History[edit]

Patent drawing for a Fan Moved by Mechanism, November 27, 1830

The punkah fan was used in India about 500 BCE. It was a handheld fan made from bamboo strips
or other plant fibre, that could be rotated or fanned to move air. During British rule, the word came to
be used by Anglo-Indians to mean a large swinging flat fan, fixed to the ceiling, and pulled by a
servant called the punkawallah.
For purposes of air conditioning, the Han Dynasty craftsman and engineer Ding Huan (fl. 180 CE)
invented a manually operated rotary fan with seven wheels that measured 3 m (10 ft) in diameter; in
the 8th century, during the Tang Dynasty (618–907), the Chinese applied hydraulic power to rotate
the fan wheels for air conditioning, while the rotary fan became even more common during the Song
Dynasty (960–1279).[2][3]
In the 17th century, the experiments of scientists including Otto von Guericke, Robert
Hooke and Robert Boyle, established the basic principles of vacuum and airflow. The English
architect Sir Christopher Wren applied an early ventilation system in the Houses of Parliament that
used bellows to circulate air. Wren's design would be the catalyst for much later improvement and
innovation. The first rotary fan used in Europe was for mine ventilation during the 16th century, as
illustrated by Georg Agricola (1494–1555).[4]
John Theophilus Desaguliers, a British engineer, demonstrated a successful use of a fan system to
draw out stagnant air from coal mines in 1727 and soon afterwards he installed a similar apparatus
in Parliament.[5] Good ventilation was particularly important in coal mines to reduce casualties from
asphyxiation. The civil engineer John Smeaton, and later John Buddle installed reciprocating air
pumps in the mines in the North of England. However, this arrangement was not ideal as the
machinery was liable to breaking down.