Cotton swab
Bastoncillo de algodón (hisopo)
- Date
- 1923 · confidence medium
- Place
- New York City, United States
- Credited to
- Leo Gerstenzang
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
After watching his wife wrap cotton around a toothpick to clean their baby's ears, Gerstenzang manufactured and mass-marketed the first cotton swab, sold first as "Baby Gays" and later as Q-tips.
Hazel Tietjen Forbis had earlier patented a cotton-tipped applicator; Gerstenzang's company acquired that patent in 1925 after already selling its own product, which complicates exact credit for the invention.
What it led to
- Standardization of a household hygiene product in universal use
- Popularization of "cotton swab"/"Q-tip" as a generic term