Slightly OT; belt driven fans

It's been rather hot in my area lately which has got me thinking about how to stay cool, then I remembered something I'd seen in a Resturant once, ceiling fans that were powered by a belt and a remote motor, I did a quick google image search and found some very pricy fans, perfect to put over your dining room table sitting on some unfourtunate old machine's legs lol! But all kidding aside were these common at all or are they something that was brought out for a vintage look by some designer? I don't think Ive ever seen any old photos of anything similar, but most old photos don't show as much of the ceiling as they do the shop floor. I'm thinking it wouldn't be too hard to build something that looks right and functions as well. There seems to be 2 basic styles, one like this

Which I rather like, the the other looks like this;

I like both styles but the second seems really dead simple to make and slap a few up on the shaft.

So I ask that if there are any vintage photos showing originals, or if anyone has any antique ones they could photo to help me get a better idea of how I want to go about this. Its going to be one of those projects that I likely won't get to for a while, but I like to start thinking and figuring these things out well before I go about building it.

There is a restaurant in Carmel that had the same paddle system. It is(was) about 25 feet long and I remember seeing the same in a movie, Casablanca I think. It not seem to do that much to cool the restaurant in Carmel but Did look neat. My feeling is that the blades were too small and maybe should be controlled by reheostat in order to work better.

I have no photos, but the only one I have seen is at Jessie's steak house in Hanover NH. It is a nice looking piece of machinery. How popular they are is anyones guess.

No pictures but you might find Joe Michael’s post in this thread interesting .

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/v...ngine-powered-mechanical-ceiling-fans-250442/
Regards,
Jim

Years ago I was at the Old Smithsonian Building in Wash, DC. The exhibit at the time was items that they brought out of storage from the 1876 Philadelphia Exhibition. This might have been for the 100th anniversary.

One of the fabulous displays was belt driven ceiling fans that were described as the latest and greatest health and sanitary improvements for public restaurants. The manufacturer claimed that the air movement from fans discouraged the house fly from bothering the patrons and landing on the tables and food.

During the horse and buggy era, the fly problem was a big concern.

Frank

The movie you may be thinking about is
Inherit the Wind.

My friend, Jay McGinnis supplied the fans for the movie.
He reproduces the old fans.

Here is his web site..

Woolen Mill Fan Company

Mike

...here is my belt driven fan....

Dave and Buster's restaurant is known for belt drive ceiling fans, I've seen them in the Phila. store and found myself watching the splice travel from pulley to pulley around the ceiling. Google turned up quite a few hits, here's one - Dave & Buster's | Vintage Ceiling Fans.Com Forums

We have a restaurant in Bowling Green, Ohio with such a fan system in operation. The drive system must be in the back - I have never seen it.

Bob
WB8NQW

When I was a little kid back in the early 1960's, my mom and I went to visit some friends down in Shreveport, La.

Not sure if we were in Shreveport or New Orleans, but I remember they took us to a little hole in the wall restaurant.

Besides the turtle soup they ate, I remember being fascinated by an array of belt powered ceiling fans that ran the length of this long, slender room that the dining area was situated in.

In the rear of the room, up on a sort of shelf way high on a wall, was the power for the fans. It was a mannequin of a little black boy operating what looked like a crankshaft... which carried a pulley on its outboard end.. which powered the belt that ran all the fans.