3 ms·
I love this: "My interests are with original and unrestored desk fans made prior to 1916." Since they were invented in 1885 that is basically a 30 year window
by ChuckMcM 6y ago
I love this: "My interests are with original and unrestored desk fans made prior to 1916."
Since they were invented in 1885 that is basically a 30 year window for a fairly expensive consumer good that probably sold in the neighborhood of a few thousand units.
There is something wonderful about diving deeply into a particular kind of thing from a particular time. My Dad has a cap gun collection with a similar narrow window, he even has a book which identifies various cap guns, their makers, their relative rarity etc. Why cap guns? Who knows. He has it significantly easier though since they were stamped out in the hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, during a similar period and were made so that kids could get them (ie very inexpensively).
It is a level of curiosity and dedication I can really respect.
- rrmm 6y agoConnoisseurship can make about anything interesting! That said I love fans. I especially love those big old fans that seem to have a speed setting of 'menacingly slow'.
- everybodyknows 6y ago> Why cap guns? Who knows. I know, because 11-year-old me owned one, back when selling them was legal. The reason is nostalgia, or a yearning for the brightness of the world we knew then. Artifacts bring the memories back, in a sweet flood. Experimentation revealed ways in which cap gun tech could be abused. We wanted a louder pop, so how about folding over the tape of caps to double up? Possible, but tends to jam. For a really loud "bang", how about setting a whole roll of caps down on the pavement edgewise, and hitting it with a hammer? Imagine the surprise when the hammer's head came flying back up, faster than it was brought down ...
- frosted-flakes 6y agoWait, they're illegal now? Where? I had those growing up in Canada in the early 2000s. If I remember right, we got them at the dollar store. And yes, I remember hitting a whole ring at once with a hammer.
- lnanek2 6y agoProbably for the best here in the US. Police here jump on any excuse to use deadly force and hearing a bang sound from a cap gun would likely invite a hail of real bullets. Did you see a 9 year old girl was pepper sprayed recently? And that 75 year old man shoved over, banging his head on concrete, and bleeding on to the streets from it for having an imaginary police scanner? And the girl trying to give a guardsman flowers getting a direct hit from a flash bang in return? Imagine if one of them had a cap gun...not pretty.
- csharptwdec19 6y agoYep. This is also a big part of why 'Light guns' for video game consoles in the US looked more and more like a prop from Buck Rogers through the 90s
- scottlocklin 6y agoIt's a fairly common interest believe it or not; I was very interested in this era of fans while I was in grad school. In fact I was interested in an even more specific variety of pancake motor 6 bladed fan that pretty much every other fan-fan also wants. Since they're so bloody expensive I ended up collecting radios from the 1920s instead, which kind of scratches the same itch. https://antiquefanparts.com/1893-meston-series-aa-12-desk-fan/ https://antiquefanparts.com/1893-meston-series-aa-12-desk-fa... https://antiquefanparts.com/circa-1888-edison-x-motor-fan/ https://antiquefanparts.com/circa-1888-edison-x-motor-fan/ https://antiquefanparts.com/1890-riker-electric-motor-company-bipolar-fan/ https://antiquefanparts.com/1890-riker-electric-motor-compan... https://antiquefanparts.com/circa-1894-edison-sixth-hp-slow-motor/ https://antiquefanparts.com/circa-1894-edison-sixth-hp-slow-... https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/antique-1901-general-electric-ge-1813317031 https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/antique-1901-general-... My grail fan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZzkUC0TAhg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZzkUC0TAhg http://www.hudsonscustommachining.com/images/1904emerson/large/IMG_1345.jpg http://www.hudsonscustommachining.com/images/1904emerson/lar... They cost so bloody much, it's probably easier to just build a reproduction.
- mattkrause 6y agoThe cheapest one is $20,000!
- scottlocklin 6y agoI thought they were too much when I was in grad school in the 90s and you could find them on ebay for $500.... $500 for a goddamned fan! Well, it's not like they made more of them since then, and many have been parted out or thrown away. Those pancake fans are really cool!
- mattkrause 6y agoOh, no argument that they look cool. I was just expecting the price to be a lot lower! Does anyone make good-looking modern reproductions?