Windex is an American brand of glass and hard-surface cleaner that was invented by the

Drackett The Drackett Company was a leading company in the specialty chemicals business during the 20th century, responsible for such products as Windex glass cleaner, Vanish toilet bowl cleaner, Drāno drain opener, Behold furniture polish, Endust ...

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 The Bristol Myers Squibb Company (BMS) is an American multinational pharmaceutical company. Headquartered in New York City, BMS is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies and consistently ranks on the ''Fortune'' 500 list of the lar ...

in 1965. S. C. Johnson 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 Lime commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Botany ...

, or

orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

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 Isopropyl alcohol (IUPAC name propan-2-ol and also called isopropanol or 2-propanol) is a colorless, flammable organic compound with a pungent alcoholic odor. As an isopropyl group linked to a hydroxyl group ( chemical formula ) it is the s ...

, 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 Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) or sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), sometimes written sodium laurilsulfate, is an organic compound with the formula . It is an anionic surfactant used in many cleaning and hygiene products. This compound is the sodium Salt ...

(a surfactant), calcium (Ca) 0.01%,

tetrasodium pyrophosphate Tetrasodium pyrophosphate, also called sodium pyrophosphate, tetrasodium phosphate or TSPP, is an inorganic compound with the formula Na4P2O7. As a salt, it is a white, water-soluble solid. It is composed of pyrophosphate anion and sodium ions. T ...

(a water softener), 0.05% of 28%

ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride, and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Biologically, it is a common nitrogenous wa ...

, 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%

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,

sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate Alkylbenzene sulfonates are a class of anionic surfactants, consisting of a hydrophilic sulfonate head-group and a hydrophobic alkylbenzene tail-group. Along with sodium laureth sulfate, they are one of the oldest and most widely used synthetic ...

lauramine oxide Lauryldimethylamine oxide (LDAO), also known as dodecyldimethylamine oxide (DDAO), is an amine oxide based zwitterionic surfactant, with a C12 (dodecyl) alkyl tail. It is one of the most frequently-used surfactants of this type. Like other amine ...

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,

, sodium xylene sulfonate, colorants, and fragrances.

Competition

Windex's main competitor in the window cleaning market is

Glass Plus Glass Plus is a glass and multi-surface cleaner. Information Glass Plus is currently manufactured by Reckitt Benckiser, who purchased the brand from S. C. Johnson. SC Johnson had purchased it from Dow Chemical. Dow Chemical acquired it through ...

, a glass cleaning product produced by

Reckitt Benckiser Reckitt Benckiser Group plc, trade name, trading as Reckitt, is a United Kingdom, British multinational corporation, multinational fast moving consumer goods, consumer goods company headquartered in Slough, England. It is a producer of health, ...

, which Windex's current owner S. C. Johnson & Son was required to divest to gain the approval of the Federal Trade Commission to acquire Dow Chemical Company'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 ''The Cincinnati Post'' was an afternoon daily newspaper published in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. In Northern Kentucky, it was bundled inside a local edition called ''The Kentucky Post''. The ''Post'' was a founding publication and onetime ...

'', 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