Melitta Bentz: Difference between revisions
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This is a more in depth summary of Melitta Bentz's innovation and how she has contributed to society today. Tags: Reverted references removed |
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'''Amalie Auguste Melitta Bentz''' (31 January 1873 – 29 June 1950), born '''Amalie Auguste Melitta Liebscher''', was a [[Germans|German]] [[entrepreneur]] who invented the paper [[coffee filter]] brewing system in 1908. She founded the namesake company [[Melitta]], which still operates under family control. |
'''Amalie Auguste Melitta Bentz''' (31 January 1873 – 29 June 1950), born '''Amalie Auguste Melitta Liebscher''', was a [[Germans|German]] [[entrepreneur]] who invented the paper [[coffee filter]] brewing system in 1908. She founded the namesake company [[Melitta]], which still operates under family control. |
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==Summary of Life== |
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Born Amalie Auguste Melitta Liebscher in Germany in 1873, this female innovator grew up in an entrepreneurial family; her grandparents owned a brewery³. Having a creative mind was practically ingrained in her since birth and influenced her thinking with various items in her life. There is not much other information about her early life until she married her husband Hugo Bentz, and they shared two sons, Horst and Willi, and a daughter, Herta⁴. The sons would later take over her company in the years to come. Bentz loved starting her mornings with a cup of coffee in her Dresden apartment. |
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Bentz was born in [[Dresden]]. Her father was a publisher.<ref name=nytimes>{{cite news|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/05/obituaries/melitta-bentz-overlooked.html |title=Overlooked No More: Melitta Bentz, Who Invented the Coffee Filter |last=Moses |first=Claire | date=5 September 2018 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=6 December 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181030233505/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/05/obituaries/melitta-bentz-overlooked.html |archive-date=30 October 2018}}</ref> |
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==Description of Innovation== |
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As a [[housewife]], Bentz found that [[coffee percolator|percolators]] were prone to over-brewing the coffee, [[espresso]]-type machines at the time tended to leave grounds in the drink, and linen bag filters were tiresome to clean. She experimented with many means but ended up using [[blotting paper]] from her son Willy's school exercise book and a brass pot punctured using a nail. When the free, less bitter coffee was met with general enthusiasm, she decided to set up a business.<ref name=nytimes/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.melitta100.de/cms/website.php?id=/de/index/vorspann_engl.htm |title=100 Years of Melitta / Our Brands – Your Trust |website=100 Years of Melitta |publisher=[[Melitta]] |date=2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081001211737/http://www.melitta100.de/cms/website.php?id=%2Fde%2Findex%2Fvorspann_engl.htm |archive-date=1 October 2008 |access-date=31 March 2020 }}</ref> |
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Bentz invented the coffee filter in 1908 after various experiments with different materials following her frustration with the bitter taste of her coffee that had too many grounds in the cup. Finally, she ended up using a piece of blotting paper from her son Willi’s school notebook to create a filter¹. She poked holes into the bottom of a brass pot and placed the thin blotting paper on top of the pot. After pouring coffee grounds in the filter paper and pouring over with hot water, she noticed that the coffee dripped right through the paper and into the cup, leaving the grounds in the filter behind. This made her coffee taste less bitter and more smooth³. Her invention was granted a patent in 1908, and in 1910 her company won a gold medal at the International Health Exhibition and a silver medal at the Saxon Innkeepers' Association. The company, which included both her sons and her husband, had to shift gears slightly during the World Wars when paper was rationed and coffee beans were impossible to import, so they started making cartons and military supplies². |
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==Pain Point Addressed== |
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The [[Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt|Kaiserliche Patentamt (Imperial Patent Office)]] granted her a [[patent]] on 20 June 1908, and on 15 December the company was entered into the commercial register with 73 [[pfennig]] as "M. Bentz". After contracting a [[tinsmith]] to manufacture the devices, they sold 1,200 coffee filters at the 1909 [[Leipzig Trade Fair|Leipzig fair]].<ref name=stanley>{{cite book| last=Stanley |first=Autumn |title=Mothers and Daughters of Invention: Notes for a Revised History of Technology |location=New Brunswick, N.J. |publisher=Rutgers University Press |year=1993 |page=56 |isbn=9780813521978 |oclc=229208630 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uRJt7QqA7GEC&pg=PA56 |access-date=6 December 2018 |via=[[Google Books]] }}</ref> |
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Bentz was frustrated with the overly bitter taste of her coffee, as well as too many grounds in her cup. The cleaning process also took too long because she had to clean out all the grounds that would get stuck to the sides of the copper pot. After countless tries with different materials to try and catch the grounds, she settled on using the blotting paper from her son’s notebook which was thin enough to filter the liquid through and keep the grounds from seeping through. |
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==Impact of Innovation on Society== |
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Her husband Hugo and their sons Horst and Willy were the first employees of the new company. In 1910, the company won a gold medal at the [[International Hygiene Exhibition|International Health Exhibition]] and a silver medal at the Saxon Innkeepers' Association. When the [[World War I|First World War]] erupted, metals were requisitioned for use in [[Zeppelin]] construction, her husband was [[conscripted]] to [[Romania]], paper was rationed, and coffee beans were impossible to import due to the British blockade, disrupting normal business. During this time she supported herself by selling cartons.<ref name=nytimes/><ref name="Of Coffee and Filters">{{cite web|url=http://www.melitta.info/cms/unternehmendb/files/Wie%20der%20Kaffee%20filtern%20lernte%202005%20engl.pdf |title=Of Coffee and Filters |date=2005 |publisher=[[Melitta]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070611191846/http://www.melitta.info/cms/unternehmendb/files/Wie%20der%20Kaffee%20filtern%20lernte%202005%20engl.pdf |archive-date=11 June 2007 }}</ref> |
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Everyone who drinks coffee is familiar with this invention. It has paved the way for making bulk batches of coffee as well as experimenting with different flavors or types of coffee. Further than her innovation though, Melitta Bentz had a major impact on her company’s employees by offering more sick time for her employees as well as a Christmas bonus that all created a better work-life balance just before she stepped down in 1930. She later started Melitta Aid in 1938, a social fund for company employees that still exists today⁴. Her company expanded into over 50 companies and over 3,000 employees. They sell filter papers, roasted coffees and coffee preparation products, as well as food wrapping products and dust filter bags¹. Overall, the coffee filter has had a tremendously positive impact on society, and Melitta Bentz is remembered by all of her employees because of her care for their wellbeing. |
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Continuing expansion caused the company to move several times within Dresden. By 1928 the demand for their products was so high that the 80 workers had to work in a double-shift system. As no satisfactory production facilities could be found in Dresden, the fast-growing company moved in 1929 to [[Minden]] in eastern [[Province of Westphalia|Westphalia]].<ref name=nytimes/> By that time 100,000 filters had been produced.<ref name="Of Coffee and Filters"/> |
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Horst took over the company, now "Bentz & Sohn", in 1930. Bentz transferred the majority stake in Melitta-Werke [[Aktiengesellschaft]] to Horst and Willy in 1932, but kept a hand in the business, ensuring that the employees were cared for, offering Christmas bonuses, increasing vacation days from 6 to 15 days per year, and reducing the working week to 5 days. She fostered the company's "Melitta Aid" system, a social fund for company employees.<ref name="Of Coffee and Filters"/> |
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After the outbreak of [[World War II]], production stopped and the company was ordered to produce goods to aid the war effort. At the end of the war, the workers relocated for a time to old factories, barracks, even pubs, because the surviving portions of the main factory had been requisitioned as a provisional administration for the Allied troops, a condition that held for 12 years. By 1948, production of filters and paper had resumed, and at the time of her death at [[Porta Westfalica|Holzhausen at Porta Westfalica]] in 1950, the company valuation had reached 4.7 million [[Deutsche Mark]]s.<ref name="Of Coffee and Filters"/> |
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==Legacy== |
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The grandchildren of Melitta Bentz, Thomas and Stephen Bentz, still control the [[Melitta|Melitta Group KG]] headquartered in [[Minden]], on the east of [[North Rhine-Westphalia]], with about 3,300 employees in 50 countries.<ref name="Of Coffee and Filters"/> |
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==See also== |
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* [[German inventors and discoverers]] |
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==References== |
==References== |
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1. Jahre, M. (n.d.). 100 Years of Melitta / Our brands - Your Trust. Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://web.archive.org/web/20081001211737/http://www.melitta100.de/cms/website.php?id=%2Fde%2Findex%2Fvorspann_engl.htm |
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{{Reflist}} |
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2. Melitta Bentz biography, list of Melitta Bentz inventions. (n.d.). Retrieved December 01, 2020, from http://www.edubilla.com/inventor/melitta-bentz/ |
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3. Melitta Bentz. (n.d.). Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://reference.jrank.org/biography-2/Bentz_Melitta.html |
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4. Overlooked No More: Melitta Bentz, Who Invented the Coffee Filter. (2018, September 05). Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/05/obituaries/melitta-bentz-overlooked.html |
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==External links== |
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*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110719060959/http://www.melitta100.de/cms/website.php?id=%2Fde%2Findex%2Fpresse%2Fenglishpress%2Fcompany_history.htm ''Melitta 100 Jahre: Company History''] |
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{{Authority control}} |
{{Authority control}} |
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Revision as of 05:27, 1 December 2020
Bentz, Melitta | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 31 January 1873 |
| Died | 29 June 1950 (aged 77) |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
| Spouse | Hugo Bentz |
| Children | 2 |
Amalie Auguste Melitta Bentz (31 January 1873 – 29 June 1950), born Amalie Auguste Melitta Liebscher, was a German entrepreneur who invented the paper coffee filter brewing system in 1908. She founded the namesake company Melitta, which still operates under family control.
Summary of Life
Born Amalie Auguste Melitta Liebscher in Germany in 1873, this female innovator grew up in an entrepreneurial family; her grandparents owned a brewery³. Having a creative mind was practically ingrained in her since birth and influenced her thinking with various items in her life. There is not much other information about her early life until she married her husband Hugo Bentz, and they shared two sons, Horst and Willi, and a daughter, Herta⁴. The sons would later take over her company in the years to come. Bentz loved starting her mornings with a cup of coffee in her Dresden apartment.
Description of Innovation
Bentz invented the coffee filter in 1908 after various experiments with different materials following her frustration with the bitter taste of her coffee that had too many grounds in the cup. Finally, she ended up using a piece of blotting paper from her son Willi’s school notebook to create a filter¹. She poked holes into the bottom of a brass pot and placed the thin blotting paper on top of the pot. After pouring coffee grounds in the filter paper and pouring over with hot water, she noticed that the coffee dripped right through the paper and into the cup, leaving the grounds in the filter behind. This made her coffee taste less bitter and more smooth³. Her invention was granted a patent in 1908, and in 1910 her company won a gold medal at the International Health Exhibition and a silver medal at the Saxon Innkeepers' Association. The company, which included both her sons and her husband, had to shift gears slightly during the World Wars when paper was rationed and coffee beans were impossible to import, so they started making cartons and military supplies².
Pain Point Addressed
Bentz was frustrated with the overly bitter taste of her coffee, as well as too many grounds in her cup. The cleaning process also took too long because she had to clean out all the grounds that would get stuck to the sides of the copper pot. After countless tries with different materials to try and catch the grounds, she settled on using the blotting paper from her son’s notebook which was thin enough to filter the liquid through and keep the grounds from seeping through.
Impact of Innovation on Society
Everyone who drinks coffee is familiar with this invention. It has paved the way for making bulk batches of coffee as well as experimenting with different flavors or types of coffee. Further than her innovation though, Melitta Bentz had a major impact on her company’s employees by offering more sick time for her employees as well as a Christmas bonus that all created a better work-life balance just before she stepped down in 1930. She later started Melitta Aid in 1938, a social fund for company employees that still exists today⁴. Her company expanded into over 50 companies and over 3,000 employees. They sell filter papers, roasted coffees and coffee preparation products, as well as food wrapping products and dust filter bags¹. Overall, the coffee filter has had a tremendously positive impact on society, and Melitta Bentz is remembered by all of her employees because of her care for their wellbeing.
References
1. Jahre, M. (n.d.). 100 Years of Melitta / Our brands - Your Trust. Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://web.archive.org/web/20081001211737/http://www.melitta100.de/cms/website.php?id=%2Fde%2Findex%2Fvorspann_engl.htm 2. Melitta Bentz biography, list of Melitta Bentz inventions. (n.d.). Retrieved December 01, 2020, from http://www.edubilla.com/inventor/melitta-bentz/ 3. Melitta Bentz. (n.d.). Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://reference.jrank.org/biography-2/Bentz_Melitta.html 4. Overlooked No More: Melitta Bentz, Who Invented the Coffee Filter. (2018, September 05). Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/05/obituaries/melitta-bentz-overlooked.html
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