The Thor Power Tool Company was a manufacturer of tools, washing machines, motorcycles, vacuum cleaners, rotary irons, electric ranges, kitchen sinks, speed snips, electric shoe shine machines, and the Juvenator.
Its first product was the "Thor" pneumatic hammer to pound rivets and drill holes for bolts used to fasten the fire box of a locomotive to its boiler.
Railroads continued to be the major customers of the company's pneumatic products during these early years.
Although he took no part in the management, "Diamond" Jim Brady allowed his name to be used as President of the fledgling company for several years.
[2] As the company grew during the first decade of the twentieth century, it made four prototypes of the Thor automobile between 1909 and 1910.
Perhaps the tool division felt that the use of the Thor name and logo on household products would provide good advertising.
[2] Shortly after introducing the electric washing machine, the two Hurley brothers, Neil and Edward, introduced the Thor rotary iron, commonly known as the "Gladiron" as opposed to the hand-held "sad irons" of the day that required stove top heating by the user.
The Arcade Toy Company made tiny replicas of both machines for doll houses.
This product would hook to any door and allow the user to slip the belt around their waist and vibrate their pounds away.
While this should have proved dynamically successful, once the depression hit, like so many good products, the Juvenator disappeared from the marketplace in the early thirties.
Thor's other properties included the Cincinnati Rubber Manufacturing Company, a farm living research center near Huntley, Ill., and Drying Systems, Inc., which made smokehouses, among other items.
By 1959, Thor Power Tool Company's annual volume had surpassed $30 million.
[2] By the early sixties, Thor Power Tool Company was acquired by the Stewart-Warner Corporation.