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1970s? Patton High Velocity Air Circulator rollabout fan


Levi Mevis

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Greetings everyone, and specifically Trevor S. (I'm not sure how to spell your name, but I know that your avatar on the old fan forum was a picture of what looked like Rambo) I recently picked up from my work (no not Goodwill, as I haven't worked there in several years) a 1970s or 1980s vintage Patton High Velocity Air Circulator Rollabout Fan that they were throwing out because it wasn't working anymore (it has a PSC Motor and I'm guessing that possibly the Motor-Run Capacitor failed because the fan's power switch was set to medium but was sitting in the trash compactor room with the cord wrapped up, so I'm assuming that the fan was powered on but it the motor wasn't running which is why it was thrown out) and so I rolled it out of the trash compactor room and out to my car and drove it home, I have not gotten it out of my car yet as it was 12:30 am when I got home from work and It was raining and I didn't want the fan to get any wetter than it already did when I rolled it out to my car from work.

unfortunately the the rollabout stand for the fan is very rusty (like it was used or stored somewhere with a lot of moisture) but I think it can clean up because its just surface rust like the stuff you see on old bicycle brightwork.

Anyways the model number on it was 1887 somewith some combination of letters in front of it. 

I figure that if for some reason more than just the motor-run capacitor is wrong with the fan and it can't be fixed I could try to use the blade assembly from this fan on my 1960s vintage Sears Rollabout box fan that has a bad blade assembly.

I will post pictures later on today when I get the fan brought inside my house.

Thanks for your help,

Levi 

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OK so I brought the fan in and tested it out, and sure enough, the fan works on medium and low, but not on high, which seems kind of odd.

I know I've ran into this problem before on some other fans I've worked on and I think its something to do with the switch, or the capacitor.

I know these old 3 speed fans are usually running high as just the motor on full force without any choking of the motor using a speed coil or resistance windings, and medium and low are usually the motor being ran with the speed being dropped by resistance windings or a speed coil, but the motor in this fan I think has resistance windings wound into the main motor windings to achieve the medium and low speeds (like some of the old GE fans from the 1920s) because there's no speed coil in the fan and it just uses a standard box fan style switch and motor.

I've looked this fan up using GIS and I can't seem to find another fan like it anywhere.

 

Patton Air Circulator front View.JPG

Patton Air Circulator back View.JPG

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3 minutes ago, Levi Mevis said:

OK so I brought the fan in and tested it out, and sure enough, the fan works on medium and low, but not on high, which seems kind of odd.

I know I've ran into this problem before on some other fans I've worked on and I think its something to do with the switch, or the capacitor.

I know these old 3 speed fans are usually running high as just the motor on full force without any choking of the motor using a speed coil or resistance windings, and medium and low are usually the motor being ran with the speed being dropped by resistance windings or a speed coil, but the motor in this fan I think has resistance windings wound into the main motor windings to achieve the medium and low speeds (like some of the old GE fans from the 1920s) because there's no speed coil in the fan and it just uses a standard box fan style switch and motor.

I've looked this fan up using GIS and I can't seem to find another fan like it anywhere.

 

Patton Air Circulator front View.JPG

Patton Air Circulator back View.JPG

That’s a Samsung motor 

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OK, interesting. Well I got it fixed, it was indeed just a matter of a loose wire on the speed control switch. it works on all three speeds now.

I think I know why this design didn't last very long and why not many of these Patton Rollabouts exist anymore, there seems to be a terrible design flaw in this unit where if you ran this fan on either high or medium speed and you had the fan raised to about 3 1/2' -4'  high the fan wants to blow itself backwards and fall over which would basically ruin the fan motor. 🤔 

Edited by Levi Mevis
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4 hours ago, Levi Mevis said:

OK, interesting. Well I got it fixed, it was indeed just a matter of a loose wire on the speed control switch. it works on all three speeds now.

I think I know why this design didn't last very long and why not many of these Patton Rollabouts exist anymore, there seems to be a terrible design flaw in this unit where if you ran this fan on either high or medium speed and you had the fan raised to about 3 1/2' -4'  high the fan wants to blow itself backwards and fall over which would basically ruin the fan motor. 🤔 

Ouch 

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I'm not sure I just know it looks a little like the blade assembly that was on my Sears Homart Window Fan from the late 1950s or early 1960s (the one that had the push-buttons rather than a toggle switch.)

 

Sears Kenmore Box Fan Blade.JPG

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2 hours ago, Tom Zapf said:

THE ONE IN THIS PICTURE IS THE SHALLOW...WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE BLADE ON YOUR FAN? 

The center shaft on the blade assembly is loose, the blade free-spins on the shaft when the fan runs and makes a horible racket. I tried to fix it with some silicon adhesive but it didn't stay, it broke loose again. 

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there usually was a rubber spacer in there and they go bad...post a photo of the unit here and see if someone has the exact correct one for you to replace it 

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Really? Rubber spacer on the blade shaft? I know the blade assembly on the old Signal Box Fans had that but I didn't know these old Kenmore Box Fans (which are NOT made by Signal) had them, the blades on this fan kind of remind me of the blade assemblies on the old Eskimo box fans from the same time period.  

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SOME OF THEM HAD RUBBER SOME DID NOT...POST FOR A BLADE HERE ON THE SITE I AM SURE SOMEONE HAS ONE ..... THE RUBBER ON CHELSEA, FRESHNDAIRE FANS WERE THE WORST FOR MELTING TO NOTHING....

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