3M's Sara Little Turnbull turned a molded bra cup into the first disposable mask shape

In an NPR segment drawn from the Throughline podcast, Sara Little Turnbull is described as a designer who started her own company in 1958 and had been called out in an article titled Forgetting The Little Woman for makers who designed for buyers instead of end users. 3M hired her and put her in its gift wrap ribbons and tape division, as manufacturers were experimenting with a new moldable material that could hold shapes.

She gave 3M a presentation called Why, with 100 ideas, and 3M chose a molded bra cup. Around the same time, she had spent time in medical settings watching staff fiddle with flat masks they had to tie on, and wondered whether the bra cup design could be a better mask. She went back to 3M executives and pushed to make better medical masks.

By 1961, 3M had patented a lightweight medical mask based on her design. It had the bra cup's shape, was molded and disposable, and used an elastic band that went around the ears instead of ties, plus a nose clip. The problem was that it did not work well, since pathogens still got through the nonwoven material.

Reuse the molded bra-cup form as a mask, with elastic loops and a nose clip, replacing ties and flat gauze.

A moldable nonwoven keeps its shape, so a mask can stand away from the face.

An elastic loop and nose clip replace the ties of flat masks.

A molded, disposable mask replaces the flat masks that staff had to tie on.

Turnbull was working on uses for a new material, not on masks, so she looked across product categories.

A new material's best use may sit in a neighbouring industry, so ask what shape it holds and who else needs that shape.

The first mask was seen as a failure because it did not stop pathogens. NPR says her design ultimately inspired the respirator now known as the N95, which by May 2020 was vital in the COVID-19 response. Turnbull went on to design products for Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, General Mills, Ford and NASA. She said 90 percent of her career was made up of failure.