Electric Fan Manufacturer
Electric fans take a lot of electricity to turn and force air to move. They also require a structure that provides stability so the air moved generally stays where it is wanted. They have an electric motor whose job is to turn the blades and a safety cover to protect fingers from getting chopped off by them.
Pre-War
In the pre-war years, electric fans were a popular item at least in the urban areas. Several large fan manufacturers were in operation and had a very good customer base. One manufacturer in particular, Eck Dynamo, had a very good relationship with Montgomery Ward. They supplied Wards with fans all year round. They were shipped by freight car and were positioned based on professional weather forecasting. This allowed the fan departments at the department stores to be well stocked when the first heat wave hit.
The company had a very high markup on their products and were not making a lot of money, but they were supplying a very desirable product. This business model worked very well until World War I hit.
As the nation went to war, the demand for fans dropped off considerably. Many of the larger companies turned their production capacity over to the Navy and the Army for use by the troops. They were able to do this because they were not making many fans at the time.
Eck Dynamo peaked in production in 1918 and stopped producing fans. The company had 140 employees at this point. The owner of the company sold the tools and factory to a Delaware concern called Woodard in 1916. It is unclear what happened to the rest of the company, but in 1918 it was still a small motor maker that supplied some large fans to Montgomery Ward.
Around this same time, Gilbert began to offer a model that included a switch in the base of the fan. It was a great improvement over their previous model which had no switch. Also at this time the company switched from using a stamped steel motor to electric fan manufacturer a cast iron motor. They marketed this new design as their Type G.
Post-War
The post war years saw an increase in the number of electric fans being made. One reason for this was that many of the large department stores were now offering fans in their stores as an additional product. In addition, it was common for companies to offer special promotions on fans. These were advertised in newspapers and on radio and television.
At this time the largest maker of fans was still Diehl Electric of Elizabethport. They began to offer a new type of fan motor in 1914 which had the bulk of the gear oscillator enclosed. This allowed a smaller diameter motor to be used and kept the noise level down considerably. By this time other makers were using rounded edge blades and all had switched to AC power.
In 1921 Gilbert began to offer a larger size fan in addition to their six inch model. This was an eight inch fan that could be easily modified to use as a desk fan. Later in the decade they offered a 12″ and 16″ fan. By this time almost all fans were being sold with an AC motor.
Le John was also growing their business during this period. They were able to get a contract to make fans for the Navy. This turned out to be a great opportunity for them. Cutter had a contact in the Navy who knew what kind of rigorous testing would be done on any fans submitted for evaluation by the Navy. He introduced him to a couple of senior Navy chiefs who had a good understanding of what the Navy was looking for in a fan.
This contract was very profitable for Le John and it gave them a good base of orders to build on for the future. It also gave them the resources to invest in improving their facilities.
World War I
In the 1915-16 window we begin to see Eck fans show up that were made by Diehl Electric of Elizabethport, New Jersey. They had a good chance to take over the large fan business as they were already manufacturing small motors and they also made a line of arc welders that sold very well at Sears. However, they were running out of room and their fan making tools were wearing out. It is likely that Singer would have refused to allow them to expand into the fan business as they knew they were going to need that space for their own expansions. So, they bought new fan making tools and built a separate factory that housed only their large fan and small motor division. This new factory was occupied in January of 1914.
Around this time GE had pretty much perfected their gear driven oscillators and were now selling them in a continuous or adjustable sweep model. They had also developed several types of fan guards which were usually brass but would later switch to a stronger steel material. In addition, the “S” wires that attached to the front ring of the guard were now spot welded to the ring instead of being wrapped around it.
Then, a big change came with world war one. The Navy decided that submarines would have to switch from DC power to AC, and that meant they needed bulkhead-mounted fans. This threw the entire industry into turmoil because most of the fan makers had no way to produce such large electric fan factory fans for this application and the ones that did could not get any contracts with the Navy.
At this time it is likely that the Eck company was in financial stress and that they began purchasing their large fans from Diehl. It was probably a cheaper alternative to buying the fans from their direct competitor.
