Electric Fans.

[russa11]

Here is mine. t's not as old as the ones shown here but it works really well and it was free!

 

[David Conwill]

Target Fans

We have one of the '40s-looking Hunter fans from Target. It's a nice fan, but after three years of use nearly every night (we're white-noise addicts) it developed a nasty squeak that I can't track down. It doesn't help, of course, that I have no clue how to get the housing off the motor so I can't lube the bearings or anything.

I also have a '50s GE that I bought at a yard sale for $3. It's a nice fan and works well, but I don't dare have it down for use where our 9-month-old daughter could get at it. There's a way to mount it to the wall, however, so someday I may put it up in a house. The thing was battleship gray when we got it, but I repainted it blue-green with cream blades.

-Dave

 

[doug01]

I always see them at y sales, but am afraid to plug them in for fear that they will catch fire or something while I am not looking! I guess you could re-wire them pretty easily...

 

[GeorgeTheCat]

1937 Samson Fan, Silvertone Radio and Lamp in my office..

First, hello to all on this very cool forum. Speaking of fans, I thought I'd show you cool cats some of the stuff in my office...
View out of my office window -

1938 or so Samson Safe-Flex Fan it has rubber blades...

And it runs!

And here's here's a working 1948 or so Silvertone Radio....

 

[J. M. Stovall]

Here's mine, it was my grandmothers. I remember this sitting on the floor running all summer. I never cut my fingers off .

 

[GeorgeTheCat]

Here's mine, it was my grandmothers. I remember this sitting on the floor running all summer. I never cut my fingers off .

Very nice. I'm also diggin' those glass bricks in the background.

 

[Nick D]

I picked up a 30s fan at an auction, not knowing if it ran or not. Well, it does, which is great, but the cage needs to be repaired in a couple spots. It'll sit back home until I'm done with school and move back, then I can really clean it up.

 

[ScionPI2005]

Here's mine, it was my grandmothers. I remember this sitting on the floor running all summer. I never cut my fingers off .

Those blades look VERY shiny!

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

First, hello to all on this very cool forum. Speaking of fans, I thought I'd show you cool cats some of the stuff in my office...
View out of my office window -

1938 or so Samson Safe-Flex Fan it has rubber blades...

Really nice!

 

[vitanola]

1904 vintage General Electric "Pancake" fan.

Note the exposed terminals! After a child cut their fingers off in the whirling blades, the fan could be turned around, and the child's woulds culd be cauterized on these terminals.

1914 vintage Westinghouse six blade oscillator:

I have many more, and all are in use in the summertime.

 

[St. Louis]

Fans

I'm sure there must be an earlier thread on fans, but after an exhaustive search I wasn't able to find it. The word "fan" (even with "electric" added) yields thousands of responses, and most of them deal with celebrities.

Anyway, I accidentally became a vintage fan collector (though I know next to nothing about them) when the excellent Paul Graves from Times Past Fans, who restores antique and vintage fans, told me about a giant 1920s Hardware store warehouse that was filled to the brim with old fans and all sorts of other 1920s-1940s appliances. Evidently the4 previous owner was a serious hoarder and died with his entire collection stored away in a derelict building in St. Louis. I don't know where these things ended up, but I rescued as many as I could before the men started loading the 24-wheeler. Some of these work beautifully, but most do not. I'd love to have the ribbon fan restored (I opened it up and it's completely burned out inside.) I know Paul can handle that, but I'd have to save my pennies until the next time he's in St. Louis.

I like these little fans so much that I randomly distributed them throughout my house. The ones that work (fully restored by Paul) usually follow me around to wherever I'm working. This one has three speeds & is incredibly powerful and quiet.

Here's one for the bathroom --

and a bunch of others

I love this one -- it looks so moderne!

There's more, but this'll do for now. I apologize for the double images; I can't seem to delete the attachments. (Didn't mean to attach.)

 

[St. Louis]

In response to the problem of the danger of metal fan blades to little hands, a company called Airflow patented silk ribbon "blades."

I found one in an abandoned warehouse, but it's completely burned out inside and I haven't had the chance to have it repaired yet. I have no idea how well these things worked in comparison to the metal blade fans, but I've heard that they were pretty effective.

Please excuse the double post -- scotrace was kind enough to look up this older thread for me, and I wanted to bump this up for further discussion.

 

[1930artdeco]

As far as sticking your fingers in the blades and getting them whacked, I have a perfect idea to stop that from happening. DON'T DO IT! Or if you are that worried mount the fan on the wall.

Mike

 

[Shangas]

I love old brass and steel fans. I wish I could own one. But they are so expensive. And I hate the modern ones we have. Huge, heavy, plastic, and LOUD! The older style fans were so much nicer and more compact.

 

[LizzieMaine]

As far as sticking your fingers in the blades and getting them whacked, I have a perfect idea to stop that from happening. DON'T DO IT! Or if you are that worried mount the fan on the wall.

Mike

In the Era it was common to tie ribbons or just torn shreds of cloth to the fan cage so they'd stream out and give a visual indication that the fan was on in case you were the type to forget.

 

[St. Louis]

That's a good idea. The earlier post on that subject actually indicated that children were getting hurt in the fans, so it's not a question of being too stupid to know not to stick your fingers into the blades -- kids might not be able to judge the danger. Though I have to confess that sometimes I've gone a little too close for comfort!

Shangas, I picked up so many nonfunctional fans at that warehouse that I'd be happy to share one with you, if you could figure out (a) how much it would cost to mail to your part of the globe and (b) whether it would be worth your while to repair one of these fans. I've learned so much from you over the years that I'd be happy to do it.

Only one or two of the fans actually worked, and until I've learned how to maintain them myself, I don't think I'll use them. Paul from Times Past told me not to keep running these fans without oiling and conditioning them properly at least once a year. Evidently, back "in the day," people regularly had their fans serviced; otherwise they burned out. That's what happened to my little silk-bladed fan.

 

[Stanley Doble]

There isn't much to go wrong with a 110 volt fan. Clean the exterior, blow the dirt out of the inside with compressed air and apply a drop or two of oil to the bearings. There is usually an oil hole at the back and you can put a drop on the shaft where it comes out the front bearing.

Do not use sewing machine oil and do not use WD40 except to free up a gummy motor. You can buy a small bottle of Turbine Oil at the hardware store, it comes in a bottle with a long spout extension. Or synthetic motor oil is excellent, 5W20 or siimilar.

Clean and oil the fan, and replace the cord if it is bad and 9 times out of 10 it will work. The tenth time the motor is burned out which means it is done for.

If the blades are bent you can take off the guard and carefully straighten them by hand. Watch the blade directly from the side while you turn it by hand and you will see when they are all lined up. They should also be bent at the same angle. You can make a jig or fixture to get them exact but I never bother, you can get them very close by eye.

 

[St. Louis]

What about if they're totally burned out? I very much want to bring the "Airflow" silk-bladed fan back to life, but when I opened it up I saw that it innards were char-broiled.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Pretty much the only chance there is to replace the motor -- you might scout around online for a 110-120 volt AC motor of similar size and wattage rating (there ought to be a spec plate somewhere on the fan telling you how many watts it draws). Once you get the motor in hand it's not that complicated a job to swap out the old one for the new one -- just a matter of figuring how it's mounted and removing the old one, putting the new one in its place, and swapping the wiring. That should get it running again.

Fixing the old motor, if it's truly burned out, is beyond the home tinkerer -- the coils would need to be rewound, and you need specialized skills to do that.

 

[Big Man]

Here's an old fan that's been at the house for as long as I can remember. I don't know how old it is. It's marked "Wizard" on the blade cage and also on the motor housing. It's about 9 1/2 inches in diameter.