The original air cleaner for our cars was an "oil bath" air cleaner that had a pint of oil in the bottom that the air was directed over to catch dirt before it then passed through a filter element and into the carburetor. It was also called a "sound dampener" because of its double wall construction that acted like a "muffler" for noise coming up through the carburetor. The air filter is cleaned and oil in the air filter is changed when the oil in the engine is changed.
Here is my stock original oil bath air cleaner mounted on my Holley 59 carburetor.
