Alconox Inc. Product Innovation

1940s

Pre 1941

While working at a hosiery company, chemist Louis Zisman learned about the emerging chemistry of synthetic surfactants. He discovered that a wetting agent he developed excelled at cleaning glassware without leaving a residue.

1941

Louis Zisman combined his talents with that of William Lebowitz, owner of Standard Scientific Supply Corporation. Standard Scientific was a distributor of products focused on the laboratory market. Together, they began selling and distributing detergent to hospitals and laboratories.

1943

The detergent was first used in commerce on September 1st, 1943 and was coined, Alconox® Powdered Precision Cleaner.

1946

Alconox Inc. was formed May 28th, 1946, to hold exclusive rights to Alconox detergent and its distribution.

1950s

1950

Alconox Inc. opens an office on 853 Broadway, New York, NY. Over time, more and more dealers signed up to distribute Alconox detergent and the product became widely distributed by just about every lab or hospital dealer.

1951

Alconox Inc. launches a decade of innovation with some hits and some misses. They created the powdered detergent, Oranox® Rust Inhibitor, that targeted dentists and oral surgeons. It was ultimately not successful and was discontinued in 1954. Recently, one box was recovered from an antique store in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

1957

Alcotabs® Tablet Pipet Detergent, a tablet solution to better clean siphon pipet washers, was developed and hit the market July 12th, 1957. The new, innovative, flotation cleaning, slow dissolving tablet allowed for cleaning over multiple cycles in the pipet washer resulting in better pipet cleaning.

1959

Closing out the decade came another Alconox Inc. powerhouse, in fact our flagship detergent for lab washers. Alcojet® Low Foaming Powdered Detergent was created and put in distribution August 12th, 1959. It was invented to provide a low-foaming detergent effective in automatic dishwasher glassware washing applications.

1960s

1964

On Oct. 28th, 1964 Liquinox® Critical Cleaning Liquid Detergent, was developed in response to customer requests for a phosphate-free detergent that would not interfere with biological oxygen demand (BOD) bottle washing where unrinsed bottles could result in contamination with phosphate essential nutrients causing false high readings in BOD testing.

1970s

1971

In order to improve removal of protein residues of blood, body fluids, and tissue for cleaning medical instruments, Tergazyme® Enzyme-Active Powdered Detergent was introduced on November 21st, 1971.

1974

To meet the needs of new automated lab glassware washers that use liquid pump dosing systems, Detojet® Low Foaming Liquid Detergent was introduced on September 23, 1974.

1980s

1983

In response to requests for a nonionic and ion-free detergent that does not leave conductive residues on electronic components, Detergent 8® Low-Foaming Ion-Free Detergent was introduced on July 14th, 1983.

1987

For improved inorganic salts, oxides and acid labile residue cleaning, Citranox® Liquid Acid Cleaner and Detergent was introduced on December 8th, 1987.

1990s

1997

To help replace hazardous ozone depleting solvents that were being restricted by the Montreal Protocol, Luminox® Low-Foaming Neutral pH Liquid Detergent was first sold on April 21st, 1997.

2000s

2001

Per the need for a low foaming acid detergent and neutralizing rinse for automatic lab washers, Citrajet® Low-Foam Liquid Acid Cleaner/Rinse was released on March 13th, 2001.

2004

To address requests for an automatic lab washer phosphate free detergent for use in cleaning biological oxygen bottles (BOD), Solujet® Low-Foaming Phosphate-Free Liquid, went on sale July 2004.

2004

Concurrently, Tergajet® Low-Foaming Phosphate-Free Detergent was also released at the same time in order to have a powdered product for use in automated washer BOD bottle cleaning.

2010s

2014

Tergazyme makes a cameo on Bones Season 10 Episode 4. Check it out here: Bones – S 10 E 4 – The Geek in the Guck – Bing video

2015

Working with customers with difficult cosmetic polymer and sticky botanical extract residues we developed Detonox® Ultimate Precision Cleaner, introduced in April 2015.

2016

To match the manual cleaning power of Detonox for cosmetic polymers and sticky botanical residues in an automated washer cleaning, Keylajet® Low-foaming Chelating High Alkaline Liquid was released on August 18th, 2016.

2020s

2021

Alconox Inc. celebrates 75 years of solving critical cleaning challenges. Read More

Login

Alconox Inc. Product Innovation