And, of course, the first Tampax
AND - special for you! - the American fax tampon, from the
early 1930s, which also came in bags.
See a Modess True or False?
ad in The American Girl magazine, January 1947, and
actress Carol Lynley in "How
Shall I Tell My Daughter" booklet ad (1955) - Modess . . . . because ads (many
dates).
|
The Wix menstrual tampon and box,
1930s-1940s?, U.S.A.
Wix was one of the first American commercial
tampons, appearing roughly at the same time as
Tampax (early
1930s). Tampax bought the company (and Holly-Pax) later
in the decade but it still produced tampons.
Like many early tampons, Wix had no insertion
device, something that Tampax developed and
patented.
Pulling out the drawer (below), the user
found four packages of three tampons each,
each group wrapped in cellophane. The word Wix
is raised on one
version of the box (see below; the museum also
has a flat version, also below); it's
beautiful packaging, especially for objects so
disdained by so many people.
Women could buy Wix in the 1934 Sears,
Roebuck catalog (here),
two years before Tampax
came on the broad market.
A woman in the Chicago area kindly
donated the embossed Wix box and many other
items, like fax;
her father sold Kotex products as a
representative of the company and she found
these in her mother's effects after her
death. She read about this museum in an
article in the Chicago Tribune after MUM
opened in my house
for a four-year run.
|
 |
Above and next six
views, below: The box with embossed
"Wix."
Below these are four views of the flat -
non-embossed - box. Neither bears a date.
The box measures 9.25" x 2.75" x 0.875" (23 x
7.5 x 2.2 cm).
F. S. Richardson filed a patent for
Wix (number 1932383 on the box below) on 28
January 1931; the patent itself bears the date
24 October 1933.
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
The ends of the box are blank.
|
 |
The bureau of WHAT? Wix must have
invented this.
|
 |
The AMA objected to this claim because it
implied endorsement. Wix and Tampax stopped
putting this phrase on its products.
The four pictures below
show a flat version of the box which was the
same size as the embossed version. The tampons
did not sit in a drawer; the user removed them
by opening flaps on either end. The tampons
within were the same as those from the
embossed box.
|
 |
 |
 |
Above and below:
The two sides and two ends are identical.
|
 |
|
© 2007 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
|
|