Trade names in common use.

[ursus arctos]

A weld?

A rivet?

A clamp?

[WOM]

I recommend Pop^TM brand rivets to all my friends.

[Ginger Yellow]

Band-aid
Portakabin (as Private Eye loved to remind us)

[Snake Plissken]

Zamboni.

[Tactical Genius]

Biro

[longeared]

Blu Tack

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

I'm stunned to learn that nylon and perspex were originally trade names. (I vagely recall learning that about nylon years ago, but had forgotten.)

Ursus, back at yer with your "UK specific" comment: i think "xerox" is largely US (or perhaps North America) specific. I mean it may be used very occasionally here, and everyone here would immediately understand it, but I don't recall anyone in any office I've ever worked in saying anything other than "photocopy" or "copy" for short.

Incidentally, because the distribution rights to Xerox's technology outside North America were in a JV between Xerox and Rank for the twenty years or so up to 1996 (at which point Rank sold out to Xerox), the machines over here were called "Rank Xerox". There was a caricaturist painter who called himself Frank Xerox.

[Amor de Cosmos]

What are you using to fasten two sheets of thin-gauge steel together?

Scotch tape (boom-tish!)

[Amor de Cosmos]

Post-its

[tee rex]

Named products that have long since lost their trademark protection include Thermos (flask), Kerosene, Celluloid, Escalator (really?), and Dry Ice (really?).

(if you believe Bill Bryson, Made in America).

[ursus arctos]

EEG, I recall when Southampton had Rank Xerox as their shirt sponsor. In my defence, I’ve heard “Xerox” as a verb in Belgium, Germany and Italy. As the perspex example shows, the UK can be out of line with Europe on this (as can the US, of course).

FWIW, Biro, Aqualung, Tannoy and Portakabin are not in use here, and Durex is a brand, not an object.

tee Rex, the Otis Elevator Company had a US trademark for “escalator” at one time.

[Patrick Thistle]

Tampax

[Guy Profumo]

Adrenalin

[Guy Profumo]

EEG, I recall when Southampton had Rank Xerox as their shirt sponsor. In my defence, I’ve heard “Xerox” as a verb in Belgium, Germany and Italy. As the perspex example shows, the UK can be out of line with Europe on this (as can the US, of course).

FWIW, Biro, Aqualung, Tannoy and Portakabin are not in use here, and Durex is a brand, not an object.

tee Rex, the Otis Elevator Company had a US trademark for “escalator” at one time.

Of course, nowadays George Reynolds owns escalator under the brand name "Heskey-lator"

[Benjm]

I recommend Pop^TM brand rivets to all my friends.

Billy Childish's first band, active in the late 1970s, was called The Pop Rivets. I'm not sure whether this supports or undermines its claims to be a break out phrase.

According to whatsit, the search engine thingy, pop rivets look like miniature swords, something that cartoon mice might keep next to their sardine tin beds in case of unwanted visitors.

[Janik]

Never heard of pop rivets (or Pop Rivets (or indeed The Pop Rivets)) and wouldn't have the first clue what they might be used for.

Allen Key
Phillips-head screws and drivers

[Felicity, I guess so]

As I discovered the other day from a crossword clue, nylon was named after 'New York-London'

[Guy Profumo]

As I discovered the other day from a crossword clue, nylon was named after 'New York-London'

No it isn't

[Mr Cogito]

Nescafé

Not sure if it is still the case, but many years ago I was travelling through Greece and all instant coffees were called Nescafés

[Capybara]

Crimplene is most likely UK-only and fairly retro at that.

And named after a beck.

[Guy Profumo]

They're called Maxwell Oikos nowadays…

[Kevin S]

Calpol
Vicks
To a lesser extent, Pampers

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Post-its

I don't even know what the generic noun would be for a post-it note.

[Capybara]

I don't even know what the generic noun would be for a post-it note.

When I was responsible for ordering promotional tat for the organisation I worked for, the post-its that weren't Post-Its I was ordering were referred to as 'sticky notes'.

[Benjm]

Mackintosh (coats).

I remember mac as being up there with hoover in the top examples from childhood versions of this conversation. Its relegation to a second pager may reflect changes in rainwear fashions since then.

Barbour, on the other hand, hasn't quite made the jump to being the generic term for waxed country jackets, despite being the model for most entrants in the field.