Pro-Phy-Lac-Tic Brush Company

The Florence Manufacturing Company of Haydenville, Massachusetts originated an early plastic called Florence Compound made of shellac, resin and wood fibers. The new material was used to make buttons and cases for revolvers and daguerreotypes. In the 1880s, as photographs replaced daguerreotypes, the company expanded to make brushes of all kinds. In 1884 they entered the tooth brush business and led the market for mass produced brushes with handles made of Florence Compound. In 1924 the company changed its name to the Pro-phy-lac-tic Brush Company, taking the name from their most successful product, and was known as Pro-Brush for short.

In subsequent decades the company expanded its line of products using a variety of available plastic resins. In the 1940s the company produced and marketed the high quality, durable melamine Prolon brand of dinnerware. The Prolon Florence line of dishes was designed by Irving Harper of George Nelson Associates and inspired by Japanese tableware, and came in range of colors more subtle than was the norm for plastics. These include sunset red, high noon yellow, dawn grey and midnight black. Overall the Pro-Brush melamine dishes helped raise the standards for post-World War II plastics design.

See:

"Every Careful Person Should Know: Advertising Strategies of the Pro-Brush Corporation, 1886-1930," online

Fiell, Charlotte and Peter, Plastic Dreams: Synthetic Visions in Design (London: Fiell Publishing Limited, 2009), pp 72-73.