Henry Vogt Machine Company records

The son of poor German immigrants, Henry Vogt (b. 1856, Louisville) partnered with Henry H. Sulzer in 1880 to form Sulzer-Vogt, a small machine shop on Main Street near Preston which was incoporated in 1890 as the Henry Vogt Machine Co. In 1885, a new line of products used to make "artificial" ice--the Absorption Refrigeration and Ice Making Machine--was introduced. In the late 1890s, the company pioneered the early development of ammonia absorption refrigeration systems that made artificial ice. By the beginning of the 20th century, Vogt had outgrown its Main Street location and purchased what was then farmland on 10th and Ormsby Streets with expansions built in 1922, 1927, 1929, and 1956. During World War I, Vogt produced miltary materials and manufacturing goods for industries directly engaged in wartime production. During the 1937 flood, Vogt had the only electrical generator in the city that was above the flood waters and could operate. It supplied emergency electrical power to critical operations in the Louisville area. The famous Vogt Tube-Ice Machine was introduced in 1938 and during World War II, it produced 105mm shells, heat exchangers, chillers, and piping; it also produced boilers for ships and valves for the Manhattan Project. Vogt introduced its Model 2000 Tube-Ice machine in 1948, allowing restaurants and hotels to produce ice on their own premises for the first time. The machine supplied ice to national accounts such as the Walt Disney Co. and the Hyatt and Marriott Hotels.