Chesebrough Manufacturing Company was an oil business, founded in 1859, which produced petroleum jelly or

Vaseline Vaseline ()Also pronounced with the main stress on the last syllable . is an American brand of petroleum jelly-based products owned by transnational company Unilever. Products include plain petroleum jelly and a selection of skin creams, soa ...

, which was marketed with the brand name Luxor. Robert Augustus Chesebrough, a chemist who started the company, was interested in marketing oil products for medicinal use. He produced the first petroleum jelly by refining so-called rod wax, a paraffin-like substance that formed on oil drilling rigs, using heat and filtration. He named the substance "Vaseline", from the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

word for water (''Wasser'') and the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

word for oil (''olion''). Vaseline was patented in the United States in 1872 and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1877.

Company history

In 1870, Robert Chesebrough began selling a product derived from petroleum residue, Vaseline Petroleum Jelly. Chesebrough's first manufacturing plant for vaseline was in

Perth Amboy, New Jersey Perth Amboy is a city in Middlesex County, New Jersey. Perth Amboy is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 55,436. Perth Amboy has a Hispanic majority population. In the 2010 census, th ...

. In 1881, Chesebrough Manufacturing began operating under Standard Oil. With the breakup of Standard Oil in 1911, it regained independence. Additional production sites were built in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, and in 1924,

London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

. Chesebrough Manufacturing Company distributed its product throughout the United States and Britain during the early and mid-20th century. Its UK office was at 42

Holborn Viaduct Holborn Viaduct is a road bridge in London and the name of the street which crosses it (which forms part of the A40 route). It links Holborn, via Holborn Circus, with Newgate Street, in the City of London financial district, passing over ...

. It was listed on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed ...

and grouped with other oil-related stocks such as Standard Oil and its subsidiaries, and Continental Oil. The company had a productive record of earnings and dividend disbursements, even after the onset of the Great Depression. Earnings increased from $8.36 per share in 1925 to $13.22 during 1929. As of December 31, 1940, the Chesebrough Manufacturing Company had total assets of $4,267,940 and liabilities of $603,643. In 1940, damage to its London plant from a

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

air raid totaled $50,000. Chesebrough and

Pond's Pond's is an American brand of beauty and health care products, currently owned by Unilever. History Pond's Cream was invented in the United States as a patent medicine by pharmacist Theron T. Pond (1800–1852) of Utica, New York, in 1846. M ...

merged in June 1955 and, in 1987, Chesebrough-Ponds was acquired by the Anglo-Dutch company

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy dri ...

References

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Chesebrough Manufacturing Company Chesebrough Manufacturing Company was an oil business, founded in 1859, which produced petroleum jelly or Vaseline, which was marketed with the brand name Luxor. Robert Augustus Chesebrough, a chemist who started the company, was interested in mar ...

Cheesebrough Manufacturing Company

Defunct companies based in New Jersey Unilever companies 1859 establishments in New Jersey Energy companies established in 1859 Manufacturing companies established in 1859