Product type | Water displacer |
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Owner | WD-40 Company |
Country | San Diego, California, United States |
Introduced | September 23, 1953 |
Website | www |
WD-40 is an American brand and the trademark of a penetrating oil manufactured by the WD-40 Company based in San Diego, California.[1] Its formula was invented for the Rocket Chemical Company in 1953, before it became the WD-40 Company. WD-40 became available as a commercial product in 1961.[2] It acts as a lubricant, rust preventive, penetrant and moisture displacer. There are specialized products that perform better than WD-40 in many of these uses, but WD-40's flexibility has given it fame as a jack of all trades.[3] WD-40 stands for Water Displacement, 40th formula.
It is a successful product to this day, with steady growth in net income from $27 million in 2008 to $70.2 million in 2021.[4] In 2014, it was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air & Space Museum.[5]