{"id":1310881,"date":"2022-02-18T16:37:47","date_gmt":"2022-02-18T21:37:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1310881"},"modified":"2022-02-18T16:37:50","modified_gmt":"2022-02-18T21:37:50","slug":"fact-check-did-dr-herbert-smitherman-invent-these-common-household-items","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fact-check-did-dr-herbert-smitherman-invent-these-common-household-items\/","title":{"rendered":"FACT CHECK: Did Dr. Herbert Smitherman Invent These Common Household Items?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffact-check-did-dr-herbert-smitherman-invent-these-common-household-items%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1310881&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p>An image&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/photo.php?fbid=986231918652810&amp;set=gm.1540760409626823&amp;type=3&amp;theater\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/photo.php?fbid%3D986231918652810%26set%3Dgm.1540760409626823%26type%3D3%26theater&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1645279351388000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1TFBwY0eu3EEXpL0J3twe8\">shared on Facebook<\/a> claims the late chemist Dr. Herbert Smitherman invented multiple American household items, including Crest toothpaste and Folgers coffee.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Verdict: Misleading<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>While Smitherman did not invent the products mentioned in the post, he did improve upon them while working at Procter &amp; Gamble, according to the company.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Fact Check:&nbsp;<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>An image shared on Facebook shows a photo of Smitherman along with text that claims he invented several Procter &amp; Gamble products, including Safeguard soap and Bounce fabric softener. Smitherman was a chemist who became the first African American with a doctorate degree to be hired by the company, according to his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tristateobits.com\/obituary\/Dr-Herbert-Charles-Smitherman-Sr--1286991593#toTopLink\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">obituary<\/a> on TriStateObits.<\/p>\n<p>However, Smitherman did not invent any of the aforenoted products. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/checkyourfact.com\/2021\/03\/12\/fact-check-mcdonalds-coca-cola-announce-no-longer-allow-white-people-executive-positions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED: Did McDonald\u2019s and Coca-Cola Announce They Will No Longer Hire White People For Executive Positions?)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/crest.com\/en-us\/oral-care-tips\/toothpaste\/history-toothpaste\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Crest toothpaste<\/a>, for example, was invented in 1950 and publicly released by Procter &amp; Gamble in 1956, ten years before Smitherman was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amplifyafrica.org\/amp\/dr-herbert-charles-smitherman-sr-the-jackie-robinson-of-proctor-gamble\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">hired<\/a> by the company in 1966. Safeguard soap <a href=\"https:\/\/www.safeguard.ph\/en-ph\/history-of-germ-protection\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">launched<\/a> in 1963, while Folgers Coffee had been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.folgerscoffee.com\/our-story\/archives\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">founded<\/a> in the 1850s then <a href=\"https:\/\/www.folgerscoffee.com\/our-story\/history\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">sold<\/a> to Procter &amp; Gamble in 1963. Bounce had been patented by Conrad J. Gaiser in 1969, who later sold the rights to the product to Procter &amp; Gamble, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/cen.acs.org\/articles\/86\/i15\/Dryer-Sheets.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chemical and Engineer News<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>While Smitherman did not invent the products outright, he did help improve the formulas each used, according to the website <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amplifyafrica.org\/post\/dr-herbert-charles-smitherman-sr-the-jackie-robinson-of-proctor-gamble\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Amplify Africa<\/a>. Smitherman had two <a href=\"https:\/\/patft.uspto.gov\/netacgi\/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&amp;Sect2=HITOFF&amp;d=PALL&amp;p=1&amp;u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&amp;r=1&amp;f=G&amp;l=50&amp;s1=5,015,467.PN.&amp;OS=PN\/5,015,467&amp;RS=PN\/5,015,467\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">patents<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/pdfpiw.uspto.gov\/.piw?docid=03755429&amp;pagenum=1&amp;&amp;idkey=87534b87564c&amp;homeurl=http:\/\/patft.uspto.gov\/netacgi\/nph-parser?sect1=pto2%2526sect2=hitoff%2526p=1%2526u=%252fnetahtml%252fpto%252fsearch-adv.htm%2526r=1%2526f=g%2526l=50%2526d=pall%2526s1=03755429%2526os=pn\/03755429%2526rs=pn\/03755429\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">issued<\/a> to him in relation to improvements he made during his tenure at Procter &amp; Gamble. The first patent, titled \u201ccombined anticalculus and antiplaque compositions\u201d has to do with dental care products. The second patent, titled \u201cProcess for the preparation of sulfonated detergent composition,\u201d involves soap products.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDr. Smitherman played key roles over his 29 years at P&amp;G in the invention of technologies that improved all of those brands,\u201d a spokesperson for Procter and Gamble told Check Your Fact in an email. \u201cWhile he did not invent the technologies that established those brands, during his time at P&amp;G he developed technologies that improved all of those brands for consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are many contributors within P&amp;G to the technology that is developed for our products, and only a few key individuals have their names placed on the patents,\u201d the spokesperson continued. \u201cDr. Smitherman appeared on at least 6 patents for key technologies to P&amp;G\u2019s Fabric Care and Oral Care brands.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An image\u00a0shared on Facebook claims the late chemist Dr. Herbert Smitherman invented multiple American household items, including Crest toothpaste and Folgers coffee.Verdict: Misleading While Smitherman did not invent the products &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1310881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1310881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1310881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1310881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1310881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}