Historický vývoj dětské pleny

1. http://www.gpoabs.com.mx/cricher/index.html Historický vývoj dětské pleny D. Lukáš

3. There was a time when there was a man... Adam and Eve had a need for a baby diaper, as Mr. and Mrs. Smith today Milkweed leaf wraps, animal skins, and other creative natural resources The Egyptian, the Aztec, the Romans, and many others, who left documentation of their day to day activities, mention its use In Elizabethan times, babies were treated to a fresh diaper only every few days. Asclepias Syriaca/ Cornuti long silky hair Innuits, an Eskimo people,  placed moss under sealskin. 

5. In some Native American tribes, mothers packed grass under a diaper cover made of rabbit skin, as it was done by the Incas in South America.  In warmer tropical climates babies were mostly naked and mothers tried to anticipate baby's bowel movements to avoid any mess near the house.  In the American West of pioneer days, wet diapers were seldom washed, most times they just hung by the fireplace to dry and then use again; as you can imagine, skin rash was a serious problem.   In Europe, it wasn't until the Industrial Revolution from 1820 onwards that the working people started taking pains to contain their baby's waste more carefully, having acquired sufficient wealth to buy household furniture and the need to protect it.  

6. By the late 1800's infants in Europe and North America were wearing the progenitor of the modern diaper. A square of rectangle of linen, cotton flannel, or stockinet was folded into a rectangular shape and held in place with safety pins.

7. "Diaper" was originally the term for an overall pattern of small repeated geometric shapes, and then a white cotton or linen fabric with such a pattern.   So the first babies' diapers were made from diaper fabric, meaning fabric with a repetitive pattern.   The first mass made cloth diapers were introduced by Maria Allen in 1887 in the United States.

8. One of the first ways to reduce the diaper rash, was after there was a better understanding of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and was understood how to kill them, or at least how to control them.   At the beginning of the 20th century, many concerned mothers started to use boiled water in order to reduce more effectively the common rash problem.   Boiling a big pot with diapers required great amounts of energy and time.  Probably some readers in their 40's, 50's and older, may still remember the big steel pot used to boil the used diapers of our brothers or sisters, and then the "ceremonial" hanging of the wet diapers to allow them for drying to the sun.  Younger readers have to watch old Disney cartoons to understand what I am talking about. ("Goofy the perfect father" Disney, 1948)

9. The typical diaper used in the 40's was a thick rectangular cloth made of cotton, this piece was folded using traditional teachings of "ones ancestors" (not a joke!).   It was a beautiful tradition that grandmothers thought their daughters for their first grandchild.  For a simple on the art of diaper folding please click here: diaper folding 101. However, this was unacceptable for the "industrial revolutionbabies",  and the new evolving society based in the "American dream".    During World War II, the increase of working mothers brought the need for the "diaper service".   Fresh cotton diapers would be delivered on an as-needed basis, to moms tuckered out from building planes and tanks all day. 

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11. As with many of the greatest inventions, it is not clear who can be credited as the "single inventor" of the disposable diaper as it evolved by the addition of many gradual steps.   Early forms of tissue-based disposable under-pads and diaper inserts were made available at the beginning  of this decade in Sweden.  The first disposable absorbent pad used as a diaper was probably the one made from unbleached creped cellulose tissue (held in rubber pants) in 1942 by Paulistróm in Sweden, maybe  because cotton had become a strategic material due to the war effort.

12. A few years later in 1946, in the United States, a Westport housewife named Marion Donovan, invented the "Boater", a waterproof covering for cloth diapers.   Her first model of the disposable diaper was made of shower curtain plastic into which a conventional cloth diaper was inserted.  Marion was granted 4 patents for her designs, including the use of plastic snaps that replaced the traditional and dangerous "safety pins". Quite a clever woman who happened to be also an attractive lady.  Marion Donovan, invented the "Boater",

13. In 1947, George M. Schroder, working for theTextile  Research Institute of the University of Chattanooga, was approached by the Henry Frede & Co. to create the first disposable diaper to ever use disposable nonwoven fabric.  The same year Valerie Hunter Gordon, a British mother, developed a two piece disposable diaper. 

14. According to an interesting story (not totally confirmed), Eastern airlines had so many complaints during the long transatlantic flights that commissioned a project with Chicopee (J&J) to develop an efficient disposable diaper to help passengers that traveled with small babies.  The result was the CHUX disposable diapers, a rectangular one piece diaper first made in 1949.   In 1950 Paulistrom launched a "roll diaper", rolls of cellulose wadding inside a knitted mesh that consumers had to cut and fit into reusable panties.

15. The disposable diaper was a "luxury" item then,  used only for those special occasions, like vacation trips, visits to the parents or the doctor.   It was not common to see a baby wearing a disposable diaper, maybe just as rare as finding an empty seat  on the leading Broadway show when you do not have a reservation (you get the picture).    The first "truly disposable" diapers were made using a very simple rectangular design.   The absorbent core was made of several layers of tissue paper (15 to 25), the outside used a plastic film,  and no tapes were provided with the product.  The total capacity of these diapers was estimated to be around 100 ml,  so it provided a very limited service (a one time use).   Its disposability, however,  added a great value to the parents, and immediately it was regarded as one of the great inventions of humankind.  Believe it or not! (again)   For a complete Time-Line History of disposable diapers in the United States and the world, please visit this link:  Time-Line

16. During the 50's there was little change in terms of diaper design.  During this decade Kendall, Parke-Davis and Playtex entered the market with simple diaper versions.  The disposable diaper market share was very low due to the high unitary cost of the diaper and its low performance, its use was limited to very few developed countries of the world.  In this decade Kendall and Parke-Davis enter the US market.   In 1957 Molnlycke entered the market with a product made of paper pulp encapsulated in tissue and surrounded by a knitted net.   The sanitary napkin had a rapid growth in the European and North American markets.  It was not until the end of this decade when Vic Mills, who worked for the Procter and Gamble company, invented "Pampers", as he was looking at better products to use for his baby grandson (conceptualized in 1959 during a summer vacation trip), the diaper was not  launched into the market until 1961.

17. Vic Mills, who worked for the Procter and Gamble company, invented "Pampers„.

18. With the 60's the disposable diaper evolved quickly as the industry learned the requirements of the mothers.   Instead of tissue, a pulp mill was introduced,  a decade after the first disposable sanitary napkins arrived into the market.   Using cellulose fibers instead of paper, improved the performance of the diaper.  With the Pampers,  launched in the spring of 1961, the new baby diaper was a "smash hit".    With the development of better nonwovens, softer top sheets made of Rayon started to transform the baby diaper, the diaper was offered in two sizes, medium and large.

19. The diaper was made very thick in order to reduce  leakage;  some medium diapers had weights of 65 gr. and even more!  The diaper did not have means for attachment, since there were no lateral tapes included, this situation created a problem to the consumer, since they needed to have tapes handy in order to use the diaper.  For a while, the supermarkets and drug and department stores did not know where to stock Pampers.  At the time, Pampers were found in the convenience section, the food aisle, the paper product section, and even in the drug section.   In 1966, Pampers launched a new C-fold design and by 1969 started a "third size".  A typical commercial diaper machine ran at speeds of 150 diapers per minute. The best diapers had overall leakage values of 8 to 10%.

20. 70's proved to be the baby boom explosion for the disposable diaper industry in the developed countries,  and even in some other areas of the world less fortunate.  Competition between Procter & Gamble and Kimberly Clark to own the world diaper market resulted in quick diaper design improvements and lower prices to the consumer.  World demand  exceeded the production capacity for many years.   Market penetration had an exponential increase in the US, Europe and Japan.   In Latin America many countries also experienced this boom, including Mexico, Argentina and Chile.     Some of the changes were:  a new fastening system with lateral paper tapes was introduced as part of the improved convenience of the product, this new invention was introduced by Johnson & Johnson in 1970. 

21. Improved folding of the diaper using the "Z fold" or "pre-folded" diaper concept, the introduction of "hot melts"instead of cold adhesives  for reduced "open times" that  resulted on faster diaper line speeds,  and the addition of more options in regards to size and total absorbent capacity to the market;  diaper machines were running at the incredible speed of 250 diapers per minute.    Some comments started to appear from baby's doctors complaining about the bulk of the absorbent diaper at the crotch and its effect on the babies developing bones.  The shape of the diaper changed for a better fit,  from the old "rectangular shape" to a more modern "hourglass shape".  In 1975, the Hourglass shaped "Luvs" was first introduced to the US market.  Kimberly Clark, introduced in 1976 its shaped Huggies diaper.  Lateral elastomerics were used at the end of the decade by most producers in an attempt to improve the fit. 

22. With the 80's a new "reengineered" diaper was reborn.  Absormex started operations at the beginning of this decade, in Monterrey Mexico in 1981, Carlos Richer started to work for Absormex in June 1984, a date to remember on diaper history, at least on mine!! During 1981 and 1982, two companies launched into the US market what it was claimed to be a "biodegradable" diaper.   Starch was added to the poly film in the extrusion process in order to produce biodegradable films.  The F.T.C. (Federal Trade Commission) forced the product out from the market, since there was no scientific evidence to support the claims.  The film fragmented into pieces, with UV light, however the molecular weight did not change enough, and the product was not truly "bioactive".    It was also agreed that the normal cycle for a diaper, ends in a landfill (buried without light).  For this reason,  the F.T.C. forced the product out from the shelves after winning a well publicized trial.

23. The use of Elastomerics in 1983, improved the fit of the diaper.  Elastics were used in the legs before, but now were also added to the waist.    The nonwoven was changed from Rayon to Polypropylene thermal-bond, which provided a softer and more comfortable feel for the baby.   A new tape system, called "target tape",  based on the use of two simultaneous lateral tapes instead of just one, was attempted to help repositioning the diaper, this was a world wide failure in the market and abandoned a few years later in 1986.  A frontal tape was first developed in Europe to allow the mother the convenience of being able to open and close the diaper as many times as needed without tearing the film.   During the beginning of the decade an environmental movement attacked the industry, arguing the ecological problems created by the use of the disposable diaper, this was more evident in Europe and Canada and with less intensity in the US and Latin America.  

24. The super-absorbent (SAP) was first introduced into the diaper in 1982 by Unicharm in Japan, following its use in the sanitary napkins.   It is rather amazing that it took so long for this material to be finally used in a diaper when it had been discovered so many years before.   It was in 1966 when Billy Gene Harper who worked for Dow Chemical and Carlyle Harmon who worked for J&J filed their patent for superabsorbent polymer.    Even when Victor Mills is recognized as the father of the diaper, Harper and Harmon really should deserve similar recognition.    With the SAP, a new generation of high performance diapers was possible.   Not only diapers were thinner, but also added improved retention to the performance, which helped to reduce leakage and reduce diaper rash.   Premium diapers with leakage below 2% became a reality at last.   The average weight of a typical medium size diaper was reduced about 50% from the weights used in the previous decade;

26. Water molecules are drawn into the network across a diffusion gradient - formed by the Sodium neutralization of the polymer backbone. The polymer chains want to straighten but cannot due to the cross-linking. Thus, the particles expand as water moves into the network. Superabsorbent Polymer Network: Sodium Polyacrylate:

27. SAP Sodium Polyacrylate:

28. This was just perfect to show the good intentions of the industry in terms of its interest in the ecology, it also made good economic sense due to the reduced packaging cost.   In addition, many studies were made to compare disposable diapers with cloth diapers, generating a debate that still continues today (read my F.A.Q. section).  In Japan, the concept of "breathability" was introduced successfully into the market in 1983, leading in some way the design of the disposable diaper, even when the fact of the matter is that a wet diaper losses very little humidity by this breathable process (a diaper with 200 ml of urine losses less than 1% of its weight after 24 hours) but the gimmick remained.   The training diaper was also introduced in Japan for the very first time in 1989, which extended the use of diapers to larger babies, or young kids (3 to 4 years old).

31. With the 90's, many new features were added to the baby diaper, SMS (spunbond-meltblown-spunbond) top-sheets were used, the cloth-like backsheet replaced the regular poly film in the higher end of the market.  Mechanical tapes were introduced into the market, in the form of Velcro or other types of hook and loop.  Leg cuffs made of SMS nonwovens helped to reduce even more the leakage on the legs of the babies, they were first used in diapers in 1991 after a polemic patent cross license between P&G and KC.  Elasticized mechanical tapes were developed too.  In addition, the 1990s were a beginning of a new technology with the introduction of a curly fiber by Procter & Gamble, which pulled moisture into the core of the diaper and then recoiled back to absorb additional fluid.  The superabsorbent used in the diapers was improved using a new surface cross linker, this helped to reduce the "gel block" problem, phenomena which prevented liquids from moving when the absorbent was saturated with water.   

32. Many new "Bells and Whistles" like Aloe Vera, Germ protection, Skin conditioners, wetness indicators, "glow in the dark" frontal tapes, etc. etc.  are being used as the need to differentiate becomes more important in a market that is maturing.  In the US the use of baby diapers have a market penetration of 95%.  Western Europe and Japan have similar numbers, Latin America has many variations with numbers between 15% to 75%, Mexico as an example, had a market penetration of 48% in 1995 (today year 2006 is 61%).   A typical diaper line of the 90's ran at speeds of 300 diapers per minute, some of  the big players have machines that can go above 1000 diapers per minute!, the important lesson is that speed is not always the best answer when the cost of capital makes it difficult to justify, this is specially true when the cost of labor is not a significant part of the diaper cost.

33. diaper line

34. At the end of the decade the shape of the absorbent core is changing from a typical "T" shape into a "rectangular shape",  similar to the shape used in previous decades.   A typical large diaper in Japan, used 12 to 15 gr of SAP in 1995, at the end of the decade the use of SAP changed to 9 to 12 gr.    The increased productivity of the small independent producers added pressure to the big players, who in response, aggressively defended their intellectual property, transforming the industry into "lawyers heaven". The patent data (1976-2000) in the diaper industry consists of over 600 patents (US Patent and Trademark Office).

35. With an investment of $1.7 billion in year (2000), P&G is the 21st largest US-based and 52nd largest global investor in research and development (“Investing in R&D”, 2000).  Kimberly-Clark has annual sales of more than $13 billion, with manufacturing facilities in forty countries and sales in more than 150. It is also the second largest household and personal care products company in the United States.  Procter & Gamble diapers are now sold in more than 80 countries worldwide and have become a multi-billion dollar business (“Improving Health and Dryness for Babies”, 2000). After P&G marketed the original Pampers in 1961, Kimberly-Clark introduced Huggies diapers seventeen years later in 1978, soon after P&G’s patent rights on disposable diapers expired. Today Kimberly Clark is the second largest producer of disposable baby diapers in the world.

36. The clear trend for the future of the diaper industry 2000 and beyond is a thinner diaper, more comfortable for the baby and friendly to the environment. In March 8, 2000, Absormex, a 100% Mexican owned company, launches to the market the first degradable diaper in the world, "Natural Baby Supreme".  This new diaper degrades even without the existence of light (this is not a starch based product).  It results in a dramatic change in the molecular weight, due to a chemical degradation process (-free radical, thermal and photo oxidation), to the point where the product becomes"bioactive".  The speed for this degradation in the landfill is in the order of 2 magnitudes faster than conventional diapers (instead of a few centuries, a few years!).  The product, when exposed to the outside environment, fragments in less than a month!. 

37. Artistic representation of the degradation process

38. This is the first significant contribution of Mexico, to the history of the disposable diaper.  With a large file of scientific evidence, and two patent pending, all claims printed in the bag have been proved, scientific reports will be published to the general public soon.   Carlos Richer  presented a paper at the Insight Conference (diaper industry's largest technical seminar) last October 2000, you can read his presentation here: Insight 2000. 

41. In 2001, Absormex launches "Earthpure" diapers, they were a private label distributed by Amway in the United States and Canada .     At this time, Absormex had to discontinue this diaper due to a very unfair law suit.  The cost of defense was so high that we decided not to defend the concept in court (even when we knew it was an excellent product idea).   According to the Federal Trade Comission, unless you are able to probe that the product will degrade in the landfill, you are taking a risk.  Unfortunately there are many landfills that are not well managed, even a piece of paper will not biodegrade in these conditions.

42. 2003, P&G launched their Easy Ups training pants taking as much as 20% of the pants market share in the United States, KC launched Huggies Convertibles, this is a baby diaper that is also a training pant at the same by using lateral sides with hook and loop.   At the end of the year, Tyco tried to get back its lost pants sales by launching their new training pant made with Cellulose Acetate, this is a new "air laid" pad, still too close to see if they will be successful.  This year Ontex purchased Hartmann's diaper plants in Germany and France. In June of 2004 Valor Brands, a joint venture with Grupo Mabesa in Mexico, took Mayer's private label account from Tyco.  Tyco purchased Paragon a year before, a former partner of Mabesa.

46. In 2005 a new player started operations in Canada, Irving Personal Care, they started with a new training pant and a couple of Joa's J5 high speed baby diaper machines in New Brunswick Canada.  As an interesting event in 2005, superabsorbent producers can not keep up with required demand due to lack of acrylic acid(a raw material used in the manufacture of sap), generating an historic shortage that will not be balanced until the 3rd quarter of 2006 when more capacity is added in China.  This is one of the reasons why raw material prices are out of control and the diaper industry has been under a lot of pressure. Market Trends for 2006 and Beyond: There will be more economical products focused to those areas of the world that continue to have a low disposable diaper consumption, like China, India, North Africa, Latin America and Russia.   The reduced freight cost associated to the compressed packaging is making many companies to reduce the number of plant locations into fewer larger factories.  The high cost of oil worldwide, a record high in 2005, has increased pressure to diaper manufacturers to improve productivity and diaper design in an effort to avoid price increments in the market as the continued price war will not allow to reflect such higher raw material prices in the finished products.

47. Market Trends for 2006 and Beyond: There will be more economical products focused to those areas of the world that continue to have a low disposable diaper consumption, like China, India, North Africa, Latin America and Russia.   The reduced freight cost associated to the compressed packaging is making many companies to reduce the number of plant locations into fewer larger factories.  The high cost of oil worldwide, a record high in 2005, has increased pressure to diaper manufacturers to improve productivity and diaper design in an effort to avoid price increments in the market as the continued price war will not allow to reflect such higher raw material prices in the finished products.

48. Recent Diaper Sales volumesin the world and forecast of diaper sales for year 2025: The volume of diapers sold in the United States alone in year 2006 will be close to 18.6 billion units; around 20.4 billion units per year will be sold in Europe, and 4.9 billion units will be sold in Mexico in 2006.  It is reported that China has the largest incremental sales in comparison to last year.  Many new diaper machines are being installed there.  For a complete description of diaper sales and diaper sales expectations for year 2025, please look in this link: diapers sold per country.   If you want to know the total amount of diapers required for the whole world please visit this link:  world diaper consumption by each county from 2005 to 2025.     To better understand the future of the diaper industry, please visit this link: The diaper industry in the next 25 years.

49. total amount of diapers required

50. Please visit the following link if you want instruction on how to measure diaper performance:Diaper Performance If you want a simplified version for elementary school's science faire projects visit my FAQ section.  If you believe there is something missing in my diaper history section please let me know, this should be the best compilation of information about diapers in the Internet.