Saturday, September 30, 1933

Straightened up the house. Martha and Mary Jane from Topeka came down. I went to town with them. Later, Myrtle came down. We took them over to their brother-in-law's.

Inventor: Harry R. Drackett
Launch Year: 1933

When Windex was invented as a car windshield cleaner in 1933 by Harry R. Drackett, it was
essentially 100% solvent, and as a flammable product, it had to be sold in metal cans. When
 modern surfactants were  introduced after World War II, the product was reformulated.

The Sam Wise patent #3,463,735 lists several example formulae, one of which is 4.0%
isopropyl alcohol (a highly volatile solvent) 1% ethylene glycol monobutyl ether
(a less volatile solvent), 0.1% sodium lauryl sulfate (a surfactant), 0.01% tetrasodium
pyrophosphate (a water softener), 0.05% of 28% ammonia, 1% of a dye solution, and 0.01%
perfume. This formula was not only significantly less expensive to manufacture, but allowed 
the product to be packaged in glass bottles and dispensed with a plastic sprayer.

The product was recently reformulated by its current manufacturer, S. C. Johnson Company,
with more environmentally desirable solvents.