"IF THE SMOKE ESCAPES, YOU'VE GOT TO PUT IT BACK IN"

Our days at VintageFans.com are filled with  "amazings", " incredibles",  and "unbelievables". Working on vintage ceiling, desk and pedestal fans keeps one in a constant state of awareness about the quality of manufacture that use to take place here in America. The United States built the best, the very existence of our company is proof, but better yet we see it daily in our work performed in our shop in Fort Worth, Texas, rebuilding or more precisely,  "remanufacturing" antique and vintage ceiling and desk fans. The machines we rebuild at Vintage Fans, L.L.C. were built to last. Period. They were built during a time when no one in their respective industry would be caught trying to shave quality for the sake of a few dollars, in other words, it was too "costly" to build a "cheap machine", because it would place you in the unemployment line as your firm went out of business. We often refer to it as "honest engineering". Back then folks expected value for their hard earned dollar. They expected to purchase a serviceable machine that would be the last one they would need for that particular area as long as they maintained it. This differs greatly from our current "hyper" planned obsolescence idea of manufacturing, that is if it is even manufactured in the U.S.A., which seems to be an anomaly now considering all the manufacturing done in Asia. The days of America having a "service" economy seems to be in the past, though we would argue that "those" service economy days in America, seem to be her very best years. The years when we actually built nearly everything here, and built it well, because that was the way you did it. It was honest. You could lay your head down at night and be proud of the product you had made that day. You knew your product was a great product and you were proud of it. Think about it a moment. Build something better than anyone else and the world will want your product. This was America. This is what built America. It defined the country and her people. It's what won the wars. It's what kept the peace.  It has an honesty, a realism that seems to have escaped our country. It's a sad shame, but they say things go in circles, so maybe we will "find our way back" before too much longer.Some say we can't do it here anymore, the labor cost is too high. But we argue that it can be done here. The Japanese have done it in our own back yards for years. Look at the reputation Japanese vehicles have earned over the last 40 years and for good reason. How much is the largest Lexus?And we pay it, because of quality and reputation. Lexus has flourished and in less than 30 years taken a large chunk of the luxury car market from historic strongholds. This success is attributed to their commitment to quality and they get their price for that quality. The point being made here is that it is acheiveable today. Let everyone else build the junk. America needs to follow her old paths and build the best. If it worked in the past, it will work today. Now back when the fans we work on daily were originally manufactured, they were not "cheap" items, not in construction, nor in retail cost. The price on an 1898 Emerson ceiling fan was around $65.00! This was a great sum of money, when the average person made less than $500.00 per year. But, for your money, you received a machine that would consistently make you a believer in America and American made machines. It would outlast you, your children and their children. If you sold it, it had a decent resale because people knew the quality. This is a lot of return for that initial $65.00 investment. This quality endeared you and your ancestors to the company that made the machine, which also created legendary brands and some of our nation's largest blue chip manufacturing companies, General Electric, Westinghouse, Emerson, to name a few. But, historic reputation can only last for so long, unwarranted.

One of the best examples of high quality vintage American engineering was witnessed the other day in our shop and really is the heart of this article. We have long made it known that one of our favorite fans of all time have been those fine circulators made by the O.A. Sutton Corp. when they manufactured the original Vornado fans. Our favorite model is the the 38 series and it so happens that a pedestal version of that model was our very first vintage Vornado purchased around 1992 in Joshua, Texas.  Since this model is so near and dear to us, we have several around the shop that do a fine job working to keep us cool in the long Texas summers. As it does nearly everyday, the lunch bell rings at high noon, signaling chow time. This day was the same as all the rest, great conversation including fan talk and discussion of potential problem solving or theories for the worst "cases" in the shop at that given moment. We are use to "sounds" outside as we are in a industrial area, so  it did not startle us when we heard a sound taken to be that of "weedeater" trimming the weeds against the side of our building, a sound that was often familiar especially after heavy rains like we had recently received. As lunch ended, 15 or 20 minutes later, we smelled something burning, an electrical smell that is accustomed to our noses, but one that you infrequently have the chance to smell because these old fans just do not give up that easily. As I smelled several of the fans running, none of them were the culprit and for 5 more minutes we went on with our business. Shortly there after, vintage electric motor expert Sam Morgan pointed at the Vornado 38 on the shop floor and we noticed that the motor had sucked an errant plastic grocery sack into its intake ducting that allows the fan to move so much air. The sack had stalled the motor for what had to have been 30 minutes or so by the time we cut the power to it and by that time it was smoking intensely. Sam insisted that we needed to let it cool down and he would then check it out. From the smoke produced and thinking about how long it had been since we had heard the "weedeater" sound, (which in reality was the bag wrapping itself around the blades), I feared the worse.

After the fan cooled down, Sam removed the bag that had stalled the motor and began checking the fan out with an Ohms meter. As soon as he turned the fan on, it sprung to life and he checked the amperage and wattage comparing it to the known data on its motor decal. Amazingly, the fan was fine. This result instantly received a huge "unbelievable" from me, as the "38" was immediately given a get well dose of oil and put back into service while checking on it a few times during the following hours "just to make sure". It was at this time that motor medic Morgan then shared an old electric motor shop folkism saying with me, He said  " Mark, I use to always say " If the smoke escapes, you've got to put it back in". Sam further explained that he had rescued "the smoke" several times back in the 70s,80s and 90s at Central Electric in Fort Worth.  As he shared this amusing and historic motor shop saying, I immediately told him we had just witnessed a blog or newsletter story about how great these machines truly are, a testimony to O.A. Sutton, Vornado, American manufacturing in the 1950s and Electric Motor Shop Folklore all in one! Its incredible to think that 60 year old insulation held up under enough heat to produce smoke as this fan had never been serviced by us other than routine oiling.The old saying "the cobbler's son has the worse shoes" is true in our business as we grab a fan for shop duty many times with the "one day" plan that we'll get to it when business is slow. The Vornado has continued to be a daily runner since this event and our faith in these vintage machines and our ancestors that built them bolstered even more so than it had been in the past. As we move into the future, American need only look at her past in manufacturing to see what made her great. One reason was a small company on the Kansas prairie that built the "World's Finest Circulators", a tornado of a fan if you will,  and if it stalled and "the smoke escaped", no worry Sam Morgan will be happy to put it back in the motor for you at VintageFans.com.