tampon
The French term tampon ('Pfropf', 'Bausch') refers to an elongated wad of cotton wool or gauze that is used in medicine . It is used to absorb fluids (e.g. saliva during dental treatment), to stop bleeding , to supply medicinal substances or as padding.
The term is mostly used today for the hygiene product that women use to catch the menstrual period .
use
The tampon is inserted with the finger or an insertion aid into the middle part of the vagina, where there are hardly any sensory nerves and the muscles hold it in the right place. There the tampon hugs the vaginal walls when it absorbs moisture by expanding evenly. A withdrawal cord is incorporated into the tampon for removal. Tampons are sold either with or without an insertion aid (“applicator”). Since the menstrual blood is already absorbed in the body, it does not come into contact with oxygen. In this way, both a high level of comfort and unpleasant smells are avoided.
The European Disposables and Nonwovens Association , an association of nonwovens manufacturers, has drawn up guidelines for Europe to classify tampons according to their absorbency. This is indicated by a certain number of drop symbols printed on the packaging cover; With just one drop, the tampons contained are the least absorbent, with six the most powerful. In addition, the tampon manufacturers often classify the size and absorbency with names such as mini , normal or super , but these scales are not standardized.
Like other toiletries, tampons can cause clogging in the sewer system because they don't decompose, so they shouldn't be disposed of down the toilet. In endangered toilet systems or in public toilets, bags for disposal are therefore usually available in the toilet's waste bin (especially in trains, ships or airplanes, but also in private toilets where electrical sewage pumps have to be used, which is usually the case in basements or attics ).
Forgetting tampons in the vagina can in rare cases lead to toxic shock syndrome (TSS) (colloquially known as "tampon disease"), which is triggered by bacterial toxins, mostly Staphylococcus aureus , including streptococci . TSS can lead to severe damage (kidney damage, liver dysfunction, multiple organ failure). Although the risk of TSS is small, the tampon should be changed every four to eight hours.
Quality control
With the help of a syngina (an artificial word from "synthetic vagina"), the absorption capacity / absorption capacity / suction strength of a tampon is determined while tampon diving devices are used to check the de-spiralization.
Tampon production
The tampon is of an approximately 250 mm long and 50mm wide viscose - cotton produced strips plus folded and zugeknoteten withdrawal cord. The raw material is the viscose wadding, which is located on a roll (bobbin) with an outside diameter of about one meter, as well as the retrieval thread, which is wound on a bobbin common in the textile industry . At the end of the ″ Tampona ″ brand tampon, where the retrieval thread protrudes, there is a light blue, narrow strip of extra viscose wadding which is supposed to ensure the absorption capacity of the tampon in critical situations. The raw material of this light blue security strip is also located on a spool similar to that used in the textile industry. The large bobbin with the 50 mm wide viscose wadding is unrolled and after 250 mm a piece of it is cut off / torn off. It is not cut because a fibrous end clings better to the cotton roll after the winding process and thus prevents the tampon from de-spiraling. In addition, there is no hard edge. With the tampona tampon, the light blue safety strip is first placed in the right place and knocked off at the same time.
With the modern ob tampons, an approximately 40 mm wide and 50 mm long synthetic fleece is attached to one end using a seal weld. After the winding process, this synthetic fleece forms a narrow coat / wide belt around the ob-tampon and, due to its silky surface, should make it easier to insert the tampon into the vagina compared to the very fibrous viscose wadding . In addition, this synthetic fleece prevents the ob-tampon from spiraling out.
The return thread is then placed around the 250 mm long and 50 mm wide piece of viscose wadding, cut off and the two loose ends tied using a ″ vacuum knotter ″. With the tampona tampon, the retrieval thread is approximately 2/3 to 1/3 at the rear end of the 250 mm long and 50 mm wide viscose wadding strip. With the ob tampon it is roughly in the middle. The 250 mm long tampona viscose wadding strip is then wound up by means of a two-prong fork, so that at the end a helical, round raw part, the wadding roll, is produced. With the ob-tampon, the fork engages roughly in the middle of the long strip and thus wraps both ends at the same time. This process is faster than when manufacturing the tampona tampon.
After the winding process, the cotton roll is inserted into the heated press tool and formed into the actual tampon using high pressure in combination with a high temperature. The pressing tool (with its usually eight pressing jaws) is manufactured in such a way that the desired number and shape of the tampon grooves are precisely produced / shaped. After the pressing tool, the shaped tampons are transferred to a metal sleeve. This is located with numerous other sleeves on the outer circumference of a larger disk. This continues to rotate with each cycle. During the downtime (the short rest phase) of a cycle process, the return thread is wound up and placed on the end of the tampon and the tampon head is formed. At the same time, the sleeves keep the tampons in shape, since the molding process (quasi "baking / hardening" of the tampon) has to take a relatively long time (around 1 minute).
The tampon is then ready and is then immediately individually wrapped in foil. This is very important because the restoring forces of the pressed viscose wadding will otherwise open the tampon while it is still warm. In addition, individually packaged tampons are more hygienic for consumers to store and take with them. The tampons are then transported to the folding box packaging machine and packed in the desired number. Then it goes to the cartoning machine to produce salable containers .
In the former tampona factory in Dülken, the tampons were manufactured on machines from the Swiss manufacturer Ruggli at around 100 cycles per minute.
The ob-tampons are manufactured in the Wuppertal plant by Johnson & Johnson on special machines developed in-house with very high cycle rates in very large numbers. The ob plant in Wuppertal alone produces over 2 billion tampons annually, which are exported to over 45 countries (as of March 2015).
During the production of tampons, the air humidity must be strictly adhered to, as the viscose wadding must have precise residual moisture for optimal processing. Corresponding hygrometers with a recording function for documentation are therefore everywhere in the production halls.
history
Egyptian inscriptions suggest that a kind of tampon made of soft papyrus leaves was used as early as Pharaonic times. In the 5th century BC The Greek doctor Hippocrates mentions tampons made of pieces of wood wrapped in fabric.
On November 19, 1931, a practitioner in Denver , Colorado, Earle Cleveland Haas applied for patent protection for the first tampon he developed with an introducer, which he named "Tampax". Tampax consisted of pressed cotton with a ribbon running through it, which made it possible to remove the tampon (the so-called retrieval thread). There was already an applicator for these first tampons.
On October 16, 1933, Denver-based doctor Gertrude Tendrich bought Haas' patent and trademark for $ 32,000 and founded Tampax for the mass production of tampons. The sale of tampons started slowly because the mostly male pharmacists were afraid to stock a hygiene article for the female genital area. The idea persisted that the use of tampons could damage the hymen . This fear is widespread to this day, which is why it appears under the FAQs on the websites of the tampon manufacturers. Tampax had the prospective customers approached by sex mates and ran a large advertising campaign, which eventually increased sales.
In Germany in 1947, while reading an American magazine , the German engineer Carl Hahn came across an advertisement for tampons, which inspired him to develop a tampon for the German market. Hahn and his colleague, the lawyer Heinz Mittag, had the crucial part of the manufacturing process patented: They had highly elastic cotton rolls pressed to size by a special pressing tool using high pressure and temperature. The product for the German market was given the name Ohne Binde , or " O. B. " for short .
The Tampax brand was licensed by the United Paper Works of the Fürth entrepreneur Gustav Schickedanz and, along with the Tampona brand, was produced in the Dülken plant until the beginning of the 2000s. The Tampax brand was sold with an introducer made from two cardboard tubes of different diameters that were pushed into one another during use.
In the early days, tampons were mainly made from cotton . In the meantime, viscose is mainly used, which can be made more absorbent with special equipment and cross-sections. The chemical composition of the viscose fibers, whose basic component is cellulose, is similar to that of cotton, but the viscose fibers do not interlock. In addition to viscose tampons, organic tampons are also available, i.e. tampons made only of organically grown cotton and soft tampons made of foam sponges . So-called probiotic tampons, which are supposed to release lactic acid bacteria in the vagina, have also been on the market since 2002 .
See also
literature
- Magdalena Handlechner: "Taboo advertising": what differences can be found in the reception of tampon advertising between men and women? (= Academic treatises on communication science ). VWF Verlag for Science and Research, Berlin 2005, ISBN 978-3-89700-429-0 (Master's thesis University of Salzburg 2005, 137 pages).
- Sabine Hering , Gudrun Maierhof: The unfit woman. Social history of menstruation and hygiene (1860–1985). Mabuse, Frankfurt am Main 2002 (first edition: Centaurus, Pfaffenweiler 1991), ISBN 978-3-933050-99-1 .
- Walter Stolle, Sabine Zinn-Thomas: Menstruation: Monthly hygiene in the change from 1900 to today. An exhibition by the Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt in the Lorsch branch, November 26, 1998 to July 31, 1999 . Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt, Darmstadt 1998, ISBN 978-3-926527-52-3 .
- Renate Waschek: That little piece of cotton wool. Advertising and taboo using the example of pads and tampons. Taboo, tampons and pads in advertising. The Green Force ( Werner Pieper MedienXperimente), Löhrbach 1997, ISBN 978-3-925817-94-6 (= The Green Branch. Volume 194).
Patents and utility models
The following patents are registered with the German Patent and Trademark Office :
- DE-69804790: Procter & Gamble applied for the patent in 1998 under the title "Toilet Disposable Absorbent Interlabilar Device" .
- Tampon applicator patent
Web links
- Advertising film for Tampax products from 1952 in the German Digital Library
- Literature about tampons in the catalog of the German National Library
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wet wipes and hygiene articles ( Memento from September 10, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) on klaeranlagenprofi.de
- ↑ What doesn't belong in the toilet at abwasser-luenen.de
- ↑ Tampon safety. In: Tampax.ch. Procter & Gamble, 2014, accessed June 18, 2015 .
- ^ Machines from Ruggli AG Switzerland for the production of tampons. Retrieved November 22, 2016 .
- ↑ On March 13, 1950, the first ob tampon was sold. Retrieved November 22, 2016 .
- ↑ a b History of Tampax - The first tampon on tampax.ch
- ↑ Tampaxpatent.htm at mum.org ( The Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health )
- ↑ Small cotton wool, big effect at Johnson & Johnson, today's manufacturer of ob tampons, added on January 9, 2016
- ↑ Product knowledge: tampons and sanitary towels at schrotundkorn.de
- ↑ Probiotic tampons - The normal nonsense on news.de
- ↑ EP0749741: Tampon applicator patent on freepatentsonline.com