Ceiling fans first began to emerge in the U.S. in the 1860s and 70s. Instead of being powered by an electric motor as they are today, they were powered by a stream of running water combined with turbines that drove a system of belts. These belts turned the blades of fans that only had two blades. The clever turbine structures could power many units and soon became popularly used in many public places such as office buildings, cafés, and some stores. These systems originally were shown functional in the southern states of the U.S., and in some parts, can still be found today.

The electrically controlled predecessors to the electric ceiling fans we know today were invented in 1882 by a man named Phillip Diehl. He created the electric motor used in Singer sewing machines, and tailored it to be used in this cooling creation that was suspended from the ceiling. This new invention was known as the “Diehl Electric Fan”. Each of these creative and efficient developments operated with its own independent motor, one of the ceiling fan parts, thus eliminating the necessity for the bulky and costly belt systems of the first of their kind. It operates much like the ones we know today.

Having seen the magnitude of possibilities for success with this product, many saw that the ceiling fan was a popular product leading it to become a popular product to distribute. There was ferocious competition because of such a flourishing triumph selling such a successful product. But Diehl continuously made improvements. One of the most brilliant components added to the existing fixture was a ceiling fan light kit that could be attached to add convenience to having this product. Many of these products didn’t have lights, which could prove very problematic if you needed lighting in the room where you installed this fixture. This made any nuisance with this product virtually non-existent.

Manufacturers began producing most ceiling fans with four blades by World War 1. Doing this made this cooling product more silent and caused them to help circulate more air in a room. They were considered typical in the 1920s in the U.S. They were also starting to show up in international buildings. This was brought to an abrupt halt in the U.S. during the Depression. By the conclusion of the second World War, ceiling fans had become nearly extinct