In the mid 1940s, Albert Critchlow, a horn button maker, started a small company in Haydenville, Massachusetts. Over the years, the business transitioned into the Florence Manufacturing Company in 1866. At that time, FMC was experimenting with “Florence Compound”, a crude, brittle plastic made from resin, wood fibers and shellac. By 1884, they had improved the material and began using it to manufacture the “Pro Brush” toothbrush. Later on in 1924, the Florence Manufacturing Company changed its name to the Pro-phy-lac-tic Brush Company. In 1930, they were acquired by the Lambert Pharmaceutical Co. Then, the Lambert Company merged with Warner-Hudnite Company in 1932 to form the Warner-Lambert Prophylactic Division of Standard Oil of Ohio.
I have to assume the shaving products came later on in the company’s history. I would venture a guess that this boal of soap is from the 1940s. Records show the end of the Pro-Brush company to be around 1945.
Odd bit of trivia; during WWII they manufactured dummy bayonets for training rifles.
Definitely a tallow-based offering, these pucks have always worked well for me. They are very rare these days, esp in NOS condition.
