Abstract:
An air circulating fan wherein the fan components are shipped disassembled. All of the fasteners used to assemble the fan components may be operated without tools, utilizing thumb screws and the like wherein the fan is capable of a “toolless” assembly. A hand operated fan mounting clamp includes a safety device to prevent loosening due to vibration.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The invention pertains to air circulating fans wherein the fan components are shipped disassembled and require assembly prior to use. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Air circulating fans, particularly of the larger size, are bulky to ship. Such fans include an electric motor, a blade which is to be mounted upon the motor drive shaft, a blade guard, and a fan support which may constitute a column having a base if the fan is to be floor supported, or the support may comprise a bracket for attachment to ceiling or wall structure. 
     It is normally necessary to ship the fan components in a knockdown or disassembled condition in order to meet the package size requirements of shippers, for instance United Parcel Service, and the shipping of disassembled fan components is common and single carton packages have been developed as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,698. 
     The customer receiving the fan in the disassembled condition is provided with instructions for assembling the various components, and such assembly normally requires wrenches and screwdrivers of several sizes for tightening nuts and screws. Accordingly, the recipient of a disassembled fan is required to have access to the various tools necessary to assemble the fan components. 
     OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the invention to provide an air circulating fan which is shipped in a knockdown condition, the various major components being disassembled, wherein such major components may be operably assembled to each other without requiring tools, assembly being accomplished only by use of the hands and fingers. 
     A further object of the invention is to provide an air circulating fan wherein the components thereof are shipped in a disassembled manner and wherein the components can be assembled by hand requiring no tools, and wherein critical hand assembly of support components are effectively locked to prevent loosening due to operational vibration. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An air circulating fan using the concepts of the invention may be of the commercial type such as used in factories, barns, and in large spaces wherein significant air circulation is required. However, the concepts can be used with any size of fan wherein the components are shipped in a knockdown or disassembled manner to minimize the dimensions of shipping cartons. 
     Basically, air circulating fans of the blade type include an electric motor having a drive shaft on which the blade or propeller is mounted. A blade guard surrounds the blade for safety purposes. The electric motor is mounted on either a floor supported column, or upon a support bracket which is attached to ceiling or wall structure. Also, it is common to attach the electric motor to its support structure in such a manner as to permit an angular adjustment between the motor and support in order to direct the air stream most effectively. 
     The front end of the motor housing, the end from which the motor drive shaft extends, is provided with threaded studs extending parallel to the drive shaft. The blade guard is usually of two parts, the rear part attaching to the motor housing, while the front part hinges to the rear guard portion, the blade or propeller being located between the grill front and rear portions. 
     In the practice of the invention, thumb nuts are used to mount the guard rear portion upon the threaded studs extending from the motor. In this manner, by firmly finger tightening the thumb nuts, the grill rear portion is firmly attached to the fan motor. The grill front portion is usually hinged to the grill rear portion so as to permit the grill front portion to be opened relative to the rear portion providing access to the blade or propeller for blade installation or blade cleaning purposes. 
     The blade mounts upon the electric motor drive shaft, and the blade is mounted on the drive shaft by a left handed threaded wing nut or thumb nut. In this manner, the blade can be mounted upon the motor drive shaft without the use of tools. 
     The front grill portion is hinged to the rear grill, and the hinge components which lock the grill portions together are all operable by hand requiring no tools. 
     The electric motor housing is either floor supported or attached to the ceiling or a wall. If floor mounted, the electric motor will be mounted upon a column having a base, and the column may consist of telescoping portions which are fastened together by wing nuts. If the electric motor is mounted on the ceiling or wall, the motor support bracket is attached to the support structure by U-bolts having hand operated nuts, and a safety connector interposed between the U-bolt nuts prevents the nuts from turning due to operational vibration. 
     The electric motor is mounted to its support structure by a pivot bolt wherein the angular relationship of the motor to its support can be adjusted. A pin mounted upon the bolt extends through holes defined in the support structure and on the electric motor mounting ear wherein upon alignment of such holes, a pin mounted on the bolt extends therethrough to positively maintain the desired angular relationship of the motor housing to its support. 
     As all of the disassembled fan components are assembled by wing nuts, thumb nuts or finger operated connectors, all of the components may be assembled in a firm proper manner without the use of tools, simplifying assembly, and eliminating the need for special assembly equipment. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The aforementioned objects and advantages of the invention will be appreciated from the following description and accompanying drawings wherein: 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the electric motor components in an exploded relationship, and also showing a typical column mounting structure for the motor, 
     FIG. 2 is a view of the blade guard illustrating the rear and front portions as hinged together, 
     FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a support bracket for supporting the fan to a ceiling or wall structure, a U-bolt type connector being employed, and 
     FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along Section  4 — 4  of FIG. 3, illustrating the sleeve interconnecting the nut pins. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     An air circulating fan in accord with the invention is powered by an electric motor  10  which includes a housing  12  having a front end  14 , and the motor drive shaft  16  extends from the housing front end. The outer end of the drive shaft is threaded at  18 . 
     Four threaded studs  20  radially disposed with respect to the drive shaft  16  extend from the front face  14  for attachment of the guard to the motor, as later described. A flat ear  22  extends downwardly from the housing  12  for mounting of the housing, and the ear  22  includes a pivot bolt receiving hole  24 , and a smaller adjustment hole  26  at a radial distance from the axis of the hole  24 . 
     The blade guard  28  is shown in FIG.  2  and usually consists of a plurality of circles formed of wire welded together to encase the fan blade and prevent injury. The guard  28  is of conventional construction consisting of a rear grill half  30  hinged to a front grill or guard  32  wherein the guard portions are interconnected by a hinge  34 . Other connectors  36  are arranged about the periphery of the front grill  32  which are manually operable and are used to attach the grill halves  30  and  32  together to enclose the blade, not shown. A plurality of holes  38  are defined upon the rear grill guard  30  at locations which correspond to the spacing of the motor studs  20 . The holes  38  may be defined by bent wire, or may be formed upon plates welded to the wire of the grill half  30 . 
     The guard  28  is assembled to the motor  10  by placing the rear grill  30  upon the motor front end  14  so that the threaded studs  20  extend through the grill holes  38 . Thereupon, wing nuts  40  and washers  42  are placed upon the studs  20  and the wing nuts  40  tightened to firmly affix the guard  28  to the motor housing  12 . 
     The fan blade, not shown, which is usually in the form of a propeller, is mounted upon the drive shaft  16 , and the blade nut  44  is threaded upon the drive shaft  16 . As the drive shaft  16  is provided with a left hand thread, the thread within nut  44  will also be of a left hand, so as not to become unloosened due to the torque exerted on the blade. The nut  44  comprises a large wing nut having thumb engaging portions so that the nut  44  may be hand tightened firmly on the shaft  16  to affix the fan blade on the drive shaft. 
     The fan may be mounted upon a column support, shown in FIG. 1, or a bracket, FIGS. 3 and 4, which is mounted upon the ceiling or a wall. This portion of the fan support  46  is mounted to either its column or bracket by a thumb screw connection  47 , and the support  46  is provided with a flat portion  48  having a pivot hole  50  defined therein. Also, a pair of adjustment holes  52  are formed in the flat portion  48  an equal radial distance from the hole  50  corresponding to the distance of the adjustment hole  26  from the ear hole  24 . 
     A pivot bolt  54  having a head  56  extends through the ear hole  24  and the support portion hole  50 , and the bolt  54  is maintained in place by the thumb operated wing nut  58 a FIG. 1, whereby ear  22  and flat portion  48  are frictionally connected. Preferably, an L-shaped pin  60  is mounted upon the bolt head  56 , and includes a portion parallel to the length of the bolt  54  whereby the pin  60  will be received within aligned adjustment holes  26  and  52  when the desired angular relationship between the motor housing  12  and its support  46  is attained and use of pin  60  produces a positive angular locking of ear  22  and support  46 . 
     With reference to FIG. 1, when supporting the motor  10  upon a column, the column may consist of portions affixed together by wing screws  62 , and the column base  64  is also attached to the column portions by a wing screw. 
     When using the ceiling or wall mounting bracket of FIG. 4, where similar components are indicated by primes, an L-shaped tubular bracket  66  is attached to the support  46 ′, and a connector consisting of a U-bolt  68  having threaded ends  70  encompasses the bracket  66 , and extends through holes formed in ceiling elements  71 . Nuts  72  are threaded upon the U-bolt ends  70 , and the nuts  72  are rotated by thumb and finger engaging pins  74  which are longitudinally slidable within their associated nuts  72 . The pins  74  include bulbous heads  76 , as will be appreciated from FIG.  4 . 
     Accordingly, it will be appreciated that upon tightening of the nuts  72  by hand rotation thereof through the pins  74  that the bracket  66  may be firmly mounted to the ceiling elements  71 . In order to prevent the nuts  72  from unloosening due to operational vibration, a nylon tubular sleeve  78  extends between the pins  74 , FIG. 4, over the heads  76  of the aligned pins, and the sleeve  78  will prevent rotation of the nuts  72 . The sleeve  78  must be removed from over the pins  74  before the nuts  72  can be rotated in an unloosening direction. 
     It will be appreciated that the components of the fan which are disassembled during shipping, for instance the electric motor  10 , the blade, the guard  28 , and the components of the floor supported column or the bracket  66 , can all be assembled in an operational manner by the tightening of the illustrated thumb and finger wing nuts and wing screws, and no wrenches are required to assemble the fan components in an operational manner. 
     It is appreciated that various modifications to the inventive concepts may be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.