Portable mechanical fan   

Abstract: A portable mechanical fan device comprises a spring loaded hand grip, one or more hand grip springs, a saw-tooth drive plate, upper and lower drive gears, a fan blade gear, a fan blade shaft and fan blades. The saw-tooth drive plate is attached to the top of the spring loaded hand grip. Squeezing the spring loaded hand grip by a hand drives the saw-tooth drive plate against the lower drive gear which in turn drives the upper drive gear forward to be meshed against the fan blade gear and causes the upper drive gear and the fan blade gear to rotate. Releasing the spring loaded hand grip allows the upper drive gear and the fan blade gear to be unmeshed and continue rotating. The fan blade gear is attached to the fan blade shaft to allow for continuous rotation of the fan blades through the squeezing and releasing of the spring loaded hand grip to create a cooling breeze.

The present application is a continuation-in-part application of, and claims a priority to the U.S. Non-provisional Application No. 12/077,332 filed on March 19, 2008, which claims a priority to U.S. 60/907,083 filed on 3-19-2007.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable hand held fan, and more particularly relates to an improved portable mechanical fan.

2. Description of the Prior Art

The art field relative to the invention, development and engineering of the portable hand held fan is well established. From the 1800\'s into the early part of the 1900\'s came the development of the portable mechanical fan. The early 1900\'s then developed into the portable electric fans which are today commercially manufactured in numbers too large to count. Such designed portable fans, being either mechanically or electrically operated, are intended to be held by the user by a formed hand grip of some type with the fan blades facing the user. Such portable fans are intended to be mechanically or electrically operated for the cooling breeze that the device provides to the user.

It is accordingly a primary objective of the invention to be utilized as a hand held fan by the user.

This is achieved by a spring loaded squeeze handle on the body portion, which is squeezed and released causing a gear system to mesh together and thus causing the four fan blades to rotate.

SUMMARY

In accordance with the invention, in summary, the present invention provides an improved mechanical portable fan device which is intended to be utilized as a hand held unit by the user. In the preferred embodiment, a spring loaded squeeze handle on the body portion is squeezed and released causing a gear system to mesh together and thus causing the four fan blades to rotate. The device is further designed such that once the four fan blades are in motion they will continue to rotate freely between the squeezing and releasing actions of the spring loaded handle allowing the user to enjoy the cooling effects of the fan device.

A further feature of the preferred embodiment of the invention is the addition of the scent canister mounted at the heart of the four fan blades. The scent canister has a twist top that can be removed to either add scent drops to the mini sponge or to replace the mini sponge with a scent stick. Upon the operation of the fan device, the user will have the added benefit of a scented breeze. In this manner, the fan might not only be used as a cooling device, but also as an air freshening device as well.

This device was designed for its simplicity of operation and the fact that it can be manufactured from recycled materials being metal and plastic, or all together plastic. There are no toxic batteries needed for its operation and no toxic batteries to dispose of, such as used by the present portable fan devices. This fan device also comes with a scent canister. Aromatic scents may be added for purely refreshing breezes, or scents such as Vicks® may be added for therapeutic purposes and may assist people with clearer breathing along with the added cooling breeze effect. A further embodiment is that the physical operation of this fan device may improve wrist, hand and finger strength which may in turn assist with better coordination and dexterity of the stated same.

This mechanical fan device was designed with the intent to be used at outdoor sporting events or concerts where temperatures might be high and the cooling breeze generated by this fan device might provide some cooling relief from the heat. This mechanical fan device could also be color coded with attached decals to match any athletic team\'s color whether it is professional or amateur such as for football, baseball, soccer, tennis, golf, or any other outdoor summer sporting or amusement park event, etc. There will be no expensive batteries to run down with the need to be replaced over and over again.

Additional objectives and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed.

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate one (several) embodiment(s) of the invention and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side elevation plan view showing the inside view of the portable mechanical fan device of the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a top elevation plan view showing the inside top view of the portable mechanical fan device of the present invention.

Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiment (exemplary embodiments) of the invention, Examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts.

With reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, an improved portable mechanical fan device is designed to be hand held and hand operated. The portable mechanical fan device comprises a spring loaded hand grip 10, one or more hand grip springs 11, a saw-tooth drive plate 8, upper and lower drive gears 6a, 6b, a fan blade gear 5, a fan blade shaft 4 and four fan blades 3. The saw-tooth drive plate 8 is attached to the top of the spring loaded hand grip 10. Squeezing the spring loaded hand grip 10 by a hand drives the saw-tooth drive plate 8 against the lower drive gear 6b which in turn drives the upper drive gear 6a forward until the upper drive gear 6a is meshed against the fan blade gear 5, as illustrated in FIG. 2. The fan blade gear 5 is attached to the fan blade shaft 4. The saw-tooth drive plate 8 being driven forward about one inch causes all associated gears to mesh and rotate, which in turn causes the four fan blades 3 to rotate, thus causing air movement for a continuous cooling breeze. Releasing the spring loaded hand grip 10 allows the associated gears to be un-meshed which in turn allows the four fan blades 3 to continue to rotate freely. Rapidly squeezing and releasing the spring loaded hand grip 10 allows for the continuous rotating of the fan blades 3, thus causing a continuous cooling breeze.

Referring to FIG. 1 again, the portable mechanical fan device further comprises a drive gear casing 16 for containing the system of drive gears including the upper and lower drive gears 6a, 6b, the fan blade gear 5 and the fan blade shaft 4. A cut-out slot 7 is provided at the inside of the drive gear casing 16 and allows for the back and forth sliding movement of the drive gear shaft 17 that the upper drive gear 6a and the lower drive gear 6b are mounted to, and mounting screws 9 are used for attaching the saw tooth drive plate 8 to the top of the spring loaded hand grip 10. The spring loaded hand grip 10 is held in the outward position (towards left on FIG. 1) by the hand grip springs 11 when uncompressed. In the non-operational state the uncompressed spring loaded hand grip 10 is positioned outward (towards left on FIG. 1) which in turn positions the attached saw-tooth drive plate 8 outward (towards left on FIG. 1). The saw-tooth drive plate 8 is meshed against the lower drive gear 6b pulling the lower drive gear 6b outward (towards left on FIG. 1) and thus causing the upper drive gear 6a to be unmeshed from the fan blade drive gear 5. In the operational state, the hand grip springs 11 are compressed by a hand squeezing the spring loaded hand grip 10 which in turn drives the saw-tooth drive plate 8 forward (towards right on FIG. 1) and meshes it against the lower drive gear 6b. The lower drive gear 6b then moves the upper drive gear 6a forward (towards right on FIG. 1 & FIG. 2) within the cut-out slot 7 causing the upper drive gear 6a to mesh together with the fan blade drive gear 5 which in turn causes the fan blade shaft 4 to spin and then causes the fan blades 3 to rotate creating a cooling breeze. The travel of the spring loaded hand grip 10 and the attached saw-tooth drive plate 8 is approximately one inch that is determined by the dimension of the cut-out slot 7. Upon releasing the spring loaded hand grip 10, the hand grip springs 11 decompress causing the spring loaded hand grip 10 to be pushed outward (towards left on FIG. 1) which in turn drives the saw-tooth drive plate 8 outward (towards left on FIG. 1) pulling the lower drive gear 6b back with it. At the same time, the lower drive gear 6b pulls the upper drive gear 6a which in turn allows for the upper drive gear 6a to be unmeshed from the fan blade drive gear 5 in turn causing the lower drive gear 6b and upper drive gear 6a to slide backward (towards left on FIG. 1) within the cut-out slot 7. The fan blade drive shaft 4 and the fan blades 3 spin freely at this time because of the unmeshed upper drive gear 6a from the fan blade drive gear 5. Continuous hand squeezing of the spring loaded hand grip 10 will provide for a continuous cooling breeze. The lower fan body casing 12 is fastened together by body casing screws 13 and the upper fan body casing 14 is fastened together by body casing screws 15.

In addition, a scent canister 1 is mounted at the top of the center of the four fan blades 3. The scent canister 1 twists off to allow access for either applying scent drops to a mini sponge 2 located in the scent canister 1 or for inserting a mini scent stick in the scent canister 1. The scent canister 1 is then twisted back on and the fan is ready for operation that disseminates a refreshing aroma along with a cooling breeze.

Further, in the present invention, the spring loaded hand grip 10 is designed to have an enlarged size so that it can physically accommodate the placement of all four fingers of either hand around for squeezing the hand grip for operation of the fan. So in the operational state, the hand grip springs 11 become compressed when the spring loaded hand grip 10 is squeezed by the push of all four fingers on the spring loaded hand grip 10. As a result, the saw-tooth drive plate 8 meshes with the system of drive gears including lower drive gear 6b, upper drive gear 6a and fan blade drive gear 5, which together causes the fan blade shaft 4 to spin causing the fan blades 3 to rotate and thus creating a cooling breeze. The travel of the spring loaded hand grip 10 with the attached saw-tooth drive plate 8 is approximately one inch. The releasing of pressure by all four fingers on the spring loaded hand grip 10 allows for it to recoil to its natural starting position by way of the hand grip springs 11. The purpose of the hand grip springs 11 is for the recoil action of the spring loaded hand grip 10. This recoil action happens each time that pressure is released by way of all four fingers on the spring loaded hand grip 10. Each recoil of the spring loaded hand grip 10 with the attached saw-tooth drive plate 8 un-meshes the lower drive gear 6b, the upper drive gear 6a and the fan blade drive gear 5 from each other which in turn allows the fan blades 3 to spin freely. The continuous squeezing of the spring loaded hand grip 10 by all four fingers will provide for a continuous cooling breeze.

Although a particular embodiment of the invention has been described in detail for purposes of illustration, other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims.