*SUMMER BREEZE* This month, as our industry braces for major new fan regulations across the U.S. next year, we take a step back to look at the history of these simple but pivotal machines.
1. The earliest known use of handheld fans dates back hundreds, even thousands of years BCE to Ancient Egypt and India. But the first manually operated rotary fan used for air conditioning was invented in China around 180 CE by this Han Dynasty craftsman and engineer. What was his name?
2. In 1727, this British engineer successfully demonstrated that a fan system could draw stagnant air out of coal mines to improve safety conditions. What was his name?
3. As the Second Industrial Revolution roared into the 1880s, an American electrical engineer from New York invented a fan powered by electricity while employed by Thomas Edison. Name him.
4. Three main types of fans are used for moving air. Which one features blades that force air to move parallel to the shaft about which the blades rotate? Hint: This type of fan is used in a wide variety of applications, ranging from small cooling fans for electronics to the giant fans used in cooling towers. Name it.
5. The Air Movement and Control Association International (AMCA) can trace its roots to this organization that was formed in 1917 at the Hotel Statler in Detroit, Michigan. What was the name of that original manufacturers' group?