Renuzit


Renuzit is a brand of air fresheners produced by Henkel North American Consumer Goods. The Renuzit brand once included a solvent-based spot remover and cleaner as well.

History

Renuzit cleaning fluid was originally produced by the Radbill Oil Co. of Philadelphia in 1932, which became Renuzit Home Products Company before 1947. The company was acquired by Drackett in 1969, which had been bought by Bristol-Myers in 1965, which in turn, merged with Squibb in 1989.
In 1992, Bristol-Myers Squibb sold Drackett to S. C. Johnson & Son, at which point, the Federal Trade Commission ordered S.C. Johnson to divest itself of Renuzit and certain other products within a year, and not purchase any other company making air fresheners for 10 years. The following year, S.C. Johnson sold Renuzit to The Dial Corporation. In 2004, Dial became a subsidiary of Henkel.

Products

Renuzit introduced a fragrance in 1972 called Super Odor Killer. The fragrance was not readily identifiable because it used a blend of perfumes left over when fragrance manufacturers produced a little too much for another company's orders. This blend was not only good at masking a variety of odors, it could be used at slightly higher fragrance levels without overwhelming the user. Renuzit was also the first to introduce an air freshener for the kitchen when they brought out "Country Kitchen" cinnamon fragrance in 1979. It proved to be highly popular and was soon copied by competitors.
Renuzit offered a cleaning solvent at one time, sold in 4-ounce steel dispenser cans similar to those used for multipurpose household oil, and in steel quart and gallon cans similar to those used for paint thinner. It was apparently a dry-cleaning fluid, believed to be Benzine based and therefore suitable for all colorfast objects and most plastics. In 1972, a gallon retailed for approximately $2.49. At that time, the label indicated that the Drackett Products Co. was the USA distributor. Manufacture of the product appears to have been discontinued in the early 1960s.