Westinghouse and All detergent??

[kevin313]

I was at an estate sale over the weekend and I came across this little flyer in a Westinghouse Laundromat "Recipe" book (really an owner's manual)with a copyright date of 1945.

I had no idea that the detergent "all" was developed for use in the Westinghouse Laundromat. I'm sure those of you who are knowledgeable on washers already knew this, but I'm curious is there were other detergent brands that came out of a research partnership between a washer manufacturer and a soap/chemical maker?? Does anyone know?

And who originally manufactured "all" - was it Lever Bros.?

 

[wayupnorth]

My 48 Kenmore wringer I just got had the original manuals including the proper way to care for your clothes. It said Rinso was the best to go in these washers. Well. its 68 years later and it worked just fine today with cheap liquid soap.

 

[frigilux]

An interesting find, Kevin. I had no idea that All was on the market in the mid-1940's, nor that it was developed in conjunction with Westinghouse. Thanks for sharing that card with us.

 

[maytagbear]

All was originally

a product of Monsanto. Yes, Monsanto, the maker of Roundup herbicide and various Genetically Modified Organisms.

I know this, because my Mother, who was a Home Economics professor at Witteberg University, Springfield Ohio, was a field tester for all.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[launderess]

Ohh, yes!

We've had this discussion before, so you can search the archives for more information.

Yes, basically Westinghouse turned to Monsanto for a wash day detergent that was low sudsing.

Westinghouse like Bendix and really anyone else producing H-Axis washers back then had a problem; both soap and the new detergents (Tide for instance) created tons of froth in side loading washers. Froth is the deadly enemy of such machines as it causes all sorts of problems including poor performance.

Early detergents or soaps gave instructions for front loaders to use enough product for suds to reach 1/4 to 1/2 way up the window! My Miele would have all sorts of fits.

Problem was that housewives then having been used to soap equated froth with cleaning power. Safe sudsing detergents like All, Dash, and others were viewed as highly suspect.



Monsanto didn't have the belly nor heft to properly market All detergent, Lever Brothers stepped in to purchase the formula/rights which began one mother of anti-trust legal actions. LB eventually prevailed and even made improvements in the original Monsanto formula.

This being said for years All detergent drifted and suffered from a lack of product focus. LB first touted "controlled suds", then it was "Bleach, Borax, and Brighteners", next came "stain lifters", and so forth.

 

[polkanut]

Here's some photographic proof to back Lawrence up, not that he needed any.

 

[supersuds]

Here's a link to an older thread that shows some of the Monsanto/All literature that was distributed with sample sized boxes. It does refer to collaboration with an unnamed washer manufacturer.

Also, it came out in the thread that All was distributed by a company called Detergents, Inc. between 1947 and 1952.

http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?48396

 

[launderess]

Heavy frothing soap or detergent in a vintage front loader

This is what you get...