A three speed oscillator that contains a motor run capacitor that makes the fan more efficient than fans without one. The body, cage and blade are aluminum. It was stripped down to bare metal, primered, painted with 2 coats of black lacquer and 2 coats of clear lacquer polished down to 1. Lastly, it has been polished with a black acrylic wax. A very tough and long lastling finish. Will require ammonia or floor stripper to remove the wax. This unit was originally black.

The blades are well balanced and as a result the fan runs quietly even on high speed. Notice that the rivets that hold the blades onto the shaft have not been painted black, but polished and sprayed with a lacquer clear coat.

UserX doesn't normally endorse commercially available products; however, Semichrome metal polish is a superior product that comes in a small expensive tube. Well worth the money. The cage has been polished with this product and makes the aluminum cage look like chrome. Not much effort needed when used sparingly.

The base has a nice taper to it and the red felt on the bottom of the base really looks much nicer than the original green felt. The factory holes on the base are for mounting the fan onto a wall.

Side view from left side of fan. None of the bare metal hardware has been painted other than a couple of coats of a specialized clear lacquer. The brass screw seen here was originally painted black, but it has been stripped, polished and coated with a clear lacquer. It is not recommended that any attempt be made to remove it. It will be quite difficult and most likely cause damage.

Closeup side view of the fan.

The image here shows an incorrect placement of the oscillator arm spline pin attached to the motor pivot stem. It actually attaches from the bottom of the stem and is hammered into the splined hole. The splines on the pin and splines on the hole need to have all paint and dirt removed. Placed incorrectly could break the oscillator arm holder.

Another closeup side view of the fan. The lift handle is welded to the head and is very solid and has never had any repair done to it. The splined pin is placed correctly in this photograph.

Side view from right side of fan. The paint job is actually quite smooth, but flash photography makes it look otherwise.

The original square head screw that holds the blade onto the shaft is flat on its end and matches with the flat spot on the rotor shaft. The stainless steel acorn nuts that hold the cage are not original to the fan, but are used to make the fan look nicer. The hole seen here is for oil and it appears that 30 drops or so will fill the factory sealed wick laden reservoir. There is another oil reservior on the back of the motor housing. 10 or 20 drops of oil in each should last a couple of years or so before needing more oil. It takes a while for the oil to soak in.

The stainless steel plate on top of the oscillator has not been clear coated. Unusual choice of material for the time period. Sitting just beneath it is a cork gasket to seal the opening. Old cork can be soaked in very hot water to make it temporarily more pliable.

The brass seen here was originally painted black along with the big brass screw on the other side. They have been polished and coated with a specialized clear lacquer. The oscillator on/off knob originally looked a little odd without the newly added black painted nylon spacer. The spacer needs to fit loosely so that it will not bind the oscillator mechanism when engaged.

Closeup view of the oscillator housing. The oscillator knob has been carefully painted so that the on/off indicators can be easily seen.

Underside view of the oscillator housing. Interestingly, there is another screw hole for the oscillator mechanism. It is used to make the fan swing wider during oscillation usage. Just switch the oscillator arm with a different hole depending on how wide you would like the oscillator to swing. The screw is left hand threaded and can be a little challenging to screw in.

The oscillator box is very clean. No damage to either of the fiber gears. When packing the reservoir with grease it is not necessary to fill it up. White lithium grease works well since it is not too viscous. Heavy weight grease could cause to motor to bind a little.

Back side of the fan really has a nice look to it. Definitely looks like something out of WWII.

The rotor on the left works with the "Series B" fan listed in this gallery and has a flat spot on the end for the blade square locking nut. The one on the right fits a later model "Series D" fan that has a steel blade. It has a rounded indentation at the end of the shaft for the blade to lock onto to. The holes in the rotor have a curve to them so air flow will cool the motor more readily.

Both rotors look to be the same except the one on the right has fins on the edges used for cooling the motor. It appears that 7 washers are needed for the rotor. 3 in the front and 4 in the rear. They need to be placed such that the rotor doesn't knock into the rear of the oscillator housing during usage. The oscillator seen here comes from a series D fan and appears to be the only type that is removeable. It is held on with a clip. This one is unusual since it has a wool filled reservoir and there are grooved splines on the shaft. Most certainly it was designed to lubricate the shaft. It has been filled with oil to act as a lubricator.

Pictured here are parts for a series B with an aluminum blade (this gallery page) and a later model series D which has a steel blade. Everything is the same except for the speed coil on the right (series D) which has a little higher resistance on the higher speeds. The speed coil on the left fits a series B fan. The mounting configuration is a little different too. The original oil filled run capacitors are in excellent condition. The smaller plastic capacitors are made for ceiling fans and work well with this series of electric fans. The switch body is made from Bakelite and is very heavy and quite tough. Much higher quality than modern switches. The plastic piece in the middle is an insulator for the switch. It fits tightly between the switch and base housing. Without it, the fan will most likely short out.

This shade of red really looks good with black lacquer. The screws have been polished and coated with clear lacquer.

There are several clips that hold the retaining ring down. They tend to break after a few bends. This one is missing a couple of them. Not a critical issue. The bottom plate is always rusty on these old electric fans. This one has been painted and polished on both sides and sits flat.

The original plug feels like a very heavy hard rubber. The insert that goes over the prongs to hide the electrical connections has been rubber coated. The original cord was probably cloth covered, but the new 16 gauge cord looks nicer and is over 7 feet long. It is overkill for a fan; however, the cord fits very nicely into the rubber grommets that go into the housing of the fan.

The switch and knob are original to the fan. The knob has a strong formaldehyde aroma when rubbed with metal polish and is made out of Bakelite. Notice how the numbering and lettering on the body for the switch has not been painted, but has been polished and clear coated.

The label has been meticulously painted where it needed to be and polished where it wasn't, then clear coated over the entire surface. It appears that this fan at one time was hanging on a wall since some of the lettering is a little smudged. Robbins and Myers purchased Hunter in 1949 and became a "division" of Robbins and Myers until the Hunter employees bought Hunter in 1985. The label indicates a time before the Robbins and Myers acquisition. Hard to tell exactly when this fan was manufactured, but best guess places it around 1947. The rubber bushings seen here where the electrical cords go into the body are a very close match to the originals. You've seen them before but what are they? They are made by Cooper Wiring Devices and called WD Black Bushing for .375" diameter hole catalogue 76-Box. They are somewhat expensive and hard to find, but in production as of the year 2019.

Original condition fan without cage and blade. It's an electrical hazard at this point.

Original condition coil, switch and motor run capacitor. All three in good condition.

The internals fit tightly into their prospective places and have been insulated and labeled. The capacitor can be replaced with a modern one. A new one should have at least the same voltage and no more than 20% more of the capacitance measured in microfarads (mfd or µfd). The one pictured earilier in this gallery is rated at 1.8 µfd (± 5%) 450VAC.