Vornado Air
Formerly | Vornadofan, O. A. Sutton Company |
---|---|
Company type | 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 | vornado.com |
Vornado is an American firm based in
History
Ralph K. Odor experimented with different designs to improve
The name "Vornado" is a
Early fans were distinguished from ordinary fans by enclosure in a short duct shaped as
The company later added a line of air conditioners.
Amid sales that had fallen to half of their peak, the company ceased production in September 1958 and began liquidating its inventory, and manufacturing and office equipment were auctioned off in June 1959.[8] Sutton's air conditioner coil manufacturing line was purchased by Gibson Refrigerator Co. and moved from Wichita.[9] In October 1959, the O.A. Sutton Corp. was purchased by the discount department store chain Two Guys, which subsequently renamed itself Vornado, Inc.[10]
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.[10] That company eventually divested all retail operations and evolved into what is now Vornado Realty Trust, a real estate investment trust.
From 1997 to 2008, the Vornado headquarters in Andover hosted the Antique Fan Collectors Association's (AFCA's) Antique Fan Museum in their lobby, featuring antique
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.
Between January 1989 and August 1990, Vornado sold about 135,000 of its fans with a distinctive spiral front grille. In August 1990, competitor Duracraft began offering a cheaper, visually similar fan, and by November 1992, Duracraft had sold nearly one million of them—that company's second-largest-selling household fan. Vornado sued under the Lanham Act claiming deceptive imitation in appearance—but an appeals court ruled against Vornado, because the design had been a part of their expired patent, and was now in the public domain.[12]
In the late 1990s, Vornado introduced a line of reproduction fans, starting with the Silver Swan table fan, which was based on the Emerson Electric Silver Swan table fan from the Art Deco era in the 1930s. The line expanded with modern reproductions of Vornado's own "VornadoFan" air circulators. The "Alchemy Series" was introduced in 2017, featuring custom finishes and a custom storage bag included with each product.
According to the U.S.
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., in Wichita's neighboring suburban community of Andover.[14][15]
In January, 2008, the CPSC reported that a liquidating trust, acting on behalf of the by-now dissolved manufacturer, Vornado Air Circulation Systems, Inc. (formerly of Andover), agreed to pay the government a $500,000 civil penalty, settling the prior CPSC allegations against Vornado Air Circulation Systems Inc., regarding the 300-plus unreported defective heater units. Vornado did not, however, concede any violation of law.[13]
On August 14, 2014, the
In 2017, Vornado introduced their line of Energy Smart air circulators (fans). The fans feature
See also
- Vornado Realty Trust, a realty company which shares the name due to its acquisition of the O.A. Sutton Company
References
- ^ "Vornado expanding headquarters with $1M warehouse addition". Wichita Business Journal. 2 December 2011. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
- ^ "History of Vornado Realty Trust – FundingUniverse".
- ^ "Vornado Plane Material [Ralph K. Odor]". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
- ^ "About Us". Vornado Air LLC. Retrieved December 25, 2015.
- ^ a b "Our history of making history," official website, Vornado Air, LLC, retrieved June 23, 2017.
- ^ "History – Vornado".
- ^ "FAQs," official website, Vornado Air, LLC, retrieved June 23, 2017.
- ^ "Tihen Notes from 1959 Wichita Eagle" (PDF). Department of Special Collections, Wichita State University Libraries. Retrieved December 25, 2015.
- ^ "Briefly Stated" (PDF). Air Conditioning, Heating and Ventilating. August 1959. Retrieved December 25, 2015.
- ^ a b "Vornado Realty Trust". FundingUniverse. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
- ^ Siebenmark, Jerry (February 23, 2003). "Making 'good stuff' that lasts is what pleases Vornado's Michael Coup". Wichita Business Journal. Retrieved December 25, 2015.
- ^ "VORNADO AIR CIRCULATION SYSTEMS INC v. DURACRAFT CORPORATION", No. 94–3191, Decided: July 05, 1995, United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit, also posted at Findlaw.com, retrieved June 23, 2017
- ^ Consumer Product Safety Commission, retrieved June 26, 2017 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ "Consumer Product Safety Commission" (PDF). Federal Register. February 5, 2008. Retrieved December 25, 2015.
- ^ Consumer Product Safety Commission, retrieved June 26, 2017