Kingsford (charcoal)
 | |
| Product type | Charcoal |
|---|---|
| Owner | The Clorox Company |
| Country | U.S. |
| Introduced | 1920s |
| Website | kingsford.com |
Kingsford is a brand of charcoal used for grilling, along with related products. The brand is owned by The Clorox Company. Currently, the Kingsford Products Company remains the leading manufacturer of charcoal in the US, enjoying 80 percent market share. More than 1 million tons of wood scraps are converted into charcoal briquets annually.[1]
The Kingsford Company was formed by Henry Ford and E.G. Kingsford during the early 1920s. Charcoal was developed from Ford Motor Company's factory waste wood scrap. The Kingsford Company was formed when E.G. Kingsford, a relative of Ford's, brokered the site selection for Ford's new charcoal manufacturing plant. The company, originally called Ford Iron Mountain Plant, was renamed in E.G.’s honor.[2]
Kingsford Charcoal is made from charred softwoods, pine, spruce etc. then mixed with ground coal and other ingredients to make a charcoal briquette. As of January 2016, Kingsford Charcoal contains the following ingredients:[3][4]
History
In the early 1920s, Ford had a large plant in Kingsford, Michigan, a town named after Henry Ford's cousin. Henry Ford was always looking for new ways to combine resources. One day as the Model T cars were coming off the assembly line, Ford noticed many wood scraps being discarded. He proposed that all wood scraps were to be sent to his chemical building to be made into charcoal.[5]
The Ford factory was in operation from 1920 until 1951. The location was also a saw mill that produced lumber from the Upper Peninsula to be used in Ford vehicles, essentially the Ford Model T for the chassis, steering wheel, and wheels. Before Ford decided to produce the body panels, the Hercules Body Company of Evansville, IN manufactured the body panels, where they were shipped to Detroit for installation.[6][7]