Sunday, March 10, 2013
Drax footnote
Drax, the name of the English coal generating company mentioned in previous entry, recalled an advertisement I'd heard in exactly one 1945 Fibber episode. During the war Johnson's Wax had developed and used a wax-based preservative for uniforms, and the ad promised that Drax would become popular in peacetime applications. The ad stuck in memory because it was atypically talking to fabric manufacturers instead of consumers.
I googled to see if Drax ever got used. Most of the items relate to the same Fibber episode, but there are a couple of newspaper archive ads for actual products using Drax.
This 1947 ad in a Shelton, Wash paper shows Sleepmaster sofas treated with Drax. "Stain resistant! Water repellent! Longer lasting! Stay clean longer!"
Still doesn't tell the full story. Why did it go out of use? Not very good? Too expensive? Sounded like Dracula?
Maybe it's time to bring back waxes, Nature's surface protection. Drax would probably be less toxic than currently used stain-guard compounds. Even Johnson's own 'Pledge' no longer contains wax!
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Another postwar development that quickly vanished: Admiral introduced one of the first frost-free refrigerators, with an ultraviolet light to kill germs and mold. Frost-free fridges obviously continued, but the ultraviolet 'Sterilite' went away. Seems like a highly useful feature!
¶ 6:01 AM 
