Who invented the first electric fan?

Schulyer Wheeler invented the electric fan in 1886. It was the principal method of home cooling until Willis Haviland Carrier invented the first air conditioner system.

More details

Dr. Schulyer Wheeler invented the electric fan in 1886.

Schuyler Skaats Wheeler, born May 17, 1860 died April 20, 1923, was an American engineer who at the age of 22 invented the two bladed electric fan.

"Wheeler (1860-1923) figured out how to apply the fledgling science of electricity to make a fan turn. Drawing on the work of Thomas Edison and Nicola Tesla, Wheeler invented a desktop fan consisting of two blades-unshielded by any sort of protective cage-powered by an electric motor. The fan was marketed by the Crocker & Curtis Electric Motor Co. "

"... further development of the electric fan fell to Philip H. Diehl, a German immigrant who'd lost everything in the 1871 Chicago fire. Diehl pulled up stakes for the East Coast, where he went to work for the Singer Sewing Machine company. He took a sewing-machine motor, mounted a fan blade and attached the whole thing to the ceiling-thereby inventing the ceiling fan, which he patented in 1887. Later, as head of his own company, Diehl added a light fixture to the ceiling fan. In 1904, Diehl and Co. put a split-ball joint on an electric fan, allowing it to be redirected; three years later, this idea developed into the first oscillating fan. "

Source: See the Related link shown below.

Fascinating stuff. We in the tropics thank these two brilliant gentlemen for their wonderful invention, without which summers here would have been nearly unbearable. Curiously enough, according to the same website, Dr. Wheeler has yet to even be inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame (which does, however, have a place of honor for Willis Carrier, inventor of the air conditioner-a feat clearly impossible without the electric fan).