William H Voss

VOSS, RATHMANN, FRITZ

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Date: 3/20/2011 at 16:07:09

A Narrative History
of
The People of Iowa
with
SPECIAL TREATMENT OF THEIR CHIEF ENTERPRISES IN
EDUCATION, RELIGION, VALOR, INDUSTRY,
BUSINESS, ETC.
by
EDGAR RUBEY HARLAN, LL. B., A. M.
Curator of the
Historical, Memorial and Art Department of Iowa
Volume IV
THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Inc.
Chicago and New York
1931

WILLIAM H. VOSS. The readiest means of identifying William H. Voss to
hundreds of thousands of people in Iowa and other states is to say that he is
the inventor of one of the first practicable types of washing machines, and
that as individual manufacturer and for many years president of the Voss
Manufacturing Company of Davenport he has been making successive improved
types of washing machines bearing the Voss name for over half a century. The
total number of such machines manufactured since 1877 have been over a
million, and every one has been a factor in lightening one of the oldest
drudgerings of human existence.

The Voss Brothers Manufacturing Company is the title of one of the
industrial organizations of which the City of Davenport is justly proud, and on
the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of the business in 1927, and at many other
times, Davenport citizens and prominent men from other cities have
testified to their admiration and esteem of the executives of the company. The
Voss Brothers were at the beginning of the business William H. Voss, Fred P.
Voss and John A. Voss, and two of the brothers are still active in the
business, John A Voss having died in 1922.

William H. Voss was born in Germany, August 21, 1856. When he was
fourteen years of age his parents came to America and settled in Scott County,
Iowa. William H. Voss followed his decided bent for mechanical work, becoming
a cabinet maker, and in reality was a skilled and artistic worker in wood,
his wood carvings winning him many prizes, and one of his early
commissions was to make the hand carvings in the Davenport Municipal Hall. Like many
other men he observed and appreciated the hard labor and drudgery of the
typical wash day and the hardship of that weekly task for his mother, but he
was exceptional in being one of the few men who not only observed, but
tried to do something to solve the problem. His thinking was reduced to an
idea in his mind, then a rough working drawing, and this he readily turned
into a crude machine at his shop. He took the machine home and presented it
to his mother, who used it, according to the story, on the first machine
wash day, so that her task was done in the middle of the forenoon, to the
great astonishment of all the neighbors, and it was the admiration and envy of
the neighbors which produced the first list of sales for the Voss washing
machine, and the mother of William H. Voss is credited with having been the
first sales manager of the business.

In the literature published by the Voss Brothers Manufacturing Company is
an interesting illustration of the little shop in which the experimental
machine and the first machines for sale were manufactured in 1877. The title
of the business was "W. H. Voss, Wood Carver and Cabinet Maker, Scroll
Sawing, Turning, All Kinds of Repairing Done." The first Voss machine sold
for ten dollars. With a prospectively growing business Mr. Voss took in his
two brothers as partners and put up a larger factory in 1882. The first
machine was of the "rocker" type, the rocking motion being inside a
stationary tub, the interior of the tub being corrugated with strips of wood. The
second type was a round tub with a three-pronged dasher worked by a handle
above the tub. This was the first round tub washer and it was machine
corrugated on the inside. The principal output for these early washers was among
farm households, since housewives in cities generally hired help so cheap
that the washing was of the acute problem it was on the farm. The old
round-top washers sold for eight dollars. Since then over a hundred patents
have been taken out and utilized in the making of the washer, and many changes
and new devices have been applied, not only to the washer itself but to
the machinery used in making them.

It was in 1901 that the Voss Brothers Manufacturing Company was
incorporated, and at that time the chief output was known as the "Ocean Wave" washer,
patented in the same year. Many of those old washers are still in use.
Mr. Voss in 1905 invented a water power washer, but the application of
waterpower had to give way before the increased efficiency of the gasoline
engine and electric motor. Since 1905 Voss Brothers have been putting out power
machines, and in that year the first order for a wash machine came from
abroad, and the export business of the company has been steadily growing ever
since. Mr. Voss in 1909 perfected a platform washer, putting washer,
wringer and tubs in contact arrangements, eliminating several operations and
saving a great amount of time, and making possible the reality of the factory
slogan: "Voss O'clock - Nine O'clock."

The distinctive feature of the more modern types of Voss washers is the
Floto-Plane Agitator - the only mechanical device which duplicates
hand-washing action in all its gentle thoroughness. The factory slogan now reads as
follows: "Only the Voss Cleans by the Hand Washing Method."

Through all the years of the successful growth of the business Mr. William
H. Voss has been a public spirited factor in the life of his home city.
For several years he was a member of the Davenport Chamber of Commerce board
of directors. He is a director of the Union Savings Bank and Trust Company
and was one of the organizers and is a director of the Home Savings Bank
and Trust Company and was one of the organizers and is a director of the Home
Savings Bank. He is a large stockholder in the Blackhawk Foundry &
Machine Company, of which he was one of the organizers. He formerly
participated actively in the civic and social affairs and was a member of many
organizations. About the only fraternity with which he is affiliated today is the
Elks. To a large extent the heavier responsibilities of the business are
now carried by members of the younger generation.

Mr. William H. Voss' first wife was Elsie Rathmann, now deceased. His
second wife was Caroline Fritz. He is the father of three children: Walter
K., who graduated from the Rose Polytechnic Institute at Terre Haute,
Indiana, and is now general manager of the Voss Brothers Manufacturing Company;
Edward Fritz is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and is no the
company's general sales manager; and the only daughter is Elsie.