The Origin Story of Slipit

It was a hot, sticky summer in Queens, New York in 1939. John Bogie, was the superintendent of a large apartment complex and the residents were complaining. Their windows were sticking, their drawers wouldn’t slide, and their doors weren’t opening or shutting easily. Something had to be done and since there was no “product” to buy John formulated his own. The first batch was actually “cooked” on his kitchen stove. He then applied what was soon to be “SLIPIT” to all the doors, drawers, and windows, even the elevators.

No more complaints. The formulation worked so well that he decided to produce and sell it. He didn’t know it then, but John had developed one of the first modern, effective, nontoxic lubricants in America. Because of its general lubricating properties, the number of uses for SLIPIT grew rapidly.

In 1940 Otis Elevator started using SLIPIT Sliding Compound and it remains a sturdy customer to this day. The other leaders in the elevator maintenance industry were also early SLIPIT customers. Our list of corporate customers includes names ranging from Pennsylvania House Furniture and Ritter Manufacturing to the Chicago Transit Authority and Storage USA.

Over the years we’ve changed the design of SLIPIT cans, improved the formulations, and added new products, but since 1939 we are still being made in the USA!