Christian Kasprzyk Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 There is no better way for me to start posting some of my collection than with “The Beast”. A custom made fan likely from the 20s, featuring a Howell Red Band A14-4 motor. This fan came from an antique store and I paid $65 for it. I had walked in there expecting to buy a Fresh’nd Aire 17RC, which I did get also. I walked to the back to check on one of the installed fans(the place has early 80s R&M Originals), then I saw some behemoth. It was this, I had really no idea what on earth it was. I saw no brand label at first, I saw the price tag and decided there was no other option besides to buy it. Getting it off of the shelf was fun, I was not expecting it to weigh 60 pounds. I will not go into detail on the long, uphill trip to the car. Then I saw the tag, so I did a quick google search and nothing really came up, only an old post on the forums for another motor. That had a propeller on it. I was already sold but that sold it even more. I brought it up to the front and one of my friends who works there asked what I planned to do with the “sausage cutter”, a nickname I use whenever I want to scare people. He asked if I wanted to plug it in and I did. Not even 2 seconds later I was rushing to turn it off before a bunch of stuff blew over. The thing is a beast. Airflow is seriously amazing. It draws over 300 watts and I believe 3.88 amps. It is single speed by the pullchain. The base is some kind of spring loaded ordeal that bounces and thats the only real thing I can say about that part. The blade is pretty thick and heavy. The cage is pretty solid and sturdy. The whole thing is in fairly decent shape besides some paint loss on the motor. Then when I finally got it home I just put it downstairs. I always sort of guessed it was custom until I had someone over to see it. The Fresh’nd Aire I mentioned earlier needed some help, which I actually posted for and received(Thanks again to Russ Huber and Steven Dempsey!). Before I signed up on here I was told to contact Bill Fanum who is relatively local to me. He came over and helped me decide on what to do with the Freshy and then I gave him a tour, which included this fan. He told me it was likely custom and was pretty impressed by it. He told me to post about it on here, which I finally did. Hoping maybe someone else can shed light on any more info on it? I would love to know more. Its just so cool and I love it so much. Its probably one of a kind. This is probably the coolest piece in my collection. Sure, some of my other stuff is cool but nothing is as special as this. I like the thing so much that it was even featured in my senior photo this year. I attached photos of what I thought would be the most informal on the fan. If you guys want more let me know. I also can get a video of it running on my youtube channel. I made one already but there was not much effort put in since these types of videos don’t do to well based on my audience. Theres a lot of vintage ceiling fan people who watch, probably because I have a lot of those too. But I would gladly re-record for you guys if you wanted to see it. Enjoy!!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Butler Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 Definitely a beast. I was surprised by the smooth round hub. Looking from the front I expected something completely different. Pretty cool. 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stan Adams Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 That blade is a last run Air Castle. I sold my 12” one to Pete Hahn, they only used that blade on their final year. Cool setup though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Kasprzyk Posted February 12 Author Share Posted February 12 Stan, Thanks for letting me know! I knew the blade was not custom but I could not remember who made it. When did Air Castle wrap up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Deats Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 That's good old American enginuity Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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