Arm & Hammer

This article is about the brand. For the American industrialist, see Armand Hammer.

Arm & Hammer is a registered trademark of Church & Dwight, an American manufacturer of household products. The logo of this brand is a muscular arm holding a hammer. Originally associated only with baking soda and washing soda, the company began to expand the brand to other products in the 1970s using baking soda as a deodorizing ingredient, including toothpaste, laundry detergent, underarm deodorant, and cat litter. The Arm & Hammer brand is one of the longest-running and most recognized U.S. trademarks.

Arm and Hammer trade card from the 1870s, showing the logo.

The Arm & Hammer logo dates back to the 1860s. James A. Church ran a spice business known as Vulcan Spice Mills. According to the company, the Arm and Hammer logo represents Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and metalworking.

It is often claimed that the brand name originated with tycoon Armand Hammer; however, the Arm & Hammer brand was in use 31 years before Hammer was born. Hammer was so often asked about the Church & Dwight brand, however, that he attempted to buy the company. While unsuccessful, Hammer's Occidental Petroleum in 1986 acquired enough stock for him to join the Church & Dwight board of directors. Hammer remained one of the owners of Arm & Hammer until his 1990 death.

Industrial-strength bicarbonate cleaning products are labeled under an Arm & Hammer subsidiary division, ARMEX.

External links

• Arm & Hammer Homepage
• ARMEX Homepage
• Arm & Hammer Canada
• Arm & Hammer UK