Ivory, a soap manufacturing company, has been producing the best and the unique floating soaps for over a century now. It has become one of the most popular soap manufacturing brands within that particular duration. The company has successfully maintained its value and its trademark of manufacturing floating soaps. Although the manufacture of the floating soaps was just an accident, how does that happen?
About ivory soaps
The brand Ivory Soap has two key selling points, and one is that it is commendably pure, and the other is that it floats. These two factors make it the most superior and the most popular brands among the other soap manufacturing brand. The two factors are played in the advertisement of the company ever since it has come into existence.
How does the soap float?
If you are curious to know about how it floats, then you check the story behind it. The soap id produced in a way that the air is hipped into the mixture of the soap before it is left aside to get set. The final product has numerous tiny bubbles in it, which make the soap light and less dense, which makes it easy to float. The air bubbles in the soap serve a dual function; it makes the soap to produce a consistent and bubbly lather. It is another factor that draws the attention of the public towards this brand.
How was the idea borne in the minds of the people?
The members of the Ivory company happily states that it was a mere incident that took place by one of its employees. The man left the soap mixture to mix for a long time while he was on his break. He noticed his mistake after coming back from the break and decided not to throw the batch as nothing new was added to the mixture. But how did he knew that he has unknowingly produced something that was never seen or heard of before?
The mixture was allowed to set and cut into bars. It was later that they realized that there were flooded orders of the same batch of the soap as “the floating soap.” The workers were unaware of any such product was available in their company, or they have sold any such product before. After having received dozens of orders of the mystery product, the authorities of the company conducted an investigation, and they found the tainted batch. Then they realized that extra air must have added to the batch that made it lighter, and thus, the soap can float in water.
The real story behind this invention
The story mentioned earlier was debunked by one of the archivists while he and some other archivists were researching the book of the history of Proctor & Gamble Co (the company owning Ivory). According to the archivists, a book was found in 1863, which stated the working of a chemist for P&G. There was a point in the notebook – “I made the floating soap today, think we’ll make an entire stock in this way.”
The chemist who made this discovery was none other than James Gamble. He was the son of the man who co-founded the company named James Gamble Senior. The company’s most enduring product, i.e., the floating soap, was forgotten for about a century. Thus, further demonstrated launch was purposeful and not accidental!