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Anyone here into vintage 20" box fans?

Started by Fushigi Ojisan, April 09, 2018, 08:55:23 PM

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Fushigi Ojisan

Thought I would check around.

Long story short I used one to sleep, a nice late 1960s/early 1970s Frigid model that was used almost nightly from 1980 to 2018 before it finally gave up.   

I found like like the sound of the metal blades and the vintage electric motors, sounds almost like a radial aircraft engine.   

Fushigi Ojisan
Otaku with interesting hobbies

kleenax

Ray Kotke
Recumbent Casting, LLC

Fushigi Ojisan

Fushigi Ojisan
Otaku with interesting hobbies

kleenax

Ray Kotke
Recumbent Casting, LLC

twocvbloke

It'd be nice if us brits could get box fans, they look so useful compared to the ones we are stuck with...

19and41

When I was growing up, my grandparents put a 20" sears Hobart 1950 vintage fan in the upstairs of their 2 story brick house.  they put another in our houses' top story.  In those pre A/C days they did a nice job of keeping the house livable.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
— Arthur C. Clarke

Fushigi Ojisan

I grew up in a rather large Mid-Century Modern ranch (built in 1955) that was originally cooled by a gi-normous attic-mounted fan that pulled air through the house and exhausted it out of a cupola.   We kinda stopped that in the early 1970s when the roof was redone and the cupola was removed.

Whole house was cooled with a single Montgomery Wards window unit, it worked well enough as long as we kept the doors to the bedrooms and bathrooms shut.  I guess that is how we ended up with box fans.

I really do like the old-school, three-steel-blade fans; way better quality than the current Lasko stuff.

Fushigi Ojisan
Otaku with interesting hobbies

19and41

That'd be a good thing to find on Craigslist.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
— Arthur C. Clarke

Fushigi Ojisan

#8
My absolute favorite old-school box fans were made by Frigid of Brooklyn New York.   Mine lasted from about 1978 to 2018, run almost nightly, so it didn't owe me anything.    Had I maintained it properly (oiling every six months) I'd probably still have it.


(Mine looked like the unit on the right)
Fushigi Ojisan
Otaku with interesting hobbies

AdamAnt316

#9
For years, I had an EXL (by Hunter?) 20" box fan from the '70s cooling the upstairs of our house. It's the most powerful fan of its size I've ever seen; my father installed a Braun solid-state motor control which allowed its speed to be moderated. Eventually, the plastic blades would no longer properly grip the motor shaft, no matter how tight the mounting screw was. The blades would spin around at partial speed, making loud swishing noises as it spun. I ended up throwing it out. :(

Last weekend, I stopped by a local yard sale, and found this vintage Hunter box fan for all of a buck:

The model number is FL209; it's two speeds, reversible. It appears to be from the '50s or '60s (no ZIP code on the nameplate). Best I can tell, there isn't a plastic part on it. The original knob is missing, so I installed a generic knob which I found in the basement. It works in both speeds and directions, which is nice.

Anyway, this isn't a 20" box fan, but since the OP mentioned having a thing for Frigid box fans, here's a picture of a 14" model I found at Goodwill earlier this year:

It has three speeds, using a push-button control panel (though switching it on directly into medium or low doesn't seem to work properly, making me wonder why they bothered). Unfortunately, it has a plastic grille, though it isn't too badly damaged, and both the blades and case are metal.
-Adam

LarryInMichigan

I don't have any vintage box fans, but I do have about a dozen restored table top fans.  The oldest is a 1916 model.  I don't remember where the pictures of them are, but I do have a video of one of them: youtube link.

Larry

.....

I have a few fans myself.

1915 Brass General Electric 13"

1931 Emerson Northwind 9"

1950's Robbin's & Myers 18"

1950's Sea-Breeze 9"

1960's Torcan 13"


HarrySmith

Nice. The GE & Emerson are cool, very "art deco".
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

19and41

#13
When I was little, our un air conditioned church had a Westinghouse Mobilaire fan.  That would be a good one to restore, though I'll bet they have all been done to death by now.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
— Arthur C. Clarke

FABphones

Quote from: Duffy on June 11, 2018, 05:00:15 PM
I have a few fans myself.

1915 Brass General Electric 13"
1931 Emerson Northwind 9"
1950's Robbin's & Myers 18"
1950's Sea-Breeze 9"

1960's Torcan 13"

Yikes. Those first four are so dangerous. The guards on them give me the collywobbles just looking at them.
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
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Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
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