Brillo Pad
Encyclopedia
Brillo Pad is a trade name
for a scouring pad
, used for cleaning dishes, and made from steel wool
impregnated with soap
. The concept was patented in 1913. The company's website states the name Brillo is from the Latin
word for 'bright,' though no such word exists in Latin; however, Italian, French, Spanish and English do have words for 'shine' or 'bright' beginning with brill-.
It came at a time when aluminium
pots and pans were replacing cast iron
in the kitchen
. Easily blackened by coal
fires, the shine 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.
Demand for the steel wool and soap with the jewellers' rouge increased quickly, and the peddler and the jeweller decided to patent the product. They sought advice from Al Jolson. Because they lacked the money to pay for legal services, they offered attorney Milton 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 jeweller and the attorney became known as the Brillo Manufacturing Company, with headquarters and production operations in New York City.
By 1917, the company was selling packaged boxes of six pads, with a cake of soap included. 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
.
On March 12, 2010, Armaly Brands, the largest producer and distributor of polyester sponge product in the United States, best known for its proprietary Estracell More Sanitary sponges, purchased the Brillo soap pad operation from Church & Dwight. Armaly Brands is located in Walled Lake, Michigan
.
nicknames journalist and broadcaster Andrew Neil
'Brillo' in reference to the appearance of his hair.
Trade name
A trade name, also known as a trading name or a business name, is the name which a business trades under for commercial purposes, although its registered, legal name, used for contracts and other formal situations, may be another....
for a scouring pad
Scouring pad
A scouring pad or scourer is a small pad of metal or plastic mesh used for scouring a surface. Some scouring pads have one side made of a soft sponge-like material and the other is the aforementioned plastic mesh.-History:...
, used for cleaning dishes, and made from steel wool
Steel wool
Steel wool, also known as wire wool, is a bundle of strands of very fine soft steel filaments, used in finishing and repairing work to polish wood or metal objects, and for cleaning household cookware....
impregnated with soap
Soap
In chemistry, soap is a salt of a fatty acid.IUPAC. "" Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. . Compiled by A. D. McNaught and A. Wilkinson. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford . XML on-line corrected version: created by M. Nic, J. Jirat, B. Kosata; updates compiled by A. Jenkins. ISBN...
. The concept was patented in 1913. The company's website states the name Brillo is from the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
word for 'bright,' though no such word exists in Latin; however, Italian, French, Spanish and English do have words for 'shine' or 'bright' beginning with brill-.
It came at a time when aluminium
Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
pots and pans were replacing cast iron
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
in the kitchen
Kitchen
A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation.In the West, a modern residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running water, a refrigerator and kitchen cabinets arranged according to a modular design. Many households have a...
. Easily blackened by coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
fires, the shine of the cookware didn't last long.
In the mid 1960s the pop artist Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
made a sculpture of a look-alike cardboard transportation carton for Brillo Soap Pads.
History
In the early 1900s, in New York, a cookware peddler and a jeweller (his brother-in-law), were working on a solution to the blackened cookware. Using jewellers' rouge, with soap and fine steel wool from Germany, they developed a method to scour the backsides of cooking utensils 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.Demand for the steel wool and soap with the jewellers' rouge increased quickly, and the peddler and the jeweller decided to patent the product. They sought advice from Al Jolson. Because they lacked the money to pay for legal services, they offered attorney Milton 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 jeweller and the attorney became known as the Brillo Manufacturing Company, with headquarters and production operations in New York City.
By 1917, the company was selling packaged boxes of six pads, with a cake of soap included. 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
Dial (company)
The Dial Corporation, a subsidiary of Henkel AG & Co. KGaA , is a manufacturer of personal-care and household-cleaning products based in Scottsdale, Arizona....
bought Purex Industries in 1985. In 1997, it sold Brillo to Church and Dwight
Church and Dwight
Church & Dwight Co., Inc. is a minor U.S. manufacturer of household products that is based in Princeton, New Jersey. While it manufactures many items, it is by far best known for its Arm & Hammer line which includes baking soda and many other items made with it. The company was founded in 1896 to...
. In the US, Brillo is made in London, Ohio
London, Ohio
London is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Ohio, United States. Located about southwest of the Ohio capital of Columbus, London was established in 1811 to serve as the county seat. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 8,771, an increase from 7,807 in 1990. It is the...
.
On March 12, 2010, Armaly Brands, the largest producer and distributor of polyester sponge product in the United States, best known for its proprietary Estracell More Sanitary sponges, purchased the Brillo soap pad operation from Church & Dwight. Armaly Brands is located in Walled Lake, Michigan
Walled Lake, Michigan
Walled Lake is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 6,999 at the 2010 census.-Origins of the name:The town's name is said to have been given by the first Euro-American settler, Walter Hewitt, in 1825...
.
Private Eye usage
The British satirical magazine Private EyePrivate Eye
Private Eye is a fortnightly British satirical and current affairs magazine, edited by Ian Hislop.Since its first publication in 1961, Private Eye has been a prominent critic and lampooner of public figures and entities that it deemed guilty of any of the sins of incompetence, inefficiency,...
nicknames journalist and broadcaster Andrew Neil
Andrew Neil
Andrew Ferguson Neil is a Scottish journalist and broadcaster.He currently works for the BBC, presenting the live political programmes The Daily Politics and This Week...
'Brillo' in reference to the appearance of his hair.