Bon Ami
Encyclopedia
Bon Ami, French
for "Good Friend", is a powdered household cleaner sold by the Faultless Starch/Bon Ami Company
of Kansas City
, Missouri
, USA
. The product's slogan is "Hasn't scratched yet" referring to the fact that it does not scratch surfaces. The Bon Ami mascot, a chick
emerging from an egg
, is a play on the slogan (the newly-hatched chick hasn't scratched the ground for worms and insects). According to its material safety data sheet
Bon Ami's active ingredients are the mild abrasives sodium carbonate
, calcium carbonate
and feldspar
.
The first Bon Ami soap was an abrasive-laden tallow soap manufactured by the J.T. Robertson Soap Company of Manchester, Connecticut
in 1886. The product was supposedly developed when Mr. Robinson noticed that the machinery used to separate quartz used in cleaning powders from the "waste" feldspar was polished clean in the separation process. He developed the new, more gentle and economical feldspar cleanser with the help of Gurdon Hicks Childs, who owned the mill where the first bars were made.
The powdered cleanser was developed a few years later. Marketed in America and unchanged for over 100 years, is widely advertised as a cleaner for persons with chemical sensitivities because it did not contain bleach or strong chemicals. The original cake form was discontinued in the late 1990's. In 2006 the cleaner was changed to be "easier rinsing" and is not felt to be the same product as in the past by some with chemical sensitivities. However, the original formulation is still manufactured by the company as well. Bon Ami touts on its labeling the recommendation of companies such as: American Standard
, Chantal, CorningWare
, Farberware
, Pyrex Ware
, Rival
, Sterling Plumbing Group, and West Bend
. The company has also recently begun to offer both scented and unscented liquid products including a dish soap, all-purpose cleaner and liquid cleanser (a liquid version of their powder cleanser).
Bon Ami may also refer to other products by the same company.
In 2011 the Bon Ami company celebrated its 125th anniversary by re-releasing the original cleaning cake for purchase. Limited supplies were offered both with and without a commemorative tin celebrating the original formula's popularity.
", whenever people are discussing a particularly gory murder at an old mansion, Bon Ami's cleaning effectiveness is given quite the testimonial. The murder was so gory that blood was found everywhere - even on the organ keys. Despite the efforts to clean the keys, the blood remained to this very day - "and they used Bon Ami!"
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
for "Good Friend", is a powdered household cleaner sold by the Faultless Starch/Bon Ami Company
Faultless Starch/Bon Ami Company
Faultless Starch/Bon Ami Company is the maker of a variety of household cleaning items including Bon Ami. The company's headquarters are in Kansas City, Missouri....
of Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The product's slogan is "Hasn't scratched yet" referring to the fact that it does not scratch surfaces. The Bon Ami mascot, a chick
Chicken
The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
emerging from an egg
Egg (food)
Eggs are laid by females of many different species, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, and have probably been eaten by mankind for millennia. Bird and reptile eggs consist of a protective eggshell, albumen , and vitellus , contained within various thin membranes...
, is a play on the slogan (the newly-hatched chick hasn't scratched the ground for worms and insects). According to its material safety data sheet
Material safety data sheet
A Material Safety Data Sheet is a form with data regarding the properties of a particular substance....
Bon Ami's active ingredients are the mild abrasives sodium carbonate
Sodium carbonate
Sodium carbonate , Na2CO3 is a sodium salt of carbonic acid. It most commonly occurs as a crystalline heptahydrate, which readily effloresces to form a white powder, the monohydrate. Sodium carbonate is domestically well-known for its everyday use as a water softener. It can be extracted from the...
, calcium carbonate
Calcium carbonate
Calcium carbonate is a chemical compound with the formula CaCO3. It is a common substance found in rocks in all parts of the world, and is the main component of shells of marine organisms, snails, coal balls, pearls, and eggshells. Calcium carbonate is the active ingredient in agricultural lime,...
and feldspar
Feldspar
Feldspars are a group of rock-forming tectosilicate minerals which make up as much as 60% of the Earth's crust....
.
The first Bon Ami soap was an abrasive-laden tallow soap manufactured by the J.T. Robertson Soap Company of Manchester, Connecticut
Manchester, Connecticut
Manchester is a township and city in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 58,241.- History :...
in 1886. The product was supposedly developed when Mr. Robinson noticed that the machinery used to separate quartz used in cleaning powders from the "waste" feldspar was polished clean in the separation process. He developed the new, more gentle and economical feldspar cleanser with the help of Gurdon Hicks Childs, who owned the mill where the first bars were made.
The powdered cleanser was developed a few years later. Marketed in America and unchanged for over 100 years, is widely advertised as a cleaner for persons with chemical sensitivities because it did not contain bleach or strong chemicals. The original cake form was discontinued in the late 1990's. In 2006 the cleaner was changed to be "easier rinsing" and is not felt to be the same product as in the past by some with chemical sensitivities. However, the original formulation is still manufactured by the company as well. Bon Ami touts on its labeling the recommendation of companies such as: American Standard
American Standard Companies
American Standard Companies, Inc. was a global manufacturer of air conditioning systems and services, bath & kitchen products and vehicle control systems. The company divested all but the air conditioning business in 2007, and renamed itself Trane....
, Chantal, CorningWare
Corningware
CorningWare was originally a brand name for a unique pyroceramic glass cookware resistant to thermal shock, that was first introduced in 1958 by Corning Glass Works. CorningWare is notable for the fact that it can be used directly on the stovetop.- History :In 1953, Dr. S...
, Farberware
Meyer Corporation
Meyer Corporation is a cookware distributor based in Vallejo, California, USA, whose parent company is Meyer Manufacturing Co. Ltd. It is the largest cookware distributor in the United States and second largest in the world. Cookware labels or lines for which Meyer is the parent firm include...
, Pyrex Ware
Pyrex
Pyrex is a brand name for glassware, introduced by Corning Incorporated in 1915.Originally, Pyrex was made from borosilicate glass. In the 1940s the composition was changed for some products to tempered soda-lime glass, which is the most common form of glass used in glass bakeware in the US and has...
, Rival
Jarden
Jarden Corporation, is an America conglomerate of many well-known consumer product brands in the areas of kitchen electronics, kitchen cookware, kitchen tools, gaming, arts & crafts, home storage, and clothing. In 2006, it was ranked #585 on the Fortune 1000...
, Sterling Plumbing Group, and West Bend
West Bend Company
The West Bend Company was a West Bend, Wisconsin company from 1911 to 2003. It manufactures aluminum cookware and electrical appliances, but also made two-stroke cycle engines including outboard boat motors. Art Ingels used a surplus West Bend engine to power the first kart...
. The company has also recently begun to offer both scented and unscented liquid products including a dish soap, all-purpose cleaner and liquid cleanser (a liquid version of their powder cleanser).
Bon Ami may also refer to other products by the same company.
In 2011 the Bon Ami company celebrated its 125th anniversary by re-releasing the original cleaning cake for purchase. Limited supplies were offered both with and without a commemorative tin celebrating the original formula's popularity.
Popular culture references
In the film comedy "The Ghost and Mr. ChickenThe Ghost and Mr. Chicken
The Ghost and Mr. Chicken is a 1966 American Universal Pictures feature film starring Don Knotts as Luther Heggs, a newspaper typesetter who spends a night in a haunted house, which is located in the fictitious community of Rachel, Kansas...
", whenever people are discussing a particularly gory murder at an old mansion, Bon Ami's cleaning effectiveness is given quite the testimonial. The murder was so gory that blood was found everywhere - even on the organ keys. Despite the efforts to clean the keys, the blood remained to this very day - "and they used Bon Ami!"