As a housewife Melitta Benz invented the coffee filter and started the company Melitta Group

In 1908, Berlin was a unique case: a simple housewife Melitta Benz was one of the first women who received a patent for his invention, which proved to be very successful and is still being used! The German registered a paper coffee filter to enjoy clean drink with no crumbs, and grounds.

Melitta was born in 1873 in the family of the Dresden publisher. Of it remained only good reviews. She later married a Department Manager of Dresden Hugo Bentz and bore him two sons Willie and Horst — that they became the main assistants in the coffee business.

Melitta with her husband Hugo

It all began simply with the fact that Melitta loved coffee, but never liked to finish it, because the language always got nuggets with bitter grounds. At first she just drilled holes in the brass Cup, but it did not give the desired purity of the coffee needed a fine filter.

Coffee filter, invented by Melitta

20 Jun 1908, Melitta Benz registered a patent for his invention, and soon founded the company "M. Bentz". The family began to actively promote the filter through the familiar: a housewife was arranged dinner coffee, her husband did the presentation almost on the balcony in front of all passers-by. And a year later at the fair in Leipzig was sold 1200 of their coffee filters!

In 1910, the family company was awarded a gold medal at the international exhibition of health, and by 1928 th their product was so popular that 80 employees had to work double shifts. Soon they did not have enough production capacity and space, so they moved to Minden, where the company's head office is still situated.

The company Melitta Benz had experienced crises during the First and Second world wars, but by the time of the death of its inventor's brand was estimated at 4.7 million German marks

Melitta today, the grandchildren of Thomas and Stephen Benz continue to control the company, Melitta Group KG, which sells coffee, filters, coffee, tea and accessories to cleaning and has offices in 50 countries. The company's turnover amounts to 1.2 billion euros, while the initial capital was only 72 Pfennig — less than one Deutsche mark!