Purolator has been manufacturing, marketing and distributing filters since 1923. Ernest Sweetland and George H. Greenhalgh patented the first automotive oil filtration system. They called their invention “Purolator”, short for the words “pure oil later”. That same year, James A. Abeles converted a Twelfth Avenue garage in New York City to manufacture the produ ...ct under a new company name; Motor Improvements, Inc. It was later renamed Purolator Products, Inc. and is now known as Purolator Filters NA LLC.