Fans have been used since the days of antiquity. Egyptians pharaohs were fanned by their slaves with huge lotus leaves; ancient Greeks and Romans used their own versions, often trimming their fans with peacock feathers. The folding or pleated fan is thought to have been invented by the Japanese in about a.d. 700 and may have been modeled after the way a bat folds its wings. The fan served both practical and ceremonial functions in China and Japan. In China, it was especially popular during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and was carried by both sexes as well as by members of many different social classes, from courtiers to warriors, during tea ceremonies and on stage. Some of the most talented Asian painters applied their skill to the exquisite decoration of fans, an art that was not developed in Europe until the nineteenth century. During the Middle Ages in Europe, rigid fans were used; metal disks on long handles shooed flies during church ceremonies, and ornamental fans were fashioned from parchment mounted on ivory, gold, or silver handles. Beginning in the fifteenth century, Portuguese traders brought large quantities of folding fans from Asia, and by the seventeenth century they were highly popular. Although the fans exported to Europe were of much poorer quality than those used in Asian countries, they were much admired by their European purchasers. During the reign of King Louis XV in France, even men carried dainty fans. A French favorite was the briséa fan composed of wide, overlapping, blade-like sticks connected with a ribbon at the top.
Fans were decorated in accordance with the styles of the day and ranged from simple to ornate, some bearing reproductions of famous paintings. Their sizes ranged from the eight-inch version popular in the early 1800s to as large as twenty inches during the Victorian era. The most expensive fans were made of such materials as ass's skin, parchment, or silk, with handles of carved ivory, tortoise shell, horn, bone, or sandalwood. The use of handheld fans for cooling purposes and as decorative accessories died out, for the most part, after the nineteenth century. The electric fan--first produced commercially (in a two-bladed desk version) by Dr. Schuyler Skaats Wheeler for the Crocker & Curtis Electric Motor Company in 1882--proved highly effective and less physically taxing as a cooling aid. The first oscillating, gear-driven electric fan was produced by the Eck Dynamo & Electric Company in 1908. This fan swiveled back and forth on its stand, blowing air over a large area. The first extractor or self-contained window unit fan was introduced in 1934; designed by an English company, Vent-Axia, it was made of plastic instead of metal. In 1937 a plastic laminate called Micarta came into use as a coating for electric fan blades, rendering them quieter and less prone to corrosion or warping. Today, most inexpensive household fans have blades composed entirely of plastic. Aside from being cheaper to produce, they are not as likely to injure fingers accidentally inserted in the path of the blade.Ceiling fans have had a resurgence in popularity for both decorative and practical purposes.
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