Windex is an American brand of glass and hard-surface cleaner that was invented by the Drackett Company in 1933 and has been marketed throughout the intervening decades—originally in glass containers, later in plastic ones. Drackett sold the Windex brand to Bristol-Meyers in 1965.

S. C. Johnson S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc. (commonly referred to as S. C. Johnson) is an American multinational, privately held manufacturer of household cleaning supplies and other consumer chemicals based in Racine, Wisconsin. In 2017, S. C. Jo ...

acquired Windex in 1993 and has been manufacturing it since. The original Windex was yellow. Today, there are varieties marketed in several colors (ocean fresh blue, sunshine lemon, and citrus orange) and fragrances (spring bouquet, ocean mist, lavender, and tea tree), with a number of additives such as vinegar, lemon, lime, or orange juice.

Ingredients

On August 26, 1969, Melvin E. Stonebraker and Samuel P. Wise received U.S. patent #3,463,735 for a glass cleaning composition, listing example formulae, one of which is 4.0% isopropyl alcohol, 1%

ethylene glycol monobutyl ether 2-Butoxyethanol is an organic compound with the chemical formula BuOC2H4OH (Bu = CH3CH2CH2CH2). This colorless liquid has a sweet, ether-like odor, as it derives from the family of glycol ethers, and is a butyl ether of ethylene glycol. As a rela ...

, 0.1% sodium lauryl sulfate (a surfactant), calcium (Ca) 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 inexpensive to manufacture but allowed the product to be packaged in glass bottles and dispensed with a plastic sprayer. In 1989, Windex was a 5% ammonia solution. The product was reformulated in 2006. In 2009, S.C. Johnson started publishing ingredients for all of its products, including Windex. The S.C. Johnson website lists Windex's ingredients as water, 2-hexoxyethanol,

isopropanolamine 1-Aminopropan-2-ol is the organic compound with the formula CH3CH(OH)CH2NH2. It is an amino alcohol. The term ''isopropanolamine'' may also refer more generally to the additional homologs diisopropanolamine (DIPA) and triisopropanolamine (TIPA). ...

, sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate, lauramine oxide,

ammonium hydroxide Ammonia solution, also known as ammonia water, ammonium hydroxide, ammoniacal liquor, ammonia liquor, aqua ammonia, aqueous ammonia, or (inaccurately) ammonia, is a solution of ammonia in water. It can be denoted by the symbols NH3(aq). Although ...

, fragrance, and Liquitint sky blue dye. An alternative variant also for household use cites water, hexoxyethanol, isopropanolamine,

, sodium C10-C16 alkylbenzenesulfonate, lauramine oxide, sodium xylene sulfonate, colorants, and fragrances.

Competition

Windex's main competitor in the window cleaning market is Glass Plus, a glass cleaning product produced by Reckitt Benckiser, which Windex's current owner S. C. Johnson & Son was required to divest to gain the approval of the

Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. The FTC shares jurisdiction ov ...

to acquire

Dow Chemical Company The Dow Chemical Company, officially Dow Inc., is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. The company is among the three largest chemical producers in the world. Dow manufactures plastic ...

's DowBrands consumer products division (the original owner of the Glass Plus brand).

References

"Don’t Let the Blue Fool You: New Logo on Windex® Bottle to Highlight Company's Greenlist™ Process"
S.C. Johnson press release, Racine, Wisconsin, Thursday, January 17, 2008 * "Philip W. Drackett: Earned profits, plaudits" by Barry M. Horstman, '' Cincinnati Post'', May 21, 1999.

External links

Windex's official website

{{SCJohnson Products introduced in 1933 Cleaning product brands Household chemicals S. C. Johnson & Son brands Windows 1993 mergers and acquisitions