In 1867, a patent was granted for a small reusable rubber cup to collect menstrual blood when inserted in the vagina. The invention didn't receive much attention until 1937, when author Leona Chalmers received a patent for a similar device and introduced it commercially. In the late 1950s, Chalmers joined Robert P. Oreck to develop and market the Tassette (little cup in French/English). Ad campaigns for the Tassette ranged from the incomplete and inexplicable, "Tassette - Not a Tampon, Not a Napkin" (Uh, so what is it?) to the absurd. "New - Monthly Protection as Dainty as a Dew-Kissed Flower."

Unfortunately, the Tassette cup never made a profit and went off the market in 1967 due in part to the fact that women could reuse the same cup for five years at time and because some customers didn't like repeated washing of the product.

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