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Easy-Off is the leading brand of hard surface cleaners primarily used for cleaning ovens.
Easy Off was invented by Herbert McCool (1905-1946), an electrician with the Saskatchewan Telephone Company, in Regina Saskatchewan in 1932. Working part time at a local appliance store, Lorne Electric on Princess Street in that city, he created the product, the world's first oven cleaner as well as the name. His daughter Shirley, five years old at the time, designed the black and green label.
McCool manufactured the product in the basement of his house and sold it door to door in the neighborhood to make extra money during the difficult depression years. When he died in 1946 his widow Doris moved to Iberville, Quebec to be near her sister and manufactured the product there in her garage. She sold it through major stores in Montreal, including Simpsons and Ogilvies. In 1954 she attended a trade show in Chicago and sold the American rights for the product to American Home Products. In 1959 she sold the Canadian rights to Boyle Midway Canada, the Canadian subsidiary of American Home Products.
Prior to the 1990s, it was produced by Boyle-Midway, and later Reckitt & Colman. Today, it is produced by Reckitt Benckiser. A strong base, caustic soda, attacks grease by saponification. Surfactants attack both grease and food spills. An abrasive helps scour the oven.