Our History
Founded in 1927 by Adam Breuer, Sr., Breuer Electric Mfg. Company began in a small facility at 852 Blackhawk Street in Chicago. Originally building and selling portable electric blowers for cleaning electric equipment, Breuer soon began designing and producing commercial and industrial vacuum cleaners, hot air blowers, electric insecticide sprayers, and dust collectors. It was at this time that the brand name "Tornado" was introduced. In 1938 the company moved to 5100 N. Ravenswood on Chicago's North Side.
World War II saw most of American industry converted to production in support of the war effort. For its part, Breuer Electric made precision parts for ordinance used by the Army, Air Corps, and Navy. Tornado equipment also was popular for maintenance operations in ship yards and bomber factories. Tornado hot air blowers were employed to repair bullet and flak holes in airplane windows.
Following the war and conversion to peacetime construction, the company added numerous products and entered the floor maintenance industry by acquiring the Fay Floor Machine Company. In 1977, the company moved to a location on Chicago's Northwest Side near O'Hare International Airport.
In February 1999 three members of the senior management team, Michael Schaffer, Gary Cirone, and Tom Bogusevic, acquired the business from the Breuer family. The team enjoyed combined Industry experience of over 45 years. Concurrent to the ownership change, the team began a major product, dealer, and staff expansion. Tornado now carries a complete line of both hard and soft floor care equipment, including vacuums, carpet extraction equipment, floor machines, sweepers, automatic scrubbers, critical filtration vacuums, and pressure washers.
1999 also saw an exciting corporate identity and product color change to black and yellow in recognition of the newly introduced line and in alignment with global safety color standards. On January 1, 2000, the company legally changed its name to Tornado Industries, Inc to better align with its corporate brand strategy.
In 2007 Tornado Industries was acquired by Tacony Corporation and operates as a subsidiary in the Commercial Floor Care division. Tacony is organized into four strategic business units; Commercial Floor Care, Home Floor Care, Sewing, and Ceiling Fans and Lighting.
On January 1, 2010, the company moved its Chicagoland corporate headquarters to West Chicago, Illinois and moved our state-of-the-art manufacturing locations to St. James, Missouri and Fort Worth, Texas.
Today, Tornado has become a leading innovator of "Best in Class" industrial and commercial cleaning equipment. With over 80 years of JanSan industry experience, Tornado provides in-house cleaners, contractors and facility managers across a broad-range of market segments with affordable, and innovative cleaning technology to meet the most demanding cleaning challenges.
Visit Tacony Corporation at www.tacony.com