(FORTUNE Small Business) – Great brands don't die, they...okay, they die. Or fade into obscurity. Below, three classic products that peaked before going the way of the Edsel.

CUTLER MAIL CHUTE In 1883 a Rochester, N.Y., architect, James G. Cutler, invented the perfect complement to the skyscrapers that were beginning to spring up across the country. By 1905 the Cutler Co. had installed more than 1,600 mail chutes all over the world. Today any chutes in skyscrapers are likely to be ornamental; frequent clogging has led many skyscraper landlords to establish their own mailrooms and close the chutes, including those in New York City's Chrysler Building and Chicago's John Hancock Center.

HYDROX COOKIES Sunshine Biscuits invented the chocolate sandwich cookie in 1908 and owned the market for a whole four years before the better-named, better-distributed, and better-marketed Oreo debuted and Nabisco made Hydrox an also-ran. Keebler bought Sunshine in 1996, but in 2001 it gave up on its attempt to revive Hydrox's heyday.

MOXIE This soda, which started as an elixir to aid digestion in 1884, sold well through the 1920s, thanks to its flashy ad campaigns. After World War II, sweeter beverages like Coke reduced Moxie's fan base to a cultlike following. The drink is still around, thanks to Monarch Co., which bought the brand in 1969. --MAGGIE OVERFELT