Does anyone know the history of Filtex....im talking about the tank cleaners, not the central stuff, I know a Mr Hoppe started the company,then died and his wife ran it for many years, I know it didnt start in Los Angeles, but did operate there for many years, Now, I want to know did they make more than 2 models, the early one I have is a really train like streamlined thing, the other one I have is a really good cleaner also, and its made out of masonite board...., also when did Emdeko get involved????
Filtex history wanted!
- Thread starter kenkart
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dysonman1
Well-known member
I know the complete history of Filtex, from when they started in Jackson, Michigan through the end of Mrs. Hoppe's involvement. The model 1 Filtex is a real beast, but they had a machine before that. It would be a LOT to type. Call me sometime and we'll talk.
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Oh Tom, please type away!
I'd love to read about the history of Filtex as well. One day quite a few years ago, I drove by their address on Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles. There's a large 1920s Beaux Arts/Spanish Renaissance building there, nothing at all to indicate it had at one time been the Los Angeles location for the Filtex company. A few years ago the building was renovated and re-purposed as luxury loft apartments.
Here's a Google Maps street view of the building, along with some photos of my favorite Filtex model, the first one, patented in 1938 and introduced in 1939 -- which, in my opinion, design-wise gives the Electrolux Model XXX (introduced the same year) a run for its money. A notable feature about it: It's one of the earliest tank-type vacuum cleaners to have wheels instead of runners.
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Oh Tom, please type away!
I'd love to read about the history of Filtex as well. One day quite a few years ago, I drove by their address on Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles. There's a large 1920s Beaux Arts/Spanish Renaissance building there, nothing at all to indicate it had at one time been the Los Angeles location for the Filtex company. A few years ago the building was renovated and re-purposed as luxury loft apartments.Here's a Google Maps street view of the building, along with some photos of my favorite Filtex model, the first one, patented in 1938 and introduced in 1939 -- which, in my opinion, design-wise gives the Electrolux Model XXX (introduced the same year) a run for its money. A notable feature about it: It's one of the earliest tank-type vacuum cleaners to have wheels instead of runners.
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Some more Filtex scans -- first, a two-sided 8.5x11 advertising brochure for the 1939 model, then two pages from the instruction manual for the same model.
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Some more Filtex scans -- first, a two-sided 8.5x11 advertising brochure for the 1939 model, then two pages from the instruction manual for the same model.
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A note to Webmaster Robert: Is the Vacuumland program still resizing or rescaling photos? The original scans of the above four scans are much clearer and sharper than they're showing up here. Just wondering.
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A note to Webmaster Robert: Is the Vacuumland program still resizing or rescaling photos? The original scans of the above four scans are much clearer and sharper than they're showing up here. Just wondering.
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"back to the top"
(are we still allowed to do this?!)
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"back to the top"
(are we still allowed to do this?!)
super-sweeper
Well-known member
Do what, Charles? Take over your husband's company?
caligula
Well-known member
Filtex,
reminds me of an Airstream, motor home/camper.
reminds me of an Airstream, motor home/camper.
super-sweeper
Well-known member
Oh, no!I was referring to if you were asking if it would legal today to take over your husband's company, as in when Mrs.Hoppe took over the Filtex company from her husband! Not if YOU were to take over your husband's company! Regardless, what were you referring to when you asked, 'are we still allowed to do this?'?
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O I C.
What I was referring to was, is it still allowed to type at the end of a thread "Back to the top!" to make it appear on the top of the topic listings again.
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O I C.
What I was referring to was, is it still allowed to type at the end of a thread "Back to the top!" to make it appear on the top of the topic listings again.
super-sweeper
Well-known member
Never heard of that feature!
My Eureka tank-type vacuum research led me down a Filtex rabbit hole. This is what I pieced together from the following sources: familysearch.org, Owen Perkins (YT), centvac.com, online database, https://www.progress-hausgeraete.de/en-de/local/history/
August K. Hoppe (1894-1946) and Emma G. (Wahl) Hoppe (1904-1990) immigrated to the United States from Germany and were married at Indiana in 1936.
That same year they became the U.S. distributors of the German-designed Progress vacuum cleaners at 1814 E. 40th St., Jackson, Michigan. The parent company had formed in 1921 as an electrical equipment business adding vacuum cleaner production in 1926.
At one point the US subsidiary went by Electroair Progress Company. The lack of online information leads to speculation of whether Mr. and Mrs. Hoppe sold two makes, or if Electroair was also manufactured by Progress?
The Hoppe’s association with Progress was short-lived, and by 1938 they started transitioning into running their own business. The Eureka Vacuum Cleaner Company, located about 80 miles away, took over the Progress distribution in 1939 and aquired the business’s assets in October 1940. The equipment was moved to Detroit and the remaining stock of Progress vacuum cleaners was sold over the next several years.
Mr. and Mrs. Hoppe’s new company, Filtex Corporation, began as a subsidiary of the Sparks-Withington Company of Jackson. Their first patent in 1938 became the Model 1 tank-type vacuum cleaner first produced in 1939. Filtex made two versions of the Model 1 (perhaps the first in Jackson and the seond in LA) followed by the Model 2. In 1943, the Hoppes relocated the business to 415 E. 15th Street, Los Angeles, California; which was used for manufacturing airplane parts until the end of WWII. In 1946 classified ads stated that the “New Hygienic Filtex vacuum cleaners were available, these were presumably the Model (Type) 12 (see VL link below for photos). Around 1950 the Model 50 rolled off the assembly line followed by Models 19-A & 19-B in 1955. It may be that the main difference between the two besides the body colors was that the 19-A used a cloth bag and the 19-B a paper one. The former doesn’t appear to have been in production as long according to what little information I located.
Mr. Hoppe passed away in 1946, at which time Mrs. Hoppe took over the presidency of the company. She continued the production of tank-type cleaners and in late 1958 introduced the copper-colored Perma Vac built-in vacuum system line beginning with model S-300(?). After twenty years at the helm, Mrs. Hoppe retired.
Filtex was then acquired by Natter Manufacturing Corporation (NMC) and relocated to 9440 Gidley St., Temple City, California. Around the late 1970s the tank-type was discontinued, and the company focused on its built-in vacuum systems; changing the unit colors to various blue tones. NMC became a subsidiary of VSI Corporation in 1967, and in 1980, VSI was sold to Fairchild Industries, a diversified aerospace concern, which moved production to La Verne, CA. After several more acquisitions, the Filtex brand was discontinued around 2006.
Progress thread featuring Type 12: https://vacuumland.org/threads/progress-vacuum-cleaner-inquiry.1326/
Attachments:
1. 1940 Sep 30 LIFE ad
2. 1955 CONSUMER UNION REPORTS BUYING GUIDE ISSUE (snippet overview)- model 19-A
3. 1955 LIST OF ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES supplement, p. 56 - Filtex model 19-B
4. 1957 CONSUMER UNION REPORTS BUYING GUIDE ISSUE (snippet overview)- model 19-B
5. 1976 ELECTRICAL APPLIANCE AND UTILIZATION LIST - UL - Filtex (snippet overview)
6. 1976 ELECTRICAL APPLIANCE AND UTILIZATION LIST - UL, p. 94, Filtex model list
August K. Hoppe (1894-1946) and Emma G. (Wahl) Hoppe (1904-1990) immigrated to the United States from Germany and were married at Indiana in 1936.
That same year they became the U.S. distributors of the German-designed Progress vacuum cleaners at 1814 E. 40th St., Jackson, Michigan. The parent company had formed in 1921 as an electrical equipment business adding vacuum cleaner production in 1926.
At one point the US subsidiary went by Electroair Progress Company. The lack of online information leads to speculation of whether Mr. and Mrs. Hoppe sold two makes, or if Electroair was also manufactured by Progress?
The Hoppe’s association with Progress was short-lived, and by 1938 they started transitioning into running their own business. The Eureka Vacuum Cleaner Company, located about 80 miles away, took over the Progress distribution in 1939 and aquired the business’s assets in October 1940. The equipment was moved to Detroit and the remaining stock of Progress vacuum cleaners was sold over the next several years.
Mr. and Mrs. Hoppe’s new company, Filtex Corporation, began as a subsidiary of the Sparks-Withington Company of Jackson. Their first patent in 1938 became the Model 1 tank-type vacuum cleaner first produced in 1939. Filtex made two versions of the Model 1 (perhaps the first in Jackson and the seond in LA) followed by the Model 2. In 1943, the Hoppes relocated the business to 415 E. 15th Street, Los Angeles, California; which was used for manufacturing airplane parts until the end of WWII. In 1946 classified ads stated that the “New Hygienic Filtex vacuum cleaners were available, these were presumably the Model (Type) 12 (see VL link below for photos). Around 1950 the Model 50 rolled off the assembly line followed by Models 19-A & 19-B in 1955. It may be that the main difference between the two besides the body colors was that the 19-A used a cloth bag and the 19-B a paper one. The former doesn’t appear to have been in production as long according to what little information I located.
Mr. Hoppe passed away in 1946, at which time Mrs. Hoppe took over the presidency of the company. She continued the production of tank-type cleaners and in late 1958 introduced the copper-colored Perma Vac built-in vacuum system line beginning with model S-300(?). After twenty years at the helm, Mrs. Hoppe retired.
Filtex was then acquired by Natter Manufacturing Corporation (NMC) and relocated to 9440 Gidley St., Temple City, California. Around the late 1970s the tank-type was discontinued, and the company focused on its built-in vacuum systems; changing the unit colors to various blue tones. NMC became a subsidiary of VSI Corporation in 1967, and in 1980, VSI was sold to Fairchild Industries, a diversified aerospace concern, which moved production to La Verne, CA. After several more acquisitions, the Filtex brand was discontinued around 2006.
Progress thread featuring Type 12: https://vacuumland.org/threads/progress-vacuum-cleaner-inquiry.1326/
Attachments:
1. 1940 Sep 30 LIFE ad
2. 1955 CONSUMER UNION REPORTS BUYING GUIDE ISSUE (snippet overview)- model 19-A
3. 1955 LIST OF ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES supplement, p. 56 - Filtex model 19-B
4. 1957 CONSUMER UNION REPORTS BUYING GUIDE ISSUE (snippet overview)- model 19-B
5. 1976 ELECTRICAL APPLIANCE AND UTILIZATION LIST - UL - Filtex (snippet overview)
6. 1976 ELECTRICAL APPLIANCE AND UTILIZATION LIST - UL, p. 94, Filtex model list
Attachments
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1940 Sep 30 LIFE - Filtex Vacuum Cleaner & Air Purifier ad.png -
1955 CONSUMER UNION REPORTS BUYING GUIDE ISSUE, p. 197 snippet view - Filtex model 19-A.png -
1955 LIST OF ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES supplement, p. 56 - Filtex model 19-B.png -
1957 CONSUMER UNION REPORTS BUYING GUIDE ISSUE - Filtex model 19-B .png -
1976 ELECTRICAL APPLIANCE AND UTILIZATION LIST - UL - Filtex snippet overview.png -
1976 ELECTRICAL APPLIANCE AND UTILIZATION LIST - UL, p. 94, Filtex models.png
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