Harpic is the

brand name A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

of a toilet cleaner launched in the United Kingdom in 1932 by Reckitt and Sons (now

Reckitt Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC, currently branded as Reckitt, formerly known as Reckitt Benckiser, is a British multinational consumer goods company headquartered in Slough, United Kingdom. It is a producer of health, hygiene and nutrition pro ...

). It is currently available in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

, the Asia-Pacific,

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, and the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

. The toilet cleaning products marketed under the brand name include liquids, tablets, wipes, brush systems, toilet rim blocks, and in-cistern blocks. It contains

hydrochloric acid Hydrochloric acid, also known as muriatic acid or spirits of salt, is an aqueous solution of hydrogen chloride (HCl). It is a colorless solution with a distinctive pungency, pungent smell. It is classified as a acid strength, strong acid. It is ...

(10%) as the active ingredient, along with butyl oleylamine and other ingredients, in an

aqueous solution An aqueous solution is a solution in which the solvent is water. It is mostly shown in chemical equations by appending (aq) to the relevant chemical formula. For example, a solution of table salt, also known as sodium chloride (NaCl), in water ...

History

The original toilet cleaner was invented by Harry Pickup (hence the origin of the name Harpic), who was based in Roscoe Street,

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

, in

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

. He also invented Oxypic, which was a sealant used in

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...

heating systems, and patented the Lock & Lift circular manhole covers, which were used initially by the British Military. The company also produced the steel components used on the Mulberry harbours during the

D-day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

landings.

Advertising

UK advertisements from the 1930s onwards used the slogan ''Cleans Round The Bend'' (for that reason, the name is occasionally used as slang for ''crazy'' – George Macdonald Fraser uses that sense in his autobiographical "Quartered Safe Out Here" when talking about an idiosyncratic British officer commanding an irregular unit. The 2008 Harpic advertisement, ''Send for the Experts'', featured Tom Reynolds.

Ingredients

Ingredients: Hydrochloric acid, Hydroxyethyl oleylamine, Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, Ammonium chloride, Methyl salicylate, Butylated hydroxytoluene, Acid Blue 25, Acid red 88, Deionized Water.

Products

, the Harpic product range was: * Harpic Bathroom Cleaner * Harpic Power Plus * Harpic Max Rim Block * Harpic Hygienic * Harpic All in 1 * Harpic Active Fresh Toilet Cleaner * Harpic 100% Limescale Remover Toilet Cleaner * Harpic Flushmatic * Harpic 10X Max Clean (in

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

and other regions)

References

* *

External links

Reckitt Benckiser Product Information Website
Cleaning product brands Cleaning product components Cleaning products Reckitt brands British inventions Companies based in Scarborough, North Yorkshire {{Product-stub