Purolator Filters

MANN+HUMMEL Purolator Filters LLC, more commonly known as Purolator, is an American manufacturer of oil and air filters, based in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Since 2013, it has been a subsidiary of German filter manufacturer Mann+Hummel. Purolator manufactured and sold the first commercially available automotive oil filters starting in the 1920s. For several decades in the late 20th Century, Purolator operated a large North American courier business known as Purolator Couriers. Canadian courier Purolator Inc. and its subsidiary Purolator International are the successors of that business but have had no direct relationship with their former parent since 1987.

The company was founded in 1923 as Motor Improvements, Incorporated in New York City. The company's Purolator (initially stylized PurOlator and sometimes Pur-O-Lator) oil filtration device, invented in 1922 by Ernest John Sweetland and George H. Greenhalgh, was standard equipment on early 1920s Chrysler automobiles after being launched on the Chrysler Six. The name Purolator was a portmanteau of pure oil later. The Purolator was the first modern automotive oil filter and reduced the need to flush a car's crankcase to clean out oil contaminants, at the time a regular and costly maintenance item.

In 1924, Purolator filters were made available for retail sale for both passenger cars and trucks and Motor Improvements president James A. Abeles announced it had established a network of 2,600 sales, installation, and service stations across the US and Canada and had engaged ad firm MacManus, Inc. for a nationwide advertising campaign.

The company later changed its name to the name of its most well-known brand, Purolator Products, Inc..

In the 1950s and 1960s, Purolator, headquartered in Rahway, New Jersey, diversified their operations by acquiring a variety of hardware and automotive parts manufacturers. These included Bridgeport Manufacturing Co. in 1959 and in 1961, Hadbar, Inc. and On Mark Couplings, Inc. both of Los Angeles, California. Among its acquisitions in 1965 was Stant Inc., a Pine Bluff, Arkansas manufacturer of radiator and fuel caps which continued as an independent subsidiary of Purolator.

In 1967, Purolator expanded into the courier business by acquiring American Courier Corp. (ACC) of Bayside, New York for over US$5 million. ACC operated as an independent subsidiary of Purolator. ACC had been founded as Armored Car Service in 1948 and its primary business was transporting checks between banks. Following the acquisition by Purolator, ACC made a number of acquisitions aimed at consolidating its business nationwide including the 1969 acquisitions of both Fort Worth, Texas-based Armored Motor Services, Inc. and Tampa, Florida-based Security Transport Corp. By 1971, ACC said it had 1,272 vehicles and had started a Sky Courier division with 17 planes and 30 pilots. ACC was renamed Purolator Courier Corp. in 1973.

Purolator Courier bought Trans Canadian Couriers in 1972 to expand its Canadian reach. In 1973, Trans Canadian was renamed Purolator Courier, Ltd.

In 1982, William Waltrip resigned as president and CEO of Pan Am after less than a year to become president and CEO of Purolator. Waltrip's major initiative was to refocus the company on its courier business. To that end, in 1983 Purolator sold Purolator Armored, its armored car division formerly Purolator Security, to Australian armored car service provider and owner of Loomis Armored Car Service, Mayne Nickless for US$33 million. By the end of 1983, Purolator operated 270 terminals, 111 aircraft, and 5,328 ground vehicles and reported it had handled 76,841 packages in the year.