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THE MUSEUM OF
MENSTRUATION AND WOMEN'S HEALTH
Is this the first Tampax menstrual tampon?
(U.S.A., about 1931-33)
Instructions.
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Writing "menstrual
flow" and "vaginal canal" is blunt
for the time and might betray the
inventor's profession, medical
doctor (of osteopathy). But he
soon retreats to delicacy with the
word "parts."
Just as with fax
tampon the writer claims that
women can leave the tampon in the
vagina for many hours more than is
recommended today. I wonder if any
women developed toxic shock from
this early Tampax.
It's funny that he
thinks nature intended menses to
be absorbed in the vagina. It
seems obvious after thousands of
years that nature "intended" it to
leave the vagina. But that
wouldn't sell tampons.
The first and last
lines fit into the great tradition
of American advertising,
especially this era before the
government restricted outrageous
ad copy.
The instructions
lack the usual drawings of a woman
inserting the tampon.
Telling the user to
flush it and the tubes down the
toilet undoubtedly led to the
problems described here
with disposable pads in the 1920s.
Look how the
typeface for Tampax wildly differs
from that on the outside of the
box. In his trademark application
Haas requested only the spelling
to be registered, not the style.
Later the typeface was
standardized.
The photo, above,
looks almost identical to the
patent drawing for the first
Tampax, below. When this box
appeared the patent had not yet
been approved. But the hand in the
patent looks male to me (short
finger nails, male-like sleeve)
whereas the hand above lacks a
sleeve and might have longer
finger nails. The writing is black
on white (now brownish) paper.
(See the page
from which the drawing came.)
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© 2005 Harry Finley. It is illegal to
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