WD-40 — the story of one of the most successful single-product companies

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WD-40 was created to protect space rockets. The manufacturer learned that the lubricant could be used at home through employee theft. Now the company of the same name is worth $3.5 billion, and the formula of the lubricant is still kept secret.




In 1953, the Rocket Chemical Company was founded in San Diego, California – three people led by founder Norm Larsen.

The company's first customer was the aerospace company Convair, which needed an anti-corrosion agent to protect the skin of its Atlas rockets, which had been exposed to moisture during transport from San Diego to the test site.

The first 39 versions of the product from Rocket Chemical portugal number data Company were either too viscous or too thin. The fortieth attempt was successful: in the laboratory notebook, the product was recorded under the name WD-40, where “WD” stands for “Water Displacement”. The company kept the formula secret and has never changed it since.

According to the company itself, the lubricant was invented by Norman Larsen. But there is another opinion.

History professor Iris HW Engstrand, who studies San Diego, suggests that Larsen's namesake, chemist Norman Lawson, was the co-founder of the company and creator of WD-40.

Norman Larsen came to the company later: he ran Rocket Chemical Company from 1957 to 1958, she believes. Eventually, their names got mixed up, and Larsen was credited with Lowes, Engstrand notes .

"We don't make missiles"
In 1958, one of the co-founders, Cy Irving, became the head of Rocket Chemical Company. On September 15 of that year, he announced that the company was producing 8,000 cans of WD-40 every day.

According to the company, in 1960, Rocket Chemical Company employed seven people. They delivered about 45 cases of WD-40 a day to local stores in their trucks.