Those of you who follow this blog know that I have a fondness for antique bar tools, especially julep strainers and cocktail strainers in general. Although antique julep strainers are relatively hard to find, it’s the “other” cocktail strainers, the unusual ones, the sometimes downright weird ones, that I’m constantly searching for. There are some strainers that are even hard to recognize as strainers.
I had written two blogs, one entitled “Some Turn of the Century Cocktail Strainer Patents” and another “Charles J. Hauck & Son, Brooklyn, NY” that included images of the following beverage strainer:
F. H. Vogt 1904 Patent
Mr. Vogt’s patent specification follows:
Patent Specification
Now if you were at a yard sale and saw this strainer, would you know it’s a strainer? I would think it was a whisk of some sort, used for cooking. Or maybe a scrubber, or something else. But certainly not a cocktail strainer. And although this patent was assigned to Charles J. Hauck & Son, who had manufactured other variations of cocktail strainers with which I was familiar, it did not necessarily mean this design was actually manufactured.
So I kept looking for this unusual strainer and one day “It” found me.
Strainer Designed by Frank H. Vogt
If you are interested, you can find this strainer here at my Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/listing/253563577/frank-h-vogt-antique-cocktail-strainer
This strainer did not have the C. J. Hauck backstamp. It only had the patent date stamped on the handle:
Handle With Patent Date
Now, knowing that the strainer had been manufactured, I could search for information on its designer, Frank H. Vogt. Following is what I have gathered on Mr. Vogt, in chronological order.
F. H. Vogt Picture in 1894 Delegates Manual
The photo and short bio above was taken from the 1894 Delegates Manual…Frank was running for public office.
1894 Echos of the Beer Club from New York Times Nov. 25, 1894 pg21
The New York Times article above names Frank as Secretary of the Beer Club!
1896 The Brooklyn Daily Eagle April 23 1896 pg7
In 1896 Frank married Minnie Graf.
The patent announcement for Frank’s strainer appeared in the 1904 Official Gazette of the U. S. Patent Office:
1904 Official gazette of the United States Patent Office
“The Spatula” periodical featured the strainer on its September 1904 “What’s New” page:
1904 The Spatula, Vol 10 Sept 1904 pg759
Frank died in December of 1922. The following obituary is rather odd. It lists Frank’s professional as salesman. It doesn’t say that he had been a state representative or lawyer. It doesn’t even give the name of his wife, only the names of his children.
1922 The Brooklyn Daily Eagle Dec 12 1922
Minnie died in 1944 and her obituary was much more impressive than Frank’s. At least it mentioned that she had been married to a lawyer and gave his name!
1944 The Brooklyn Daily Eagle Nov. 30 1944 pg9
For those of you readers who are looking for a little more information on Frank Herman Vogt, below are a few leads you might follow:
Directories Articles etc 1
And this:
Directories Articles etc 2
Frank H. Vogt was quite an interesting fellow. He was involved in his father’s tobacco business, became a state representative and lawyer, owned a tile company and metal specialties company, he was an inventor and let’s not forget that he was Secretary of the Beer Club.
