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| 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. |
