The Knaack truck tool box - their history

In the fall of 1960, Howard Knaack began building gang boxes in a small, one room shop in Crystal Lake, IL. Mr. Knaacks' main outlet for these boxes were a tool supply distributor owned by his partners named Brock Tool Company. Brock Tool Company had branches in Chicago, IL, Detroit, MI, Cleveland, OH, Washington, DC, Hammond, IN and Denver, CO. As contractors followed jobs around the United States, they were soon asking other contractor supply houses for Knaack boxes. In 1962, Mr. Knaack began setting up a nationwide distribution network of contractor supply houses. In 1968, Knaack Manufacturing Company moved to its current location at 420 E. Terra Cotta Ave., in Crystal Lake, IL with a new 16,000 sq. ft. facility.

In the late 1960's, Mr. Knaack was looking to expand his product offering to the contractor trade and recognized the need for a high quality, truck toolbox. In 1968, Knaack Manufacturing Company purchased the rights to build WEATHER GUARD® truck equipment, a truck tool box line consisting of approximately 10 different models, from a sheet metal contractor in St. Louis, MO. He continued to build these boxes in St. Louis until 1971, when Knaack Manufacturing Company doubled their manufacturing capacity. The new addition its first wash system to clean the steel and a bake oven to bake on enamel paint required on the Weather Guard boxes. In 1973, Knaack Manufacturing redesigned their entire toolbox line with features needed by the contractor markets that they served. Many of these innovations soon became the standard in the industry and eventually copied by other tool boxes manufacturers over the years.

Always looking for new products, Knaack introduced Hi-Side Boxes, Under Bed Boxes and their first van equipment items in the mid 70's. Throughout the 1970's and early 1980's, Knaack expanded their product offerings in both the KNAACK® Jobsite equipment line and also the WEATHER GUARD® Truck and Van Equipment lines. Knaack Manufacturing Company grew to become the dominant supplier of gang boxes and truck boxes to the contractor trade. In 1981, Knaack added a powder coating system to their facility for WEATHER GUARD® product lines and became one of the first in their industry to offer the benefits of a TGIC Polyester Powder Coating. Also in the early 80's, the entire line of KNAACK® Toolboxes was redesigned to offer contractors a more secure, durable and safer to use toolbox. Gas pistons were added to the KNAACK® gang boxes and the WEATHER GUARD® truck boxes making them easier to open and close, therefore being safer to use than previous versions or competitors models.

In the early 80's, Knaack Manufacturing made a major addition to the WEATHER GUARD® Truck and Van Equipment lines. In truck equipment, saddle boxes, super lo-side boxes, super side boxes, along with expanding the line of under bed boxes and truck ladder racks. In van equipment, the line was expanded to include knockdown shelving, small and medium size parts bins, expanded ladder rack offerings and also an expanded bulkhead offering. This product expansion now enabled us to expand our base of users to the use by municipalities, utilities, fleets, etc. Knaack was then able to increase its distribution base to truck equipment distributors that serviced this industry.

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