Vornado Air LLC

Vornado Air, LLC
Formerly called
 Vornadofan, O. A. Sutton Company
limited liability company
Industry manufacturing
Founders Ralph K. Odor (1945), Ottis A. Sutton (1945), Michael Coup (1990)
Headquarters Andover, Kansas, United States
Products fans and household appliances
Brands Vornado, Vornadofan
Website http://www.vornado.com/

Vornado is a US firm based in Andover, Kansas, that designs and manufactures household fans and other small appliances related to air circulation.[1] The current incarnation of the company was founded in 1989, two years after the death of Ralph K. Odor (1895-1987), who originally founded the firm in the 1930s with Ottis A. Sutton in Wichita, Kansas.[2] In fact, the name of the company is a portmanteau of "Vortex" and "Tornado".

History

A vintage model from the 1940s or 1950s

Ralph K. Odor experimented with different designs to improve airplane propellers in the late 1920s. In the 1930s, Odor met Ottis A. Sutton and the two men continued to experiment with different designs for propellers and were granted several patents. Odor and Sutton realized the propeller designs could also be applied to household fans, and after the end of World War II, the O.A. Sutton Corporation began marketing Vornado fans.[3] Early fans were designed by industrial designer Richard Ten Eyck.[4] The company later added a line of air conditioners.

Amid sales that had fallen to half of its peak, the company ceased production in September 1958 and began liquidating its inventory, and manufacturing and office equipment were auctioned off in June 1959.[5] Sutton's air conditioner coil manufacturing line was purchased by Gibson Refrigerator Co. and moved from Wichita.[6] In October 1959, the O.A. Sutton Corp. was purchased by the discount department store chain Two Guys, which subsequently renamed itself Vornado Inc.[7] The consolidated company expanded the Vornado line of appliances to more than 50 in under three years, including ranges, freezers, hair dryers, and electronic can openers sold by the Two Guys chain as well as other dealers, though the manufacturing operations were outsourced. [7] That company eventually divested all retail operations and evolved into what is now Vornado Realty Trust, a real estate investment trust.

Current

The Vornado brand name was resurrected in 1989 by Michael Coup. Operating under the name Vornado Air Circulation Systems Inc., Coup obtained the rights to the Vornado trademark and worked with original designer Richard Ten Eyck to come up with a new fan design.[8] In December 2006, Vornado Air Circulation Systems sold most of its assets to a private equity firm, which formed a new company, Vornado Air LLC.[9]

The brand is favored by former Florida governor Charlie Crist.[10]

References

  1. ↑ "Vornado expanding headquarters with $1M warehouse addition". Wichita Business Journal. 2 December 2011. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  2. ↑ http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/vornado-realty-trust-history/
  3. ↑ "About Us". Vornado Air LLC. Retrieved December 25, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Richard Ten Eyck". Art Institute of Chicago. Retrieved December 25, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Thien Notes from 1959 Wichita Eagle" (PDF). Department of Special Collections, Wichita State University Libraries. Retrieved December 25, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Briefly Stated" (PDF). Air Conditioning, Heating and Ventilating. August 1959. Retrieved December 25, 2015.
  7. 1 2 "Vornado Realty Trust". FundingUniverse. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
  8. ↑ Siebenmark, Jerry (February 23, 2003). "Making 'good stuff' that lasts is what pleases Vornado's Michael Coup". Wichita Business Journal. Retrieved December 25, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Consumer Product Safety Commission" (PDF). Federal Register. February 5, 2008. Retrieved December 25, 2015.
  10. ↑ "Charlie Crist and his portable fan have a history together". Miami Herald. 16 October 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2015.

See also

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