Soaps, dishwashing liquids, detergents, bleaches, hair conditioners, and baking soda are all examples.
They are also working on formulating a liquid detergent, and preparing a radio campaign.
Measuring and pouring liquid detergent has become so routine, it's hard to imagine doing laundry any other way.
The "Ring around the collar" slogan for Wisk detergent came about because it was a liquid detergent that could be poured directly onto stains.
A 100-ounce jug of Sam's Choice Power Clean Formula liquid detergent, displayed front and center in the detergent aisle, costs $3.84 at the Middletown Wal-Mart.
But Dropps, a Philadelphia company, has been making premeasured, dissolvable liquid detergent packs, left, since 2006, eliminating the need for detergent in a jug.
Wisk was the top selling liquid detergent through the mid-1980s, when Tide introduced its first liquid version and overtook it.
Introduced as the first liquid detergent in 1956, Wisk adopted the "Ring around the collar" slogan 12 years later.
And Procter & Gamble is featuring the actor and martial artist Chuck Norris in a campaign for its Era liquid detergent.
(Mr. Poincelot and other experts say a solution of hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and liquid detergent is, if not a magic bullet, more effective than tomatoes).
Jonathan Propper, the company's founder, said Dropps came about after his wife complained of having to constantly measure liquid detergent to keep up with their family's laundry.
