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Washington, D.C., circa 1918. "Liberty Loan bonds -- Bureau of Engraving and Printing." Financing the war effort. 8x10 inch glass negative, Harris & Ewing Collection. View full size.
Girls to the left of me,
Girls to the right, here I am,
Stuck in the middle with you.
And now I am doomed to hear that tune for the rest of the day!
Shorpy doesn't have a "like" button [Actually we do, under each photo, although not for comments - Dave] so I am posting here that I appreciate kines' comment "Fan of Fans." Such enthusiasm! And such sadness upon recognition of not quite knowing everything! "Ask and answered, Your Honor!" (I had much the same question but much less of the knowledge.)
Must be an early A/C unit. In 1902 Carrier invents the the first modern AC for the Sackett-Wilhelms Lithographing and Publishing Co. in Brooklyn, N.Y. The machine blows air over cold coils ...
[The ducts are part of the building's heating system, which used a combination of steam radiators and forced-air ventilation. - Dave]
Any electrician know what the round unit is that is above each of what I assume is a fluorescent light.
[Those are mercury-discharge lamps. The cylinders house the ballasts. - Dave]
I can never identify the cars, but being a fan geek I can tell you that these fans are made by a company named Robbins and Myers. (I knew you cared.) But I also need to admit that I've never seen the bottom third of a fan's cage covered the way some of these are, so I am unsure of the purpose and hoping someone here can educate us. Maybe it is intended to obstruct the lower portion of the fan's output, perhaps to minimize disruption of lighter items on the work surfaces, but that wouldn't really work because the output from these fans is not laminar. It would reduce overall air flow, but that's what the variable speed switch is for. Another guess is to catch dripping lubricant but I doubt that too because on these fans it would come from the front bearing and drip off the motor housing, or run down the base. While we're at it, I also do not know what the wire-like thing is running from the fan on the right to the column on which it is mounted. Geez, and prior to viewing this image, I thought I knew pretty much everything there is to know about antique electric fans!
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