From Mary Bellis,
Your Guide to Inventors.
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Marion Donovan was a young mother in the post-war baby boom era. She came from a family of inventors and inherited the inventing 'gene'.

The Boater

Unhappy with leaky, cloth diapers that had to be washed, she first invented the 'Boater', a plastic covering for cloth diapers. Marion Donovan made her first Boater using a shower curtain.

Disposable Diapers

A year later she carried her ideas further. Using disposable absorbent material and combining it with her Boater design, Marion Donovan created the first convenient disposable diaper.

Business For Herself

Manufacturers thought her product would be too expansive to produce. Marion Donovan, left unable to sell or license her diaper patent, went into business for herself. A few years later, she was able to sell her company for $1 million.

Cloth Diapers - Maria Allen

Cloth diapers were first mass produced by Maria Allen in 1887.

Contoured Disposable Diapers

In 1949, Stanley Mason patented the world's first disposable and pin-free diapers that were contoured to fit a baby's bottom.

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