Gaylord Industries: A Brief History

In 1936 while working for Pacific Power and Light, Asa K. Gaylord was involved with the remodeling of Yaw's Restaurant, located in Portland, Oregon. In conversations with the owner, Mr. Win Yaw, Asa became aware of his particular kitchen ventilation and fire code problem. The problem intrigued Asa and in one evening, on a single piece of paper, developed a design for a totally new kitchen ventilation system - A system which would revolutionize the entire kitchen ventilation industry - "The Gaylord Ventilator" a high velocity grease extractor which removes grease, dust and lint from the airstream by centrifugal force.

Asa's design was accepted by Mr. Yaw and approved by the City Fire Marshal and thus Yaw's Restaurant became the first Gaylord installation and the beginning of Gaylord Industries, Inc. There were delays in securing the original patent, due to World War II, and it was not until 1946 that it was finally issued. On a borrowed $2,500 Asa Gaylord began the process of marketing his new product. The business began in the basement of his home, moved into his garage and later, as it grew, moved into an abandoned service station in the community of Multnomah, Oregon.

The Gaylord Ventilator was readily accepted by the foodservice industry when it was first introduced to the market, and became the first of its kind to receive a UL Listing. Asa Gaylord set up a unique licensee program consisting of stainless steel kitchen equipment manufacturers (numbering 26 at one time) throughout the United States that were licensed to manufacture the Gaylord Ventilator. With this licensee program, Gaylord Industries was able to provide manufacturing, sales and service for its equipment nationwide.

Edson C. Gaylord, acquired the company from his father in 1974 and under his leadership the company expanded from a staff of 20 in 1979 to the present staff of 160. In December of 1999 Edson sold the company to Illinois Tool Works Inc. (ITW) a multinational Fortune 300 company based in Glenview, III. Gaylord Industries is part of the Food Equipment Group of ITW, which includes many brand named companies such as Vulcan-Hart, Wolf Range Company and Wittco Foodservice Equipment Company. The Gaylord sales force is now comprised of over 150 factory trained representatives throughout the United States and there are over 125 Certified Service Agencies conveniently located to provide service to our customers.