soldiers in the field<ref name="Rebel"/>{{Rp|78}} and created a trauma stretcher for field medics. The company donated its products in disaster relief efforts of the [[1900 Galveston hurricane]]<ref name="Rebel"/>{{Rp|79}} and the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake]].<ref name="Rebel"/>{{Rp|81}}

Johnson & Johnson vaccinated all of its employees against [[smallpox]] during the 1901 smallpox epidemic. The firm employed more than 1,200 people by 1910.<ref name="peril">{{Cite news|date=March 28, 1911|title=Peril of City Factories|work=Daily Home News|location=New Brunswick, N.J.}}</ref> Women accounted for half of the company's workforce and led a quarter of its departments.<ref name="peril"/>

Robert Wood Johnson died in 1910, and he was succeeded as president of the company by his brother James Wood Johnson.<ref name="Rebel" />{{Rp|195}}

During [[World War I]], Johnson & Johnson factories increased production to meet wartime demands for sterile surgical products.<ref>{{Cite web|title=World War I Centennial: How the Great War Changed Johnson & Johnson|url=https://www.kilmerhouse.com/2014/08/world-war-i-centennial-how-the-great-war-changed-johnson-johnson|access-date=October 24, 2020|website=Kilmer House|language=en}}</ref><ref name="about us">{{Cite web|title=About Us|url=http://chicopee.com/en-us/about-us|access-date=October 24, 2020|website=Chicopee Solutions|language=en-us}}</ref> In 1916, the company acquired Chicopee Manufacturing Company in [[Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts]], to meet demand.<ref name="about us" /><ref name="Rebel" />{{Rp|129}} Near the end of World War I, the [[Spanish flu|1918 flu pandemic]] broke out. The company invented and distributed an epidemic mask that helped prevent the spread of the flu.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Epidemic Mask – Johnson & Johnson Our Story|url=https://ourstory.jnj.com/epidemic-mask|access-date=October 24, 2020|website=ourstory.jnj.com|archive-date=November 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129164657/https://ourstory.jnj.com/epidemic-mask|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="universe">{{Cite web|title=History of Johnson & Johnson – FundingUniverse|url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/johnson-johnson-history/|access-date=October 24, 2020|website=www.fundinguniverse.com}}</ref>

In 1919, Johnson & Johnson opened the Gilmour Plant near Montreal, its first factory outside the United States,<ref name="universe"/> which produced surgical products for international customers. In 1924 the company's first overseas manufacturing facility was opened in [[Slough, England|Slough]], England.<ref name="universe"/>

In 1920, Earle Dickson combined two Johnson & Johnson products, adhesive tape and gauze, to create the first commercial adhesive bandage. Band-Aid Brand Adhesive Bandages began sales the following year.<ref name="universe"/><ref name="Rebel"/> In 1921, the company released Johnson's Baby Soap.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wLU9AQAAMAAJ|title=Marketing Communications|date=1921|language=en}}</ref> Named after its Massachusetts facility, Johnson & Johnson built a textile mill and company town, Chicopee, outside Gainesville, Georgia.<ref name="Rebel"/>{{Rp|170}} In the 1930s, the company expanded operations to Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and South Africa.<ref>{{Cite web| vauthors = Sengupta N |title=Johnson & Johnson: Caring for People, Worldwide|url=https://www.sdmimd.ac.in/SDMRCMS/cases/CIM2013/5.pdf|access-date=October 8, 2020|website=Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara Institute for Management Development}}</ref> In 1931, Johnson & Johnson introduced the first prescription contraceptive gel marketed as Ortho-Gynol.<ref>{{Cite web|title=1936 Magazine Print Advertisement Ortho Gynol Feminine Jelly Johnson & Johnson|url=http://www.advintageplus.com/1936-magazine-print-advertisement-ortho-gynol-feminine-jelly-johnson-and-johnson/|access-date=October 23, 2020|website=Advintage Plus|language=en|archive-date=October 26, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026045534/http://www.advintageplus.com/1936-magazine-print-advertisement-ortho-gynol-feminine-jelly-johnson-and-johnson/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Robert Wood Johnson II]] became president of the company in 1932.<ref name="Rebel" />{{Rp|195}}

During The Great Depression Johnson & Johnson kept all its workers employed and raised wages by 5%.<ref name="Rebel" />{{Rp|191}} In 1933, Robert Wood Johnson II wrote a letter to [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], calling for a federal law to increase wages and reduce hours for all American workers.<ref name="Rebel"/>{{Rp|199}} The company also opened a new facility in Chicago during that period.<ref name="Rebel"/>{{Rp|191}} Johnson wrote and distributed "Try Reality: A Discussion of Hours, Wages, and The Industrial Future" to persuade business leaders to follow his lead, advocating that business is more than profit and that companies have responsibilities to consumers, employees, and society. In "Try Reality", the section titled "An Industrial Philosophy" would later become the company's credo.<ref name="Rebel" />{{Rp|224}}<ref name="universe"/>

In 1935, Johnson's Baby Oil was added to its line of baby products.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T1AEAAAAMBAJ|title=LIFE|date=August 9, 1943|publisher=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Old School Products That Still Rock|url=https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/old-school-products-that-still-rock-88003401298.html|access-date=October 23, 2020|website=www.yahoo.com|date=June 22, 2014 |language=en-US}}</ref> Both male and female Johnson & Johnson employees were drafted and enlisted during World War II.<ref>{{Cite web|title=First Peacetime Draft Enacted Just Before World War II|url=https://www.defense.gov/Explore/Features/Story/Article/2140942/first-peacetime-draft-enacted-just-before-world-war-ii/|access-date=October 23, 2020|website=U.S. Department of Defense|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=August 15, 2016|title=World War I Draft Registration Cards|url=https://www.archives.gov/research/military/ww1/draft-registration|access-date=October 23, 2020|website=National Archives|language=en}}</ref> The company ensured no one would lose their job when they returned home. Robert Wood Johnson II was appointed head of the Smaller War Plants Corporation in Washington, D.C. His work ensured U.S. factories with under 500 employees were awarded government contracts.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Johnson & Johnson Helped by the Healing Powers of Innovation, the Johnson Family Found a Health-Care Empire Inside the Family Medicine Chest. That's Opened up Endless Opportunities. April 1, 2003|url=https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fsb/fsb_archive/2003/04/01/341012/index.htm|access-date=October 23, 2020|website=money.cnn.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=January 31, 1968|title=Robert Wood Johnson, 74, Dies; Chairman of Johnson & Johnson; Founder's Son Led Company until 1963 No. 2 Man on War Production Board (Published 1968)|language=en-US|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1968/01/31/archives/robert-wood-johnson-74-dies-chairman-of-johnson-johnson-founders.html|access-date=October 23, 2020|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>