Vanish (brand)

  Vanish toilet bowl cleaner is manufactured by Reckitt Benckiser PLC.

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They obtained the brand through the purchase of The Drackett Company in 1992. Drackett purchased the product from inventor Judson Dunaway.

Judson Dunaway Corporation of Dover NH introduced Vanish in 1937 as a competitor to Sani-Flush, a toilet bowl cleaner made since 1911. The products were substantially the same; the last Sani-Flush patent had expired in 1932.

In 1947, Hygienic Products sued Judson Dunaway on grounds of trademark infringement and unfair competition. Sani-Flush used a yellow 22-ounce can showing a woman pouring bowl cleaner into a toilet. Initially, Vanish sold their product in a white 22-ounce showing the bowl cleaner coming from the bottom of the "I". After WWII, Vanish advertising started to show a woman pouring the product into a toilet bowl, and then a hand, obviously female, pouring powder into a toilet bowl. Dunaway won on appeal.

The active ingredient in crystal bowl cleaners is sodium bisulfate (also known as sodium hydrogen sulfate). Various surfactants are added. This forms an acid when mixed with water. Most other household cleaners are basic (alkaline) in nature.

Sources:

• Judson Dunaway residence
• 178 F.2d 461 (84 U.S.P.Q. 31) HYGIENIC PRODUCTS CO. v. JUDSON DUNAWAY CORPORATION, United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit.
• US Patent 1,118,200 Cleaning And Disinfecting Powder for the Removal of Stains, Incrustations, &c.