John Frantz, Inventor and Manufacturer

The Frantz Filter was invented by John Frantz of Hickman, California. He was a farmer responsible for several hundred acres of land and his primary crop was walnuts.

He was a very hard working, conservative, and honorable man. It was said that one day he had a container of used motor oil from one of his tractors and rather than throwing it away, he tried to come up with a way to see if he could clean up the oil for reuse. He tried several different media to try to clean or filter the used oil. One idea was a clean coffee filter. One day, he experimented with a standard roll of toilet paper.

In 1953, John Frantz made seven filters, one for himself and six for his friends. They were so impressed at what results they received from the filters, they persuaded him to put them on the market. It took two years to get patents and to start manufacturing them. In 1955 he sold franchises to others for these filters.

In the beginning, they were called the “Frantz Oil Cleaner.” Later on it was called the Frantz Oil Filter. In the early 1960s, John Frantz was introduced to Skipper K. Yee who had a vast knowledge of marketing. SKY Corporation was formed and for almost twenty years the Frantz Filters were manufactured out of Stockton, California. Frantz Filters were also designed to clean/filter other petroleum products including transmission fluid, gasoline, and diesel fuel.

In 1959, Skipper K. Yee and Lois, his wife, bought franchises for Northern California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. They found this plan of selling was not good enough. Skipper wanted to pattern the Frantz company to operate as successfully and in a manner as his wife's cosmetic business. They persuaded John Frantz to organize and put the present selling plan into operation. Skipper was elected President of the company in 1960 and present selling plan was put into operation.

In January 0f 1961, there were over 3,000 distributors in the U.S.A. between 600 and 700 of these were in Southern California. The company operated much like a pyramid system of management. As SKY Corporation grew, there were thousands of distributors and over a million Frantz Filter systems manufactured and sold throughout the United States and around the world. There were a variety of sizes and styles also available.

A Sky King was a person, or group of people, who had a retail business of $5,000 or over. In January 1961, there were 29 Sky Kings in Southern California alone.

In 1975 the SKY Corporation changed its name to Frantz Filter Company. The objective was to present a single image to the public by coordinating literature, letterhead and envelopes, to the way they answered the telephone – everything, to promote the name Frantz.

It is unknown why but in the late 1980s, SKY Corporation located in Stockton, California went out of business.

That brings us to the current era. We Filter It, Inc. was created by the late George Phillip Walker. Mr. Walker’s knowledge of oil filtration began while serving in the U.S. Navy from 1954 until his retirement in 1975 as an E-9 Master Chief Machinist Mate. His interest in the Frantz Filters began in 1962 while stationed in Southern California with sales, installation and service of what he believed to be the most outstanding product available for any fuel combustion engine.

When previous manufacturers of the Frantz Filters went out of business, George Phillip Walker decided to bring a new and improved version of them back to the market in late 2000. He made several quality and design improvements based on almost 40 years of experience with the performance of the various types of Frantz Filters. With his desire to bring the Frantz Filters back to the public, he was very meticulous about choosing which companies would manufacture his new inventory. He took great pride in choosing only the best companies he could find in the United States and the best materials to manufacture his new inventory. He had his own molds, tools and dies manufactured and then had thousands of pieces and parts manufactured. Five months later after taking delivery of this inventory he died very unexpectedly at the age of 63 years.

After his death, his wife Sharon Lee Walker stepped into the position of bringing the Frantz Filters back. She gave it all her effort but after ten months she realized that it was not something she could continue doing. Her daughter Deborah took over We Filter It in February 2002 and since then has done her very best with the help of her husband and three daughters to keep the Frantz Filters alive and well. She chose to run the business out of her home so that she could still be available for her family while providing the best customer support and service to all with a past or present or future desire to use the Frantz Oil, transmission and fuel Filters.

It was approximately 2003 when I contacted Deborah (Walker-Harley) and became a distributor for the Frantz Filter. Residing in Southern California I feel I am continuing the long time campaign started years ago right here in California.

I needed something to keep me busy after my retirement. Having been familiar with the Frantz Filter personally on my own cars since 1960, I felt it a natural to associate myself with the product. I have some acreage located in a town called Pinon Hills in the “upper desert” of Southern California in the San Bernardino County. That is about one mile East of the Los Angeles County line.

Deborah resides in Nampa, Idaho while Skipper K. Yee and his wife Lois Yee still reside in Stockton, California. John Frantz died in 2003.

We thank and appreciate some of this information coming directly from the former SKY Corporation and We Filter It.

We also appreciate the nice entry in my Guest Book from Dale Frantz (son) and Keith Frantz (grandson) of John Frantz (inventor and founder).

I have personally spoken with Skipper Yee and to Tim Frantz, the son of John Frantz as recent as January, 2012. Mr. Frantz was very informative and appreciative of our quest to continue with the fine product invented by his father. As additional bits and pieces of the history are developed I will augment the story of the John Frantz Oil Filter aka oil Cleaner.