In the early 1970s, Italian American entrepreneur Vincent Marotta, Sr. had an idea to create an automatic drip coffee maker. Up until this point, coffee was primarily made in a percolator, which gave it an unappealing burnt taste due to the machine’s endless recirculation and reheating of the coffee.
At the time, Marotta and business partner Samuel Glazer owned a Cleveland-based company, North American Systems, that focused on coffee delivery, and decided to hire two former Westinghouse engineers to engineer Marotta’s idea. In 1972, the first Mr. Coffee brand drip coffee maker hit the stores for the home consumer.
In 1973, Marotta was able to sign on baseball great Joe DiMaggio as a spokesperson for the brand. By April 1974, the coffee maker had sold more than one million units and continues to this day to be the best-selling coffee makers in the world.
Photo: Baseball great Joe DiMaggio acting as spokesperson for the brand.
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