It was time for a new washing-up brush and there was no need to skimp on it. We thought of a Sorbo – “your help at home” for fifty years. It was admittedly not a ‘Smartbrush’, but still a nice middle class; a pink Sorbo ‘oval’ for 1.61 euros, which would lie comfortably in the hand due to the ergonomic grip and which would have a larger cleaning surface due to the oval placed fibers. Look, that had been thought about. It also looked pleasantly old-school – no detergent hopper or other high-tech accessories, but classic plastic.
We immediately felt like doing the dishes.
Well, washing up. The brush is mainly used in modern households as a pre-rinsing aid, so that the dishes do not have to be too dirty in the machine, and as a result is rarely in the open water. Most of the time the brush swings in the empty sink, waiting for a moment of service. And that’s where it turned out to go wrong with the Sorbo oval.
The tap also often runs without the brush being picked up and although the probability should be much smaller based on the ratio between the surface of the sink and the brush, the brush turns out to be exactly below the surface in at least half of the cases. running tap. That would have gone unnoticed, if the water hadn’t always splashed viciously high from the gutter that runs along the entire back of the stem. Incidentally, this effect also occurs during use. And perhaps even stronger because the brush is then held higher than when it lies idly in the sink: splashing water far beyond the bowl.
Rob Biersma described in an article in NRC Handelsblad, which appeared in book form in 1990, the fate of many utensils: “All utensils evolve over the years to an optimum form, after which the manufacturers suddenly and without reason begin to vary, so that the optimum is again abandoned.”
With the trench brush, we wondered: did the Research & Development department ever take the new design home, has it been tested by consumers at all? And if the brush has not been field tested, should we also be concerned about the ergonomic claim?
Also read: the dishes are something to look forward to
The questions can no longer be answered at Sorbo. The oval appears to be fifteen years old, unfortunately nobody works at the company anymore who can still tell how the ease of use was tested at the time. The current product manager is still willing to champion the Smartbrush, with its durable, non-curly fibers that prevent splatter. And otherwise for the new generation of brushes made of 90 percent recycled plastic. The oval is disappearing from the collection after fifteen years of successful sales. We will cherish it as an example of mild regression in the evolution of the dishwashing brush.