Why Vintage or Antique Fans?
Ever since I was a child I have been fascinated with fans. I love to watch them start up, wind down, and the sound that make like an airplane. Whether there table, window, or exhaust fans I like them all. Antique and Vintage Electric Fans from their beginning through the 1960s came in different sizes, shapes, and colors. They were used to accent a room like a piece of furniture. There was real Quality and Craftsmanship built into every fan. Emerson, General Electric, Westinghouse, and other fan manufacturers backed up their electric fans with a full 5 year Guarantee, something you will not find on today’s fans. Vintage fan manufacturers had designers and engineers who strived for quality, style, and efficiency.
Electric fans were constantly evolving from their birth in the 1880s. The 1880s through WWI saw “The Brass Age” when brass guards and blades were all the rage. The 20s saw most fans now being made from stamped steel. There were also mechanical and electrical advancements. Alternating Current was now being used more in homes then Direct Current and at the end of the decade Aluminum was starting to be used in fans. The 1930s was the “Art Deco” period when some of the most spectacular electric fans were produced such as the Emerson’s Silver Swan, General Electric’s Vortalex, and Westinghouse’s Poweraire just to name a few. Electric Fan Companies sprang up overnight. In Chicago alone there was Air Castle, Air King, Freshen’Aire, Handy Breeze, Ilg, and Rotobeam. Dimestore fans were in vogue for people who couldn’t afford an Emerson. After WWII fan companies went for the industrial look, bigger and beefier. Box and Window Fans was the next new thing in the industry. The Fifties were the “Jet Age” era. Vornado’s new design in fans looked like the intake of a jet. Plastic was now starting to be used in some of the parts of fans. Box and Window fans couldn’t be made fast enough, but there were storm clouds on the horizon Air Conditioning.
With A/C becoming more common in with households in the 1960s electric fan sales started to suffer badly. To combat this fan companies were using more plastic and making them as cheap as they could. The 1970s saw Emerson, General Electric, and Westinghouse get out of the electric fan business. There were only a few American fan companies left that still made fans. The Japanese had now taken most of the business. By the end of the 1980s there was only one major American Fan Company, Lakewood. From the 1990s thru today China produces just about all desk and box fans made in this country. Lakewood Engineering, the last American Fan Company closed its doors in 2007 due to cheaply made Chinese Fans.
Today we have cheaply made throw away fans, a far cry from when fans were made in this country. Electric fans made today look the same as they did 20 years ago, all plastic or mostly plastic, poor performance, and no cooling power. That’s why Vintage and Antique fans are making a big comeback.
People are finding out that vintage electric fans are superior to anything on the market today. I have a vintage window which I use in the summer to help with Air Conditioning Costs. A window fan uses around 3.5 amps of electricity and an A/C unit about 20 amps. You do the math. Old desk fans are a great way to circulate the air in your home cheaply and help cut down on heating and air conditioning costs. Stylish, economic to operate, and American Quality, that’s why I prefer an Antique or Vintage Electric Fan.
