And the man behind the brand is...
William Upjohn
In the late 1880s pills prescribed by doctors were so hard a hammer couldn't crack their protective shells. Such pills not only did not dissolve in the stomach but were often passed by the patient without any medicinal benefit whatsoever.
In 1885 32-year old Dr. William Erastus Upjohn patented a tedious process which would revolutionize the drug industry. Dr. Upjohn's new "friable" pill crumpled under the pressure of a thumb. The patent didn't reveal Upjohn's process which remained secret for decades.
Upjohn, a graduate of the University of Michigan, had been practicing medicine in rural Hastings, Michigan for a decade when he introduced his friable pill.
In 1886 he formed the Upjohn Pill and Granule Company in Kalamazoo with his brother Henry. Henry died a year later of typhoid fever but two other brothers, Frederick Lawrence and James Townley, soon joined the business.
Upjohn's first price list featured 186 pill formulas. He was a tireless promoter of his products. He developed the graphic image of a thumb crushing a pill, which became a widely-recognized trademark. He appeared at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair handing out souvenirs at his exhibit in front of an enormous bottle filled with colored pills. By 1900 Upjohn was selling 2000 items.
By that time medicine in tablet form, even more digestible than Upjohn's pills, began to appear. Upjohn formed a Tablet Department and sought a new company star to replace the friable pill. Company chemists developed a tasteless laxative they called "Phenolax." W.E. Upjohn suggested Phenolax would work better as a flavored tablet and in 1908 the pink, mint-flavored laxative hit the market. By 1914 Upjohn was selling 100 million Phenolax tablets a year.
Squabbles among the brothers led W.E. Upjohn to buy out his brothers in 1910 with money borrowed from banks. For several years, despite the phenomenal success of Phenolax, Upjohn scrambled to meet his obligations. In 1913 he began the evolution into a research-based pharmaceutical firm with the hiring of Dr. Frederick W. Heyl from the University of Wyoming. The first product from the research team was an oral digitalis in 1919, quickly followed by Citrocarbonate,
a pleasant acid alkalizer, and Characol, a cherry flavor cough syrup.
Upjohn turned over most of the daily operations of the business in the 1920s. He spent most of his time in his later business years guaranteeing his family successor in the pharmaceutical firm. His son worked shortly as president but died of an embolism in 1928. Eventually an Upjohn nephew took over the company.
An avid gardener, Upjohn grew 650 varieties of peonies at his Kalamazoo estate and authored a book on flowers. He shortened the work day at the Upjohn Company in the summers, partly so employees could water lawns and tend home gardens.
To enjoy the increased leisure time of his employees Upjohn donated funds for the Milham Park Municipal Golf Course. He built a 17-acre park and was instrumental in the local cultural and religious community. He served in Kalamazoo city politics for a time and in 1926 organized the W.E. Upjohn Civic Trust.
During the Depression Upjohn bought 1200 acres to be converted into a farm where the jobless could work individual farm plots. In 1932 after a late autumn visit to Upjohn Richland Farms he came down with a chest cold which rapidly progressed to pneumonia.
He died soon after at the age of 79. "Hearts and flags of the city were at half-mast," reported the newspapers as Kalamazoo mourned its "first citizen."
Showing posts with label Medicinal Brands. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Medicinal Brands. Show all posts
February 9, 2007
Smith Brothers
And the men behind the brand were...
William Smith and Andrew Smith
Serendipity named them Trade and Mark and their images have been commercially reproduced more times than any others. They were so successful they spawned a spate of cheap imitators such as the “Schmitt Brothers” and the “Smythe Sisters.” They are the Smith Brothers.
James Smith was a Scot who emigrated to Quebec, Canada for 15 years before migrating to Poughkeepsie, New York where he opened a restaurant. He sold candy as a sideline, with his oldest son William hawking the confections so successfully he was known around town as “Candy Boy.” Legend has it that one day a peddler stopped in the restaurant one day, and not having the money for a meal, swapped a cough drop recipe for some food.
Whatever the origins, by 1852 James Smith & Sons Compound of Wild Cherry Cough Candy was on the market “for the Cure of Coughs, Colds, Hoarseness, Sore Throats, Whooping Cough and Asthma.” The claims were later toned down but if there was anyplace that needed such a remedy, it was the bitter, windswept Hudson Valley.
James Smith died in 1866 and the Smith brothers, William and Andrew, inherited the business. The next generation concentrated more on the cough drops than the restaurant. They converted a barn on the edge of town into the first cough drop factory and sold their Smith Brothers cough medicine in glass counter-top jars.
To discourage counterfeiters the brothers molded the initials “SB” on each drop - and began advertising the fact. To further thwart imitators they developed a trademark based on their own bearded visages. To announce their government protection they printed the word “TRADEMARK” on the label where it was divided; the “TRADE” by chance appearing under William’s picture and the “MARK” resting under Andrew. the labels were pasted on the glass jars.
In 1877 the Smiths produced one of the first “factory-filled” consumer products by selling their black licorice and cherry cough drops in small packages - each adorned by Trade and Mark. In their lifetime William and Andrew Smith saw production of their cough drops soar from five pounds a day to five tons.
The business would remain in family hands until 1963 but the only Smiths anyone ever knew were Trade and Mark.
William Smith and Andrew Smith
Serendipity named them Trade and Mark and their images have been commercially reproduced more times than any others. They were so successful they spawned a spate of cheap imitators such as the “Schmitt Brothers” and the “Smythe Sisters.” They are the Smith Brothers.
James Smith was a Scot who emigrated to Quebec, Canada for 15 years before migrating to Poughkeepsie, New York where he opened a restaurant. He sold candy as a sideline, with his oldest son William hawking the confections so successfully he was known around town as “Candy Boy.” Legend has it that one day a peddler stopped in the restaurant one day, and not having the money for a meal, swapped a cough drop recipe for some food.
Whatever the origins, by 1852 James Smith & Sons Compound of Wild Cherry Cough Candy was on the market “for the Cure of Coughs, Colds, Hoarseness, Sore Throats, Whooping Cough and Asthma.” The claims were later toned down but if there was anyplace that needed such a remedy, it was the bitter, windswept Hudson Valley.
James Smith died in 1866 and the Smith brothers, William and Andrew, inherited the business. The next generation concentrated more on the cough drops than the restaurant. They converted a barn on the edge of town into the first cough drop factory and sold their Smith Brothers cough medicine in glass counter-top jars.
To discourage counterfeiters the brothers molded the initials “SB” on each drop - and began advertising the fact. To further thwart imitators they developed a trademark based on their own bearded visages. To announce their government protection they printed the word “TRADEMARK” on the label where it was divided; the “TRADE” by chance appearing under William’s picture and the “MARK” resting under Andrew. the labels were pasted on the glass jars.
In 1877 the Smiths produced one of the first “factory-filled” consumer products by selling their black licorice and cherry cough drops in small packages - each adorned by Trade and Mark. In their lifetime William and Andrew Smith saw production of their cough drops soar from five pounds a day to five tons.
The business would remain in family hands until 1963 but the only Smiths anyone ever knew were Trade and Mark.
Phillips'
And the man behind the brand is...
Charles Phillips
Most businessmen believe the best way to spread the name of their products is through advertising. Charles Henry Phillips was the anti-advertiser. He believed that the products which flowed from his laboratory should gain favor and prestige through their own merit. Accordingly most of Phillips’ apothecary products disappeared. The one that did not, Milk of Magnesia, made his name famous.
Phillips came from England to engage in the retail drug business in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Pharmacists at the time were chemists who concocted their own remedies and many dreamed of inventing that one break-out product. Phillips moved to Glenbrook, Connecticut in 1849 to establish his own laboratory.
For a quarter-century Phillips built a reputation as a provider of treatments for chronic diseases and nutrient supplements with the cumbersome names as Phillips’ Palatable Cod Liver Oil Emulsion and Phillips’ Phospho-Nutritive and Phillips’ Phospo-Muriate Quinine Compound.
In 1873 Phillips received a United States patent for the invention of Milk of Magnesia. Magnesia had long been known as a laxative but it was difficult to administer in its known powder form. Phillips suspended magnesium hydroxide in water making the treatment palatable. The name was registered in the Trade Mark Journal in 1880, two years before its inventor’s death, making Phillips’ Milk of Magnesia one of America’s oldest brands.
The stomach treatment was roundly endorsed by physicians and dentists and, just as Phillips believed, the merit of Milk of Magnesia has gained it a place in American medicine cabinets for over 100 years.
Charles Phillips
Most businessmen believe the best way to spread the name of their products is through advertising. Charles Henry Phillips was the anti-advertiser. He believed that the products which flowed from his laboratory should gain favor and prestige through their own merit. Accordingly most of Phillips’ apothecary products disappeared. The one that did not, Milk of Magnesia, made his name famous.
Phillips came from England to engage in the retail drug business in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Pharmacists at the time were chemists who concocted their own remedies and many dreamed of inventing that one break-out product. Phillips moved to Glenbrook, Connecticut in 1849 to establish his own laboratory.
For a quarter-century Phillips built a reputation as a provider of treatments for chronic diseases and nutrient supplements with the cumbersome names as Phillips’ Palatable Cod Liver Oil Emulsion and Phillips’ Phospho-Nutritive and Phillips’ Phospo-Muriate Quinine Compound.
In 1873 Phillips received a United States patent for the invention of Milk of Magnesia. Magnesia had long been known as a laxative but it was difficult to administer in its known powder form. Phillips suspended magnesium hydroxide in water making the treatment palatable. The name was registered in the Trade Mark Journal in 1880, two years before its inventor’s death, making Phillips’ Milk of Magnesia one of America’s oldest brands.
The stomach treatment was roundly endorsed by physicians and dentists and, just as Phillips believed, the merit of Milk of Magnesia has gained it a place in American medicine cabinets for over 100 years.
Miles
And the man behind the brand is...
Franklin Miles
Franklin Miles always dreamed of being a lawyer and took up the study of law.
But he soon switched to medicine because he didn't feel he was tall enough to be a lawyer of great stature. Size would not matter to a country doctor.
Miles set up a medical practice in the bustling railroad town of Elkhart, Indiana, population 6500, in 1875 at the age of 30. He became known as an eye and ear specialist. His wife died prematurely and Miles immersed himself in his work which soon went beyond his daily practice and house calls.
He carried out careful medical research and developed his first drug: "Dr. Miles' Restorative Nervine." It was a calmative and Miles marketed the bottle in a package with an interior and exterior shot of a man's head. The drug was still available 100 years after it was introduced.
His patients were soon requesting his home remedies and Miles considered selling goods not only over his own counter but in other pharmacies and drug stores. In 1884 he set up the Miles Medical Company. Success was modest until George Compton, an innovative merchant, came on board in 1887. The Miles name became famous through imaginative and aggressive advertising. They published the informative and popular Miles Almanac in 1902 and it would appear every year until paper shortages caused by World War II.
Miles retired to Florida in 1906, suffering from chronic bronchitis. Miles began a second career in horticulture, eventually becoming known as the "father" of Florida's subtropical fruit and vegetable industry. Miles held classes on his Ft. Myers plantation for truck drivers and conducted many agricultural experiments.
Miles remained president of Miles Laboratories until his death in 1929, just as an effervescent aspirin and bi-carbonate was being readied for market. Alka-Seltzer would quickly catapult Miles Laboratories to even greater prominence.
Franklin Miles
Franklin Miles always dreamed of being a lawyer and took up the study of law.
But he soon switched to medicine because he didn't feel he was tall enough to be a lawyer of great stature. Size would not matter to a country doctor.
Miles set up a medical practice in the bustling railroad town of Elkhart, Indiana, population 6500, in 1875 at the age of 30. He became known as an eye and ear specialist. His wife died prematurely and Miles immersed himself in his work which soon went beyond his daily practice and house calls.
He carried out careful medical research and developed his first drug: "Dr. Miles' Restorative Nervine." It was a calmative and Miles marketed the bottle in a package with an interior and exterior shot of a man's head. The drug was still available 100 years after it was introduced.
His patients were soon requesting his home remedies and Miles considered selling goods not only over his own counter but in other pharmacies and drug stores. In 1884 he set up the Miles Medical Company. Success was modest until George Compton, an innovative merchant, came on board in 1887. The Miles name became famous through imaginative and aggressive advertising. They published the informative and popular Miles Almanac in 1902 and it would appear every year until paper shortages caused by World War II.
Miles retired to Florida in 1906, suffering from chronic bronchitis. Miles began a second career in horticulture, eventually becoming known as the "father" of Florida's subtropical fruit and vegetable industry. Miles held classes on his Ft. Myers plantation for truck drivers and conducted many agricultural experiments.
Miles remained president of Miles Laboratories until his death in 1929, just as an effervescent aspirin and bi-carbonate was being readied for market. Alka-Seltzer would quickly catapult Miles Laboratories to even greater prominence.
Bayer
And the man behind the brand is...
Friedrich Bayer
Friedrich Bayer was born in 1825, the only boy among six children. His father was a weaver, his ancestors dyers. As a young man he served a chemical merchant apprenticeship and set out to start his own business in natural dyes in 1848.
By 1860 he owned five acres of land and two houses on the property.
Up until 1856 all color dyes had been produced from vegetable and animal materials. That year coal tar dyes were discovered and the balding Bayer immediately realized the enormous potential of these synthetic dyes.
From the black, sticky mess could come all the colors of the rainbow.
Bayer the merchant and his partner Johann Friedrich Weskott, a master dyer, began to search for their own artificial dyes. They tagged their little side business "The Laboratory In The Kitchen" as pans bubbled on stoves with gooey tar.
By late 1862 they had created a bluish-red dye they named fuchsine after the flowers of the fuchsia.
In 1863 the general partnership of Friedr. Bayer et Compagnie was formed to produce aniline dyestuffs. Bayer did the sales and marketing and Weskott handled production. Both men were cautious enough to retain their old firms. On pay days Bayer personally handed each employee his wages. The first payroll of a company that would one day employ over 150,000 people included one chemist, one foreman and four laborers.
Competition grew steadily and Bayer & Company produced different color dyes. In 1865 they acquired shares in the first American coal tar dye factory in Albany, New York. The firm gained notoriety when it scored a silver medal in 1867 at the Paris World Exhibition.
Bayer pioneered employee relations in 1873 when the company started a Worker's Relief Fund as a health plan for workers. By that time Friedrich Bayer was becoming increasing aware of his own health. In 1877 the sons of the founders became partners and Bayer died on May 6, 1880 - 17 years before the invention of the product by a company chemist that would make his name a household word: Aspirin.
Friedrich Bayer
Friedrich Bayer was born in 1825, the only boy among six children. His father was a weaver, his ancestors dyers. As a young man he served a chemical merchant apprenticeship and set out to start his own business in natural dyes in 1848.
By 1860 he owned five acres of land and two houses on the property.
Up until 1856 all color dyes had been produced from vegetable and animal materials. That year coal tar dyes were discovered and the balding Bayer immediately realized the enormous potential of these synthetic dyes.
From the black, sticky mess could come all the colors of the rainbow.
Bayer the merchant and his partner Johann Friedrich Weskott, a master dyer, began to search for their own artificial dyes. They tagged their little side business "The Laboratory In The Kitchen" as pans bubbled on stoves with gooey tar.
By late 1862 they had created a bluish-red dye they named fuchsine after the flowers of the fuchsia.
In 1863 the general partnership of Friedr. Bayer et Compagnie was formed to produce aniline dyestuffs. Bayer did the sales and marketing and Weskott handled production. Both men were cautious enough to retain their old firms. On pay days Bayer personally handed each employee his wages. The first payroll of a company that would one day employ over 150,000 people included one chemist, one foreman and four laborers.
Competition grew steadily and Bayer & Company produced different color dyes. In 1865 they acquired shares in the first American coal tar dye factory in Albany, New York. The firm gained notoriety when it scored a silver medal in 1867 at the Paris World Exhibition.
Bayer pioneered employee relations in 1873 when the company started a Worker's Relief Fund as a health plan for workers. By that time Friedrich Bayer was becoming increasing aware of his own health. In 1877 the sons of the founders became partners and Bayer died on May 6, 1880 - 17 years before the invention of the product by a company chemist that would make his name a household word: Aspirin.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
