Brillo Pad
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Brillo Pad is a trade name for a scouring pad, used for cleaning dishes, and made from steel wool impregnated with soap.[1] The concept was patented in 1913, under the name "Brillo" (from the Latin word for "bright").[1]
It came at a time when the introduction of aluminum pots and pans (replacing cast iron) was creating a quiet revolution in the kitchen. Easily blackened by coal fires, the shiny newness of the cookware didn't last long.
In the mid 1960s the pop artist Andy Warhol made a sculpture of a look-alike cardboard transportation carton for Brillo Soap Pads.
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[edit] History
In the early 1900s, in New York, a cookware peddler and a jeweler (his brother-in-law), were working on a solution to the blackened cookware.[1] Using jeweler's rouge, with soap and fine steel wool from Germany, they developed a method to scour the pots and pans when they began to blacken. The method worked, and the peddler added this new product, soap with steel wool, into his line of goods for sale.[1]
Demand for the steel wool and soap with the jeweler’s rouge increased quickly, and the peddler and the jeweler decided to patent the product.[1] They sought advice from New York attorney Milton Loeb. Because they lacked the money to pay for legal services, they offered attorney Loeb an interest in their business instead. Loeb accepted, and in 1913, he secured a patent for the product under the name Brillo (the Latin word meaning "bright"). The partnership that formed between the peddler, the jeweler and the attorney became known as the Brillo Manufacturing Company, with headquarters and production operations in New York City.[1]
By 1917, the company was selling packaged boxes of six pads, with a cake of soap included.[1] It was only in the 1930s that the soap was contained within the pad. The company merged with Purex Industries in 1962. The Dial Corporation bought Purex Industries in 1985. In 1997, it sold Brillo to Church and Dwight. In the US, Brillo is made in London, Ohio.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g "Brillo: A History Of Cleaning". Church and Dwight. 2008. http://www.brillo.com/crelations/history.asp. Retrieved 2009-04-24.
