Tornax
Encyclopedia
Motorcycle
A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...
manufacturer in Wuppertal
Wuppertal
Wuppertal is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in and around the Wupper river valley, and is situated east of the city of Düsseldorf and south of the Ruhr area. With a population of approximately 350,000, it is the largest city in the Bergisches Land...
, Germany.
Tornax built its first motorcycle in 1926. This was the model I-26, which has a 600 cc single-cylinder
Cylinder (engine)
A cylinder is the central working part of a reciprocating engine or pump, the space in which a piston travels. Multiple cylinders are commonly arranged side by side in a bank, or engine block, which is typically cast from aluminum or cast iron before receiving precision machine work...
side-valve engine
Flathead engine
A flathead engine is an internal combustion engine with valves placed in the engine block beside the piston, instead of in the cylinder head, as in an overhead valve engine...
imported from JAP
JA Prestwich Industries Ltd
JA Prestwich Industries, was an English engineering company named after founder John Alfred Prestwich, which produced cinematographic equipment, internal combustion engines , and other examples of precision engineering.-History:J. A...
in London, England producing 15 bhp. For the remainder of the 1920s all Tornax models featured side-valve and overhead valve
Overhead valve
An overhead valve engine, also informally called pushrod engine or I-head engine, is a type of piston engine that places the camshaft within the cylinder block , and uses pushrods or rods to actuate rocker arms above the cylinder...
(OHV) JAP engines of 500, 550 and 600 cc, apart from the V-28 in 1928 whose 600 cc side-valve engine was supplied by the German engine manufacturer Columbus
Horex
Horex is a German motorcycle manufacturer. It was founded in 1920 by the Rex glassware company, which conflated Homburg and Rex to create the brand name. The headquarter was in Bad Homburg....
in Bad Homburg
Bad Homburg
Bad Homburg vor der Höhe is the district town of the Hochtaunuskreis, Hesse, Germany, on the southern slope of the Taunus, bordering among others Frankfurt am Main and Oberursel...
.
In 1930 Tornax produced its first twin-cylinder model, the III-30, which had a side-valve 1000 cc V-twin
V-twin
A V-twin engine is a two-cylinder internal combustion engine where the cylinders are arranged in a V configuration.- Crankshaft configuration :Most V-twin engines have a single crankpin, which is shared by both connecting rods...
JAP engine producing 26 bhp. In 1931 it added a sports version, the III-31 SS, with a 1000 cc OHV JAP engine. Tornax claimed that this machine would produce 72 bhp, and guaranteed a top speed of 190 Km/h (118 MPH). This model was very expensive, and economic conditions in the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
meant that very few were sold.
For 1932 the range remained unchanged, with all the model suffixes changed from "-32" to "-33". In 1933 Tornax added smaller single-cylinder OHV models to its range: the SF 2 and SF 35, again using OHV JAP engines. The full 1933 range featured six models ranging from 200 cc to 1000 cc, with the 72 bhp OHV V-twin continuing as the III-33 SS.
From 1934 the National Socialist
National Socialist Party
Parties in various contexts have referred to themselves as National Socialist parties. Because there is no clear definition of national socialism, the term has been used to mean very different things...
government forbade the import of foreign components. Many German motorcycle builders had been using engines, gearboxes
Transmission (mechanics)
A machine consists of a power source and a power transmission system, which provides controlled application of the power. Merriam-Webster defines transmission as: an assembly of parts including the speed-changing gears and the propeller shaft by which the power is transmitted from an engine to a...
, forks or other components from English or Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
suppliers, and it was difficult to substitute sufficient supplies from German factories quickly enough to remain in business. Some German manufacturers ceased making motorycles, but Tornax survived by reducing its range to one model, the aptly named Universal, with a 600 cc side-valve Columbus engine.
In 1935 Tornax added two OHV Columbus engines to its 600 cc range and introduced the 800 cc, 28 bhp Tornado model. The latter was a sports machine that used the same overhead camshaft
Overhead camshaft
Overhead cam valvetrain configurations place the engine camshaft within the cylinder heads, above the combustion chambers, and drive the valves or lifters in a more direct manner compared to overhead valves and pushrods...
Columbus parallel twin
Straight-two
A straight-two engine, is a two-cylinder piston engine that has its cylinders arranged side by side....
engine as the rival Horex
Horex
Horex is a German motorcycle manufacturer. It was founded in 1920 by the Rex glassware company, which conflated Homburg and Rex to create the brand name. The headquarter was in Bad Homburg....
S8. Tornax also launched a small sports car
Sports car
A sports car is a small, usually two seat, two door automobile designed for high speed driving and maneuverability....
, the Rex, with a 700 cc DKW
DKW
DKW is a historic German car and motorcycle marque. The name derives from Dampf-Kraft-Wagen .In 1916, the Danish engineer Jørgen Skafte Rasmussen founded a factory in Zschopau, Saxony, Germany, to produce steam fittings. In the same year, he attempted to produce a steam-driven car, called the DKW...
engine, but only 158 were built.
Neither the Tornado nor the Rex continued in production for 1936. Tornax reduced its 600 cc range to two models, and added its first lightweight model, the K 20, with a 200 cc two-stroke engine made by ILO. In 1937 the company added further ILO-engined two-stroke singles of 200 cc and 250 cc.
During the Second World War Tornax reduced its range to one model, the K 125 with a 125 cc ILO engine. All Tornax motorcycle production stopped in 1941, and the factory
Factory
A factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...
was destroyed by Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
bombing in March 1945.
In 1948 Tornax resumed K 125 production. It steadily expanded its range with larger single-cylinder two-stroke ILO engines, culminating in 1953 with a twin-cylinder model, the Z-250 Schwarze Josephine ("Black Josephine") which has a two-stroke ILO-engine producing 15 bhp.
In 1954 Tornax built its first four-stroke models since 1939: the V 250 and SV 250. These have unit construction
Unit construction
Unit construction is a term used to describe the design of larger motorcycles where the engine and gearbox components share a single casing. The term is sometimes applied to the design of automobile engines and was often loosely applied to motorcycles with rather different internal layouts such as...
250 cc engines from Opti in Essen
Essen
- Origin of the name :In German-speaking countries, the name of the city Essen often causes confusion as to its origins, because it is commonly known as the German infinitive of the verb for the act of eating, and/or the German noun for food. Although scholars still dispute the interpretation of...
, mounted in a frame that has swinging-arm
Swingarm
A swingarm, or "swinging arm" is the main component of the rear suspension of most modern motorcycles and ATVs...
rear suspension
Suspension (motorcycle)
A motorcycle's suspension serves a dual purpose: contributing to the vehicle's handling and braking, and providing safety and comfort by keeping the vehicle's passengers comfortably isolated from road noise, bumps and vibrations....
and typically German Earles front fork.
Tornax ceased motorcycle production in 1955. The company's total production in its 29 year existence was about 50,000 vehicles.