The year was 1921 and Bill Reed was tired of getting dust on his newly painted model Ts. It was his business, after all.
You see, back then roads were so rough that automaker Henry Ford would ship new cars unpainted to avoid rock damage. The cars would get painted at the delivery city by people like Mr. Reed. And, being the entrepreneur-engineer, Mr. Reed recognized that if he filtered the factory air, he could paint cars cleanly and without needing additional touchup.
The first filter enlisted a mesh filter coated in oil he put over his shop windows. Soon enough Mr. Reed began selling his filter, which soon became Patent US1483379A, to every paint shop in the country. The Reed Air Filter company was born.