Liquid soap who invented

When did liquid soap become mass-produced? The Minnetonka Corporation of Minnesota released Softsoap in , and their product benefited greatly from being first.

It took some doing, though, for Minnetonka to get the jump on its larger competitors. The key to success was the dispenser. Without a suitable pump — and suitable pumps were made by only a few factories in the U. The uncleanliness of that time contributed heavily to illness, including the Black Death, which occurred in the 14th century. Still there were areas of the medieval world where personal cleanliness remained important. Daily bathing was a common custom in Japan during the Middle Ages in Europe.

And in Iceland, pools warmed with water from hot springs were popular gathering places on Saturday evenings. The English began making soap during the 12th century. Commercial soap making began in the American colonies in , but was for many years a household chore rather than a profession.

It was not until the 17th century that cleanliness and bathing started to come back into fashion in much of Europe, particularly in the wealthier areas. Well into the 19th century, soap was heavily taxed as a luxury item in several countries.

When the tax was removed, soap became available to most people, and cleanliness standards across societies improved. Other inventors continued to tweak liquid soap's formula, including Kurt Stickdorn who, according to his patent , used coconut oil to make the soap more effective. Beginning in the early s, liquid hand soap became popular in public spaces, but it took a long time—more than a century—for it to be a common item in homes.

In , Minnetonka, a small company, released the first successful mass-produced liquid hand soap, Softsoap, beating out larger companies by buying all the available soap bottle pumps. Few companies made the pumps in the U. Minnetonka bought the whole supply of pumps, nearly ,,, in hopes of building a loyal consumer base before other companies could break into the market. Their bold strategy was a success at first, but larger companies, such as Ivory, quickly developed their own liquid hand soaps and broke into the market within a couple of years.

Since then, liquid soap has only gained popularity. Learning liquid soap's story—and stories of other inventions—helps us see that everyday objects can still be improved and improve our problem-solving skills.

Even if you can't visit us here at the Draper Spark! Lab , you can get your kids involved in the invention process and thinking about the history of invention. Here are some tips to get you started. They can be used to help kids explore the objects around them and think about how they can be inventive problem-solvers, too.

Ask open-ended questions. This helps kids think about problem-solving and the different techniques that past inventors have used that they can also use to create inventions at home. Johnson was forced to rename his company into Palmolive and start really unprecedented production of this palm and olive oil soap. Since its appearance until today, Palmolive soaps remained some of the most popular soaps in the world. Other companies also crated their versions of liquid soaps and detergents , most notably Pine-Sol and Tide.