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MUSEUM OF MENSTRUATION AND WOMEN'S
HEALTH
Kotams
menstrual tampons (1944-1955?, U.S.A.,
International Cellucotton Products Co.,
maker of Kotex menstrual pads, panties, belts, educational booklets),
First page
of this version of Kotams.
I thank
Procter & Gamble for
donating the box!
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Below:
The tampon
(4 3/4" [12.1 cm] long) right out
of the box.
The black
vertical thing about
halfway across the 'pon is a band the user
pulls to split the
cellophane encasing the tampon in
two parts so
she can throw it away before
inserting Kotams (see the instructions).
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Below:
I took the smaller, rear tube off
to show the cotton (?) net that
serves
as a string
to pull the tampon out of the
vagina.
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Below:
The tampon disassembled. The instructions
refer to the safety grip
and safety
catch.
At bottom, the plug, the
absorbing end, measures about 2 x
1/2" (at the fat end) (5.3 x 1.3
cm).
The free-hanging
net, which stretches a
bit, is a little less than 3"
(about 7.5 cm)
long beyond that small knob on the
end of the plug.
I can't imagine women liked the hard,
glued-together end of the net -
it feels like BROKEN GLASS -
that
must have scraped
and poked their
you-know-whats. I suspect the
company thought it
was an improvement over the unglued net
of its predecessors Moderne Woman, fax
& Nunap.
The larger
tube (top) measures 2 3/4
x 9/16" (6.9 x 1.4 cm),
the smaller
tube 3 x 1/2" (7.5 x 1.3
cm).
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Below:
I pulled part of the net away from
the plug, which has the
characteristic texture of Cellucotton.
A net that served as a string also
enclosed the company's first and
unsuccessful tampons
Moderne Woman, fax
& Nunap from
the 1930s, which might have
existed before Tampax.
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End | box instructions
© 2009 Harry Finley. It is illegal to
reproduce or distribute any of the work on
this Web site
in any manner or medium without written
permission of the author. Please report
suspected
violations to hfinley@mum.org\
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