Tampax didn’t invent the tampon. Throughout history, women have been soaking up their periods with everything from paper (Japan) to moss (Europe).

Earle Haas, however, did invent the first tampon with an applicator. In the late 1920s, Haas, an osteopathic physician who struck it rich with his previous invention of a flexible ring for a contraceptive diaphragm, wanted to invent a better period product than the rags his wife used every month to manage her period.