EDITORS NOTE: We all have origins, those places from where we came – neighborhoods, families, ideas. Every one of them is interesting, it’s just a matter of sharing them. When I first learned about Zymol, I was intrigued and wanted to know more. I met the founder and owner, Chuck Bennett, and he told me a great deal about the history of the company – and it was fascinating. The fact that he was inspired by the products used by a museum to care for the finishes of ancient horse-drawn carriages was unique, but even more so was the fact that the products were very much based in nature. Right down to the lard. No kidding. So to find out just a little more of the history of Zymol is pretty cool – read on and enjoy!
Exclusive New Series with Zymol |
The Zymol Pickle Jar
In 1978 Charles Bennett founder and CEO of Zymol felt lost! A major issue for Zymol was to consistently create a naturally sourced, high efficacy automotive wax that would not go rancid even though it was missing any biocides.
In essence, Cream that would never go bad.
The problem that needed immediate attention was stopping environmental bacteria from contaminating the Wax Blend during and after it was poured into a container.
Meet an Original Glass Zymol Pickle Jar:
Glass was the immediate answer. Glass could be Sterilized before, during and after Zymol Wax production, but not without the inherent problems of Glass.
First, Glass was heavy and it easily broke during in-bound shipments, sterilizing and just simple handling. The glass jar was almost impossible to label and the “canning jar” gasket top was a nightmare to close at 190 degrees f.
The can was another nightmare. The only way to prevent metal leaching into the wax was to use a coating called Organisol in each can before production. A time consuming, expensive metal can treatment that does not completely stop corrosion.
Zymol Injection Mold
First the Jar must be easy to hold, light weight and be ergonomic open or closed. The opening must be large enough to accommodate using or storing a sponge wax applicator. The Jar top must trap the correct amount of oxygen to initiate enzyme activity. The closing design must replicate the functions of a canning jar and allow gassing out through a gasket. And the source material must withstand autoclaving at 235 degrees f.
We finally settled on a material produced by Dow in Italy called SAN.
We chose SAN because like polystyrene itself, it is optically transparent and solid in mechanical behavior. The SAN copolymer has a glass clear transition temperature that is greater than 100°C owing to the acrylonitrile units in the chain, thus making our Jar material resistant to steam or boiling water. When the SAN is molded the stressing from the mold pressure helps to increase the strength of the SAN. We have used SAN for our Jar for the past 40 years.
Now, unfortunately the demand for raw SAN to create cosmetic containers has fueled a world shortage that has now forced us to buy 7-10 tons at a time. Coupled with the shipping debacle we know that there are customers that will not get their Zymol Wax or Glaze this year.
Could we use a different container. . .no!
As stated before, the Zymol Wax Jar is a device. The most important device function of the Jar is to create a vacuum when sealed. This vacuum function happens during Wax production and every time a user closes their Jar. We have a functional Patent [9,079,695] on the Jar and even though we could package Zymol in containers that are far less costly, we could not guarantee the freshness of a Zymol Wax or Glaze for years on end in anything less than our Zymol Jar.
Making Zymol is more of an art than simple manufacturing. Hours, days, months, and years of research have been poured into every product we make. We start with a goal and commit anything and everything necessary to achieve that goal.
We have been labeled expensive, which is true, but the difference between Zymol and commodity products is Zymol lovers never sacrifice their quality and performance right down to the Jar.
