Thanks for an excellent article.
I worked in the Plaster Mill at ESDP during the 1970's. We had two tinner machines, of J&J design, which packed all of the one-size tinware put-ups. Strips were put in metal magazines on the Adhesive Bandage machines, and the magazines (which held about 500 strips each) were transported to the tinners, where the strips were counted out and inserted into the tins by the machines. It would be interesting if anyone could put their hands on some to the video tapes which we made in that era for training of the machine operators and mechanics.
Variety put-ups, containing multiple sizes of strips, were all packed by hand.
The tins themselves were only make by one manufacturer, either Continental Can or American Can - I'm not sure which - and the packaging cost more than the contents in some put-ups. The economics strongly favored either cardboard or plastic containers but brand management was highly averse to taking any risks with the Band-Aid brand. Analysis was still going on when I moved the the Corporate computer center in the late 1970's. The front runner was a plastic container very similar to the one that was finally adopted (I don't know exactly when that happened.) with the characteristics that made it "look and feel" like the tins. The lid had to audibly "snap" when it closed, and the presence of a "chine" - the little ridge around the bottom where the seam is on tinware - was essential.
Thanks for the memories and the photos!
Walt