The business was created in 1928 as Sanitation Systems, Inc., a Chicago-based distributor for Cleveland's Scott & Fetzer. The founders included Martin Callahan, his son Frank, and their associate Ray Owen. Within just two years, these energetic salesmen had sold enough of Scott & Fetzer's home cleaning systems to make their venture the largest organization of its type in greater Chicago.
Buoyed by their "sweeping" success, the three men contracted with one of America's most experienced vacuum manufacturers, Cleveland's P.A. Geier Company, to make an upright vacuum for them to sell. In 1930 the company name was changed to Health-Mor Sanitation Systems, Inc. to reflect its new product. The distributorship forged a strong relationship with its new supplier in the early 1930s, and by 1936 Health-Mor was one of P.A. Geier's largest clients.
At the end of the decade, 1939, Health-Mor acquired the patent on a vacuum cleaner that utilized centrifugal force to generate suction and trap dirt simultaneously. A team of P.A. Geier engineers, including Max Fairaizl, Ted Fistek, and Gene Martinec, refined the concept into the Health-Mor Model 200, later renamed the Filter Queen 200. By incorporating proprietary technology, this appliance distinguished Health-Mor from many of its competitors.
