Kilmer House

1.  Today (July 16) is the 45^th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, which landed human beings on the moon for the first time.  But did you know that BAND-AID® Brand Adhesive Bandages were part of the medical kit on the Apollo 11 command module?  Here’s a photo of the open medical kit – with its BAND-AID® Brand Adhesive Bandages clearly visible – on the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum website.

2.  The Apollo 11 mission wasn't the first time that BAND-AID® Brand Adhesive Bandages went into space – they also accompanied the Mercury astronauts in 1963, and Johnson & Johnson First Aid products orbited the moon with the Apollo 8 astronauts in 1968.  

3.  Johnson & Johnson had a computer in its offices in 1916.  Wait… a computer?  Well, sort of.  It was a “computing machine” that used punch cards to keep track of sales data. Here’s how a visiting retail pharmacist described it:  “On the third floor I saw the addressing and statistical departments.  Here I witnessed mechanical bookkeeping for the first time.  By punching holes in cards, by machinery, and running these cards through a computing machine, like the government uses when it counts noses at census time, Johnson & Johnson are able to keep accurate account of the volume of each kind of products sold in any given territory. “  [RED CROSS® Messenger, Vol. VIII, Nos. 9 &  10, March, 1916, “Four Floors of Brains and Energy," p. 490.]  So what was this mystery machine?  Probably something a lot like this, one of the forerunners of the modern computer.

4.  In 1908, Johnson & Johnson had its own fire department, consisting of employees located in every building and department.  All buildings had automatic fire sprinklers, and hose-houses occupied numerous places throughout the Johnson & Johnson campus.  [RED CROSS® Messenger, Vol. I, No. 5, September 1908, p. 50.]

5.  BAND-AID® Brand Adhesive Bandages and First Aid Kits are not the only adventurous products from the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies.  In 1928, the members of Admiral Byrd’s legendary First Antarctic Expedition (1928-1930) brought Johnson & Johnson Dental Floss with them so that they could take care of their teeth while on expedition to the Antarctic.