Wall-mounted fans

[Mark Sarsfield]

I was wondering if any fleet boat museums still had any original wall fans mounted?  I know that they were in the con, the CT, and the the officer's ward room.  A picture and a model number would help.  Thanks.

[Paul Farace]

Came in two sizes: a big one (few aboard, mostly in the crew's mess, FTR, etc., and mostly a small one (about 9 in. diam). Only subs and small vessels had the small fans, for the most part. Most surface ships used the larger 12-in. fans.  The fans were all black with wire safety cages that wouldn't pass muster today. The cage only kept your hand safe, not fingers!

They are very hard to come by for two reasons:

1. The USN changed to a grey wire caged fan with small openings in the late 1960s and most boats still in commission were retrofitted (too many chopped fingers?) and the older fans were tossed.

2. The only place to find them would be aboard the small WWII ships that went out of commission just after the war and have been in mothballs. Good luck, there are about six such ships and they're about to be scrapped... and we went through them looking for the small ones!

SADLY: COD's complete set of fans was decimated by a handful of nutjob subvets who wanted to "clean up COD" for tours and tossed many of them!!! Theses are DC fans, and they run forever! Tiny cloth wicks that feed oil from a tiny lube cup. They might be replicated someday!

But generall they were everywhere from the photos I have of COD:  two in the mess, one each in the officer's staterooms, conningtower had several... generally up to the crew.

I'll check the COD's fans for model numbers, etc.

Paul

[Mark Sarsfield]

Thanks, Paul.  I see a lot of old A.C. fans on eBay - especially GE.  They might not be exact, but I might be able to find some close models that mount on the walls.  Plus, I wouldn't have to convert them or run a rectifier to operate them.

[Tom Bowser]

We have qiute a few on the Drum, will check numbers etc and get photos
Tom Bowser

[Mark Sarsfield]

Thanks, again, Tom.  Any and all help is very appreciated.

Most of the fans on eBay aren't black, but that can easily be remedied.  I'm suprised at how many 1930 and 1940 fans are for sale.

[Mark Sarsfield]

I found one on eBay made by Westinghouse and it has a US stamp with an anchor on the mfg. plate.  It looks like a 12" version, but I sent the seller a question to make sure.  This would be a nice addition to the crew's mess.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200223734662

R&M (Robbins & Meyers) seems to be another manufacturer of the Navy D.C. fans, too.  I've never heard of them, before.

[Tom Bowser]

We have three different fans one 9" no data plate, one 12" Le John elec ac, and one 16" Emerson elec ac
Tom Bowser

[Lance Dean]

I have an old fan or two that look like those in the pictures.  They are desk fans though.  I'd be willing to donate if they are needed...

[Mark Sarsfield]

If they have wall mount holes, then they can be used on the wall, too.  Notice Tom's first picture, though.  The U bracket at the bottom with the four bolt holes is really what we need.  However, if we get the fans, we could probably fabricate repro mounts.  My idea is to see what bolt holes that we have to work with on the bulk heads and then go from there.

The one that I'm bidding on on eBay looks like Tom's first picture, but with black blades.

[Paul Farace]

The eBay fan is like our larger ones we pulled from SPERRY and NEREUS. The small fan on DRUM is similar to our COD fans, except ours were made by GE. The logo on that fan is not familiar to me.

COD runs on city AC rectified to DC in a box on shore and fed to the boat's cubicle (she thinks she is running on her battery, so don't tell her otherwise!). That allows us to plug in our fans.  Never saw green blades on a fan. It may be that someone got artistic in their restoration. 

The idea of replicating a boatload of small AUTHENTIC fans would be great and we'd be in on the deal. Much like replicating Momsen lung bags, Lithium hydroxide cans, etc.
We tried to do the same with our WW II era bunk bags, mattress covers, etc., but this forum did not exist and noone else had the money. Hope that is chaning!

PF

[Mark Sarsfield]

I would like to see someone replicate the zippered bunk bags, too.

The seller of the fan said that the fan blades are 12" in total diameter and the cage is 13".  My plan for this guy is to put him in the crew's mess.  I'm always on the look-out for 9" fans that look similar.  We can always make a wall mount that mimicks the originals, since the motor housing can be detached from the base once the lock nut/bolt are removed.

Here's a fan that someone took the liberty of painting the blades a brass color...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=330235160265

This one has been getting a lot of attention.

[Tom Bowser]

The gren is just light reflection, the blades are auctaully black. The Navy made us take down or not use all of our fans due to the possiblity of idiots sticking their hands in them.
Tom Bowser

[Mark Sarsfield]

That's stupid.  I'd put them back up - I plan on doing it.  Next time that they inspect the boat, just unplug them and tie the cords up.  Makes it look like they haven't been used.

[Tom Bowser]

We may do that this winter if we get some of our other winter projects done, our list is pretty long. We have to do all kinds of crazy things for them.
Tom Bowser

[Paul Farace]

Our Navy inspection takes place very early in our season, when the weather is not so hot... but I never heard of them pinging for that!

You have to reason with them (inspectors)... they don't or shouldn't tell you what to do, only what they think is wrong.

Take COD's fuseboxes:

They are live (hot), and some nudnik could possibly turn the screw knob and pull the box door open to reveal the fuses in their clips... and I guess if said person was stupid enough to touch said fuses and clips, he or she might get shocked. Now the inspector told us that we had to drill holes in the doors and screw them down so they couldn't be opened by someone without tools. Our director said we have to "answer to a higher calling," as in the Hebrew National Hot Dog adverstisement -- that we will not drill holes in the boat!  He said we had to and we said, "No, we only have to ensure that the casual idiot can't open to fuse box door...  we solved it by using RTV sealant. A small dab over the door seal will hold it down rather tightly. And when we need to replace a fuse, we just take out a pocket knife and cut the seal. Works fine and they don't ping on us for that anymore. And COD doesn't look like the USS SWISS CHEESE (which she was well on the way to becoming before we adopted a no-new-holes drilling ban.

PF