AIR-MAZE CORP.

The AIR-MAZE CORP., manufacturer of a variety of air and liquid filters, was organized in 1925 by Albert E. Schaaf, a business executive in bicycle and automobile manufacturing. First located at 321 the CAXTON BLDG., 812 Huron Rd., the company originally made air filters for automobiles, but it soon became a pioneer in the development of a variety of filters. By 1944 it had designed filters of more than 3,000 types and sizes for use in industry, by the military, and in air-conditioning systems. By 1939, Air-Maze had moved to larger quarters at 5200 Harvard Rd. in NEWBURGH HTS. It employed 550 people in July 1953, when it moved into a new $1.75 million plant at 25000 Miles Rd. in BEDFORD HTS. It was purchased in 1959 for $4 million by the Rockwell-Standard Corp. of Coraopolis, PA, and operated as a subsidiary of the corporation until 1961, when it became a separate division. A name change in 1968 made Air-Maze a division of the North American Rockwell Corp. In 1975 Air-Maze was sold by Rockwell to investors headed by Edward C. Mabbs and became part of the new Pittsburgh-based Incom Intl., Inc. In Nov. 1984, Air-Maze was purchased by an investment group led by Robt. S. Jepson, Jr., of Chicago and renamed the Air-Maze Corp. In 1999, Air-Maze was purchased again, this time by Donaldson Company, Inc., a Minneapolis, MN-based provider of filtration systems and replacement parts.