After serving in the Navy during WWII, founder James “Pete” Petersen was in the first graduating class of the Bendix Corporation apprenticeship program in 1956. He continued his work at Bendix Corporation until 1959. In 1959, Pete and partners Frank Elliot and Al Cooper founded Epic Manufacturing, Inc.

In 1967, Pete and his friend, Dr. Earl Padgett (of Padgett Instruments) went to lunch and Pete sketched out the first engineering drawing of the now famous Padgett Dermatome. Pete and Dr. Padgett continued development and released the first Padgett Dermatome in 1969.

For 27 years, Pete operated Epic Manufacturing until selling the business in 1986 to OptiCopy, who was subsequently purchased by Polychrome, Inc. For the next four years, Pete would continue working for OptiCopy. In 1988, Pete was offered the opportunity to reacquire the Padgett Dermatome product line and founded Dadson Manufacturing Corp with his son, William.

Pete and Bill ran the business until Pete’s death in 2006. At that time, his grandson, Peter Lucas, joined the business to continue its operation.

In 2010, Dadson gained ISO 13485 Certification from the National Standards Association of Ireland (NSAI), and maintains a vibrant manufacturing and service business for medical devices.

In 2017, Dadson began doing business as JE Petersen to honor Jim Petersen’s pioneering work in reconstructive surgical devices.