In 1908, the Coffee Filter and Filter Paper Were Founded by a German Housewife

In 1908, a utility model was registered at the Kaiserliches Patentamt (Imperial Patent Office) in Berlin, which is important in several respects: Firstly, the applicant was one of the first women to have her own invention personally protected. On the other hand, this invention was extremely successful and is still present in practically every household.

Melitta Bentz (1873–1950), a housewife from Dresden, registered her new coffee filter with the patent office on June 20, 1908. Until then, coffee was usually brewed by pouring fine coffee powder into hot water and waiting for the powder to settle at the bottom of the pot. Or one sifted the mixture. But this rarely resulted in clean coffee, because the holes in the sieve were usually either too small and clogged or too large and the set floated mostly back into the cup. After this procedure, the coffee was often only lukewarm. And the coffee grounds caused an unpleasant aftertaste.

Melitta Bentz with the first coffee filter, 1908.

A mother of three children, Melitta Bentz, experimented in her kitchen with a perforated brass cup. In search of a suitable filter, she ended up with blotting paper from her son’s exercise book. This was a revolution in coffee making.

She recognized the commercial potential of her invention early on. She soon took the first steps towards marketing the new filter and registered it as a utility model: “Coffee filter with a domed underside, recessed bottom and inclined flow holes.” The industrial property right was granted upon registration on July 8, 1908 on page 1145 of the patent gazettes of the Imperial Patent Office in Berlin.

A Melitta coffee filter.

This utility model became the basis of an entrepreneurial success story. Only a short time later, on December 15, 1908, the newly founded company for the marketing of Melitta coffee filters was entered in the commercial register. This company was initially based in a room in the Dresden apartment of the Bentz family.

Melitta Bentz and her husband Hugo initially had 100 cartons of filter paper and 50 filters made. Then they started to visit the shops and present their invention. In 1909 the filters were presented at the Leipzig Trade Fair and proved to be a success with more than 1,200 units sold.

Melitta Bentz with her husband, Hugo in 1897. She invented the coffee filter using a piece of blotting paper from her son’s school notebook.

The couple expanded their small company and constantly improved their products. But the First World War threw them back: the import of coffee came to a standstill, paper became scarce, Melitta’s husband and son had to go to the front. Melitta guided her small company through the years of war and the turbulent post-war period.

In 1923 her eldest son Willy became co-owner and spurred sales. The upswing of the company began. The paper filters were patented in the 1930s in the form that is still typical today. Soon the space became too scarce; the company moved to Minden, where it is still based today. The family business now produces 50 million coffee filters every day, because despite tabs and capsules, the classic filter coffee continues to enjoy great popularity.

“My mother, who had an excellent taste in coffee, was often irritated by the coffee grounds in her cup,” Horst Bentz, one of her sons, recalled decades later in an interview in a 1949 issue of Der Aufstieg, a German publication.

So the next time you blearily reach for a paper filter, anxious to get the lifeblood flowing with that first morning cup, don’t forget to pour a little of the finished brew out for one solid dame we all owe a debt to: Good ol’ Melitta Bentz.

(via Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt)

22 Amazing Found Photos Show Vintage Alcohol in the 1940s and ’50s

A set of amazing photos was found by John Morgans that shows a variety of alcohols at parties in UK hotels. Base on image details, these photos were probably taken from the 1940s and 1950s.

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Vintage Photographs of New Yorkers Selling Apples During the Great Depression

“I know that people don’t really consider farming to be the most ‘respectable’ of professions, but when I found out today that Papa had tried to sell apples on the corner for 5 cents each, I felt really ashamed. We used to be fairly respectable corn farmers, and now we were practically begging for money. I didn’t say any of that, of course, I know it would make everything worse. Papa said that there were hundreds of other men that he saw selling apples too. I guess everyone is just struggling to survive in these horrible times.”

Back in the 1930s, for many people, the humble apple saved their lives in more ways than that. Thanks to the Great Depression, unemployment was at an all time high. Not only did this affect household incomes — it also spiked a rise in shame and self-loathing felt by men no longer able to be the breadwinners of the family.

The solution to that? The apple industry. With a surplus of apples available, the Apple Shippers’ Association decided to pitch in and help unemployed by selling crates of apples to them at low prices. These new apple vendors would then take to the streets and hawk their fruit at a marginal profit. That image eventually became an iconic portrait of the Depression, displaying the unexpectedly creative ways in which they countered it. Hurstville, being set during that same era, invites you to come find your version of that. It may not come in the form of an apple, but look hard enough or seek help from the right people, and the answer will come to you.

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20 Intimate Black and White Photos Capture Pizza Makers Through a New York Display Window in 1956

A set of black and white photos from Joe+Jeanette Archie that shows pizza makers through a display window in New York in 1956.

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Recipe of the Month: St. Patrick’s Day Dinner by Marjorie Reynolds, 1945

Marjorie Reynolds, who danced to stardom with Fred Astaire in Paramount’s Holiday Inn, and is now playing in Bring on the Girls and the Sol Lesser comedy 3 Is a Family, does a fine job in the kitchen too. Try her recipe for Baked Ginger-Glazed Ham, and you’ll see what we mean.

When hams are plentiful it really isn’t an extravagance to buy a whole one, even for a small family, if you are a clever cook. Because after its appearance as star of a company dinner, the ham can make many return engagements in such a variety of unusual and delicious main dishes that you’ll be sorry to see the last of it.

Recipe page from the March 1945 Movies magazine.

So the next time you can buy a whole ham, why not give a dinner party with Marjorie Reynolds’ fine recipe to make the occasion a rousing success? If you serve it on St. Patrick’s Day, here’s the menu Marjorie suggests:

• Grapefruit Cup
• Baked Ginger-Glazed Ham
• Creamed Spinach
• Mashed Potatoes
• Watercress Salad
• Blue Cheese Dressing
• Hot Baking Powder Biscuits
• Peppermint Ice Cream (tinted green)
• Coffee

And here is the recipe for the star of the show:

BAKED GINGER-GLAZED HAM

Select a tender (uncooked) smoked ham, weighing 10-14 pounds. Place fat side up on rack in open roasting pan. If a meat thermometer is used, insert it in thickest part of ham, being sure bulb does not rest on bone.

Bake in a moderately slow oven (325°F.), allowing 18-20 minutes per pound or until thermometer reads 160°F. One hour before ham is done, remove from oven. Peel off skin. Score fat in crisscross diagonal lines, to form diamonds, using a sharp knife.

Insert a whole clove in the center of each diamond. Spread with prepared mustard. Pat in mixture of 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1 tablespoon flour. Pour over about 1/2 cup dry ginger ale.

Return to oven. Bake 1 hour longer, basting at 20-minute intervals with ginger ale, using 2 cups in all.

Pictures of Selena Photographed by Al Rendon For a 1994 Coca-Cola Ad Campaign

Selena was a cultural idol to millions. When “The Queen of Tejano Music” became a spokeswoman for Coca-Cola, it was a big deal.

Not only was this young Latina the new face of an iconic American brand, she was proof of the importance of the Hispanic market in this country.

These pictures were taken by Al Rendon that show portrait of Selena for a 1994 Coca-Cola ad campaign.

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Bizarre Beauty Pageants: Vintage Photos of Hot Dog Queens From the Mid-Century

When we think of beauty pageants, we think of doe eyes, blond ringlets, and tiny waists; the bizarre ritual of choosing the most beautiful woman in the room seems antiquated and oppressive. But it turns out that prior to Women’s Liberation, pageantry was an even more surreal and shocking part of the American experience. And hot dog beauty queens from the mid-century are examples...

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20 Awkward Vintage Ads of Skinless Frankfurters and Wieners From the 1940s

These vintage adverts of skinless frankfurters and wieners are from the 1940s. Though the original Frankfurter (from the city of Frankfurt) and Wiener (from the city of Vienna) sausages were no doubt distinct, the nouns frankfurter and wiener (and hot dog / hotdog) have long been referentially equivalent; various groups of speakers have preferences for one over the other, and some speakers judge hot dog / hotdog to be the neutral term, while frankfurter is more formal in style and wiener more informal, no one takes them to have different referents.

According to Wikipedia, “skinless” hot dogs must use a casing in the cooking process when the product is manufactured, but the casing is usually a long tube of thin cellulose that is removed between cooking and packaging. This process was invented in Chicago in 1925 by Erwin O. Freund, founder of Visking which would later become Viskase Companies.

The first skinless hot dog casings were produced by Freund’s new company under the name “Nojax”, short for “no jackets” and sold to local Chicago sausage makers.

Skinless hot dogs vary in the texture of the product surface but have a softer “bite” than natural casing hot dogs. Skinless hot dogs are more uniform in shape and size than natural casing hot dogs and less expensive.

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Toasters of the 1920s

The toaster was probably first invented and put on the market by the company General Electrics in 1908, although the brand Hotpoint claims they had toasters already back in 1905.

The “pop up” toaster was patented in 1919. During the 1920s many new types and brands were launched. Americans bought more than a million electric toasters, usually for use right on the breakfast table in the 1920s.

Early electric toasters browned only one side at a time and required users to watch, flip, and then remove each slice. The automatic toaster debuted in 1926; it toasted both sides and popped up the finished slice. Below are some of the most popular toaster designs from the Roaring Twenties.

1. The Turnover

The Turnover featured a spring-loaded door on either side that hinged down. Each door held a slice of bread. When one side of the bread was toasted, the operator opened each door to let the partially toasted bread drop down, giving the non-toasted side access to the heating element when the door was shut again. This toaster design was typically placed right on the breakfast due to its manual operation. The diligent person in charge of toast was responsible for making sure the toast was turned before it burned! The turner was popular from the mid 1920s until the early ’30s.


2. The Flopper

Well, you can just imagine the mad frenzy of companies trying to win the hearts of America’s homemakers with their new electric toasting machines. Each one attempting to create a slightly new design that did something the others could not (without infringing on the others’ patents, of course!) From this crazed period of innovation came designs and mechanisms like the Flopper. The Flopper featured metal doors with a lovely cutout design that also hinged on the bottom. The doors formed an “A” when closed. In this design, when the toast was done, the operator opened the side doors and the toast “flopped” out.


3. The Swinger

The Swinger spiced up the toasting world and gave the Turnover and Flopper toasters a run for their money. Swingers featured a swinging basket with a two-sided metal wire enclosure that held the bread slices. The bread was “flipped” to the other side with a turn of a knob and the toast was “branded” with a distinctive pattern, making it more attractive for the breakfast table. The first four-slice toaster was a swinger. It was so expensive that the manufacturers offered convenient payment plans so the clamoring masses could afford to have one in their homes.


4. The Sweetheart

The Sweetheart worked by pressing two buttons located on the base of the toaster. The buttons controlled each side of the toaster. Depressing the buttons would swing the baskets on each side of the toaster out at a 90-degree angle, so the user could either place in the bread or remove the toast. Releasing the button allowed the basket to swing back into place against the unit. Each additional push of the buttons rotated the bread slices in the opposite direction to toast both sides.


5. The Pop-Up

Toastmaster debuted the pop-up toaster to American consumers in 1926. The manufacturer used a clock mechanism as a timer for the toast. The key difference in this toaster was the fact that the user did not have to manually turn the toast. It was marketed to make perfect toast every time. Prior to 1926, pop-up or automatic toasters were originally marketed and sold to restaurants. They were a luxury for most families; so most manufacturers continued selling manual toasters for home into the 1950s. The Toastmaster company designed this toaster with heating elements situated on both sides of each slice. Another feature allowed the user to change the level of darkness by sliding a lever on the side of the toaster which adjusted the timer. The modern, streamlined case was truly a sight to behold.

(Photos courtesy of Cyber Toaster Museum, via Delishably)

Offensive and Fat-Shaming Vintage Weight Loss Ads From Ry-Krisp in the Mid-20th Century

In 1904, immigrant baker Arvid Peterson gave a Swedish-styled cracker a modern American name and introduced the country to Ry-Krisp. For decades, Minneapolis was the one and only location where the product was made.

In its first years, the cracker required little advertising, because Scandinavian immigrants knew it as knäckebröd (“crisp bread”) from their home countries. In Sweden, such crackers were inexpensive and lasted well on the shelf. At the time, crackers were competitive with more conventional breads because baked loaves were inconsistently made. Ry-Krisp first came in large, flat, thin rounds with a hole in the center. This traditional shape was designed for storing the product on a pole or even a broomstick.

Peterson, his brother Erik, and their widowed mother arrived in America in 1893. They lived for several years in Boston. While there, Arvid learned baking skills, and then for two years he was a farmer in South Dakota. By 1904, the brothers had moved to Minneapolis. “Peterson Bros. Bakers” was at 2120-24 Lyndale Avenue South. Arvid and Erik lived just a few blocks away. It was common for bakers to live close to their shops.

The Ry-Krisp recipe and method changed little as production expanded. Rye kernels were milled into flakes and then combined with water and injections of air to create a crunchy texture. The baking period was short. Though new flavors were eventually introduced, including the unsuccessful pizza-flavored Ry-Krisp, the cracker’s core ingredients remained the same.

As a cereal grain, rye offers unique health benefits. When Peterson sold his company to local investors in 1913, vitamins and nutrition were newly appreciated in the United States. New marketing strategies for the product said “Physicians recommend it” and that this “health bread” was a “corrective” for constipation. One ad claimed that the product “exercises the teeth.”

In 1922, Ry-Krisp built a new plant at 824 6th Avenue S.E. There was a convenient rail siding for national distribution, but trucks shipped the crackers all over the country.

In 1926, the Ralston Purina Company of St. Louis bought Ry-Krisp but kept production in Minneapolis. Founded in 1902, Ralston Purina was the result of a successful merger of an animal-feed and health-foods firm (Purina) and a breakfast food company (Ralston).

After 1926, as one brand among many in a large company, Ry-Krisp benefited from broader advertising. Ralston also sold “Ralston 100% Whole Wheat Cereal”—a product whose celebrity spokesman was cowboy star Tom Mix. Ralston experimented with the shape of Ry-Krisp, eventually adopting the rectangular cracker it became known for.

Starting in the 1930s, Rye-Krisp heavily advertised their products as a “reducing” (aka weight loss) product in magazines that were marketed to women and young girls. The marketing geniuses at Ry-Krisp usually focused on timeless and effective themes like, “your husband is going to leave you for a skinny girl,” and “caddie bitches are going to laugh at your fat ass if you don’t buy our product.”

For years they even ran ads like, “Nobody loves a fat girl,” in Seventeen magazine. That must have done wonders for young girls’ self-esteem!

Over the years, advertising and consumer interests shaped the appeal of the old-fashioned food. Some early health food enthusiasts mistakenly felt that “pure food” could ensure good breeding, or even racial purity. Other marketers recognized that the cracker’s vitamins, fiber content, and long shelf life were more important assets. Ry-Krisp ads or testimonials evolved over several decades. They appeared in professional nursing journals, immigrant newspapers, fishing guidebooks, and general-interest national magazines.

Below are some offensive, fat-shaming vintage magazine advertisements from the 1930s, 40s, and 50s for Ry-Krisp crackers.

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Cakes, Sweets & Puddings: 20 Vintage Christmas Food Ads From the 1950s

Here’s a selection of Christmas themed sweet and desert ads from the 1950s. Including Fleer’s, General & Mills, Jell-O, Mars, Marsettes, Milky Way, Nucoa, Reddi-Wip and more...

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