It's a bird... it's a plane..... no it's a ceiling fan. The first ceiling fans were used mostly for industrial applications. Before AC electrical current became the standard some were made to run on DC current. The early fans were often ornate, especially ones that might find their way into a home or retail business. Typically they had either two or four large wooden blades, giving the fan a circumference of 54" - 60" or so. A very large fan by today's standards. These early fans used oil for lubrication that traveled from a reservoir up a spiral groove and somehow found it's way back down again.

The 1950's brought a steady decline in the use of all electric fans. Air conditioning became more the norm for home and office. It wasn't until the energy crisis of the 1970's that the public renewed it's interest in ceiling fans.

Today ceiling fans are used to cool in the summer and distribute heat in the winter. With the addition of a light they are a great asset to a room with just a ceiling mounted light fixture.

Don't touch that! The electric fan, along with the toaster were the first appliances available to the home consumer. Naturally the main reason for electricity's early popularity in the home had a lot to do with the invention of the light bulb. At first electricity was somewhat of a novelty, gradually it became a necessity.

Starting in the industrial Northeast, electrical power spread throughout cities and towns in the United States. Electricity was much slower to reach those in the rural outlining areas.

The City of Portland, Oregon played host to the 1905 Lewis and Clark Exhibition. One of the main attractions was the display of electric lights throughout the grounds. Combining the electric light and the electric motor allowed for a new form of entertainment - the motion picture. The National Cash Register Building at the fair, now residing in St. Johns, was one of those offering patrons their first look at this new medium. Today it houses a combination pub and movie theater. (I've heard that the original folding theater chairs are still in the basement.)

What made the electric fan possible was the invention of the electric motor. The first small electric fans, beginning in the early 1890's, were crudely assembled and often times dangerous to use. Exposed terminals, open windings, and unprotected blades were common hazards.

Around 1905 or so desk fan design began to evolve into the products they are today. The motors were now enclosed in metal housings, the blades now protected (somewhat) by a metal, usually brass, cage. Multiple speeds and oscillation became available features.

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