Gill// Contributing Editor//November 25, 2014
Gill// Contributing Editor//November 25, 2014
MARLBOROUGH, Mass.-Nicholas D. McKay Sr., who invented the lint roller, died on Nov. 15 at the age of 93.
According to a statement from Butler Home Products, which acquired McKay’s company, The oneCARE Co., McKay invented the lint roller in 1956 and founded HelMac Products Corp. in Flint, Mich. (The company’s name came by combining the name of McKay’s wife, Helen, along with “Mac”). The HelMac Magik Lint Pic-Up achieved national distribution in 1968, and by 1973 it was available in more than 60,000 retail locations, the Butler statement said.
Butler acquired HelMac, whose name had changed to The oneCARE Co., in January of this year. The company still offers the lint roller and a refill pack, along with the Lint Grabber lint-removal brush.
“Mr. McKay left a lasting impression in the cleaning products business, just as I’m certain he did in life,” said Michael Silverman, senior vice president of marketing at Butler. “He will be missed, and he will long be remembered by all of us here at Butler.”
