Ovulation Test
date: label: date made
content: 1960s
label: patent date
content: 1962-01-23
notes: label: Description
content: Frank Ewers was a Catholic physician in Ottowa, Illinois, who was concerned about patients who wished to limit their families but found the rhythm method unreliable. Learning about research into tests for sugar in the mucus of the uterus, Dr. Ewers imagined that this work might lead to a general test for ovulation. He and several Catholic laymen then founded Weston Laboratories, to market the product.
label: Description
content: Labels on this cardboard carton read “FERTILITY TESTOR / U.S. PATENT 3,017,879 / a home test for ovulation” produced by “WESTON LABORATORIES, INC. / OTTOWA, ILLINOIS.” Labels on the item itself read “FERTILITY / TAPE / For the Detection of Cervical Glucose.”
label: Description
content: Ref: Donald T. Sapit and Frank J. Ewers, Jr., “Fertility Tester,” U.S. Patent 3,017,879 (Jan. 23, 1962), assigned to Weston Laboratories, Inc.
label: Description
content: Shirley De Leon, “Research on Rhythm,” The National Catholic Reporter (March 24, 1965), p. 6.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Illinois, Ottawa
topic: label: Subject
content: Women's Health
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Health & Medicine
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Margaret Sanger Center
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1982.0531.079
label: accession number
content: 1982.0531
label: catalog number
content: 1982.0531.079
label: patent number
content: US3017879A
objectType: label: Object Name
content: fertility tester, kit
label: Object Name
content: ovulation test, kit
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 in x 8 3/8 in x 1 7/8 in; 5.08 cm x 21.2725 cm x 4.7625 cm