1920-30 Fan blades; Painted tips?

[Graham Man]

I was just working on one of my 1928 cars, cleaning up the fan blades.  Question is, were the fan blade tips painted?  My 1929 Graham-Paige that has never been apart, extremely original, has one blade tip painted white.  Just curious what your experiences are?  After fan shrouds I would not see the need to paint them.

 

[Guest]

Back in the 60's I owned 6 Pontiacs (1926-1931 inclusive), 2 Studebakers ('26 and '28), three Buicks ('30 and 2 '53's), a '41 Dodge and a '41 Chev.  At that time I am certain all were originals.  None had any paint on the fan blade tips.  As a gas jockey in the late 50's I do not remember seeing any painted tips while checking oil.

[padgett]

Suspect may have come from the early WWI practice of putting a metal tip on propellers to avoid shooting them off.

 

ps a white tip on one fan blade would assist an optical tachometer. I used to have such a device to determine if a fan clutch was good or bad.

Edited September 5, 2020 by padgett (see edit history)

[Mark Wetherbee]

A great way not to get too close when setting the timing - I wish I had thought about it before having needed it once... Mid 20’s Studebaker had the distributor high on the front of the block very close to the fan, luckily it only took a little flesh off my finger, from then on I pulled off the belt for the few minutes it took to time.

 

Stude

Edited September 6, 2020 by Mark Wetherbee (see edit history)

[zepher]

I believe my Rickenbacker had red tips with black blades from the factory while my Pierce had chrome fan blades.

 

[hidden_hunter]

No evidence of anything other than black paint on the cad, though it’s fan is enclosed with a circle of metal (for safety I guess?)

Edited September 6, 2020 by hidden_hunter (see edit history)

[60FlatTop]

Propeller tip speed should be at the speed of sound. The tips are on there in case a wooden prop hits a bumble bee or the like.

[padgett]

"enclosed with a circle of metal (for safety I guess?) " no, a proper shroud dramatically increases the efficiency of a fan though some may be to protect the blades.

[Guest]

 My 58 Mercury had a red fan from the factory.

Edited September 6, 2020 by Roger Walling (see edit history)

[vermontboy]

I had a Model "A" when I was 12 - the first thing I did after the fan blade just barely skinned my elbow was to paint the fan blade tips yellow. I did that with every new car I got for quite awhile.

[hidden_hunter]

14 hours ago, padgett said:

"enclosed with a circle of metal (for safety I guess?) " no, a proper shroud dramatically increases the efficiency of a fan though some may be to protect the blades.

It has a shroud but also the fan blades have a metal circle around it

 

[padgett]

Very modern.

[hidden_hunter]

28 minutes ago, padgett said:

Very modern.

they did enough other weird stuff on the car they were bound to get something right 

[60FlatTop]

Some of the older street lights would create a strobe effect and a car fan at idle would appear to be stopped. A guy would look and say "the fan belt must be broken". Then you'd hear this twang noise. Glad it wasn't my fingers.

Bernie