Klotz Manufacturing Company
Chicago, Illinois
The Klotz Manufacturing Company was incorporated on June 24th, 1913 with a capital stock of $10,000, to manufacture dies, punches and machinery. The 1913 Chicago City Directory lists the President as Robert Klotz with a business address of 1705 City Hall Square building and telephone number of Central-4420. The firm of Robert Klotz and Company, patent attorneys, was also listed at that same address with the same telephone number.
Robert Klotz was born in Baden, Germany on November 5, 1859. Educated in Germany, he studied mechanical engineering at the Royal Polytechnic Institute in Stuttgart, Wurtemberg from 1876 to 1882 during which time he also served 1 year in the German Army. In 1882 he came to the United States and settled in Chicago, working as a professional Mechanical Engineer. In the mid-1880ss he founded Robert Klotz and Company, specializing in professional mechanical engineering services. Later, around 1905, the company shifted focus to provide patent lawyer services to assist inventors with registering their intellectual property.
Robert Klotz himself was only briefly engaged in running the company that bore his name. The 1914 Chicago City Directory lists John E. Siebel Jr. as President and Fred P. Siebel as Secretary for the Klotz Manufacturing Company. The business address also moved to the 4th floor of 143 W Austin Avenue. This information remained unchanged in the 1915 directory.
John and Fred Siebel were the sons of Dr. John E Siebel Sr. who founded the Zymotechnic Institute in Chicago in 1868 which was a school for the brewing sciences. When the two sons joined the company in the 1890’s the business expanded, adding brewing courses in English to the German taught curriculum. In 1910, the school's name, Siebel Institute of Technology, was formally adopted. At this time, recognizing the approach of prohibition, the Institute diversified and added courses in baking, refrigeration, engineering, milling, carbonated beverages and other related topics. Robert Klotz had been associated with the institute since 1901. It is unknown whether this initial relationship was due to a personal interest in brewing or not, but in 1914 it was solidified as a business relationship when John and Fred Siebel purchased the Klotz Manufacturing Company. Peter Wing, formerly associated with Wing & Parsons, also joined the company in this time frame.
The management of the Klotz Manufacturing Company under John and Fred Siebel was also brief, for an August 1915 advertisement in Playthings magazine included several safe banks known to have been manufactured by Klotz but the company was listed as the American Art Toy Makers. The 1916 Chicago City Directory provides some clarification at it lists the American Art Toy Makers at the same 143 W Austin Avenue address as was listed for Klotz in 1915. Additionally, Melvin M. Ostertag and Otto A. Langos were listed respectively as President and Vice-President.
The American Art Toy Makers continued to operate into the early 1920’s. In addition to banks and safes, their product offering included several toys that were designed and patented by Otto A. Langos. By 1923, American Art Toy Makers ceased to exist, but many of their products continued to be produced by Otto A. Langos at his newly formed Langson Manufacturing Company.
The Langson Manufacturing Company was in business from 1923 to 1974. While famous with collectors for their paper buster toys, they are not known to have produced any banks.
