Old Fire Blower

[Jeff]

So I picked up this little gem pretty recently.   You can find it in some of Weber's old catalogs from the 60's.  I'm not entirely sure if Weber actually made their own or not.  They run off a lantern battery, 6 volts.   I've seen two different styles, one with an enclosure on the base for the battery to fit into, and without the enclosure.  The one in the Weber catalog just shows the blower and motor just clamped to the battery.   The one I have has the battery enclosure.  And yes, it does work!  From what I've learned about them so far, it seems they are made by A. Rowley Tool and Eng. Co. out of Green Lake, Wi.   This particular one is called the "Miracle Fire Maker" and is "Pat. Pending".  The way it works, is you slide the level on the top front of the battery case.  When you slide it over, it makes contact on the battery terminal inside and starts the motor.  If you look in the first photo, there is also a sliding cover on the side of blower.  It's closed in that photo, but when you slide it open, its exposes some vent holes where the fan spins inside.  When you close it back up, the fan RPM's speed up.  Simple design, but effective.








Here are a couple photos from an old Weber catalog cover and of the contents of one of the pages inside.

[Troy]

nice find!

there's a company making something similar now too, its called the bbq dragon.
the company seems really spammy, i'm surprised they're not trying to spam our forums actually

[Winz]

Very cool Jeff!  As with all your Weber items, it looks in immaculate condition.  Thanks for sharing with us.

Winz

[jkolantern]

Pretty neat!  First one to surface?  Where did you come across it?  Is the idea that you just hold it by that wire and point it at the smoldering coals?

[landgraftj]

Actually, another member has one as well. It's in the accessories gallery. Einrej is the owner.

[5280Jeff]

Nice find. I'm also interested in how it was to be used.

[BigRix]

When I asked about that blower in your charcoal bin thread I didn't mean you had to run right out and buy one.

Did you also find one of those shirts? I hope so, I'm looking forward to the photo shoot duplicating the cover of that catalog.

[Heyjude]

Jeff is the Weber Whisperer... Congrats! 

[Duke]

Great find Jeff, so how does it blow?

[Craig]

Sweet fire blower! 

[Hogsy]

Very Cool Jeff, some action shots would be great

[AnakiMana]

Upload a YouTube video so we can see it in action and hear it! I love seeing these rare items pop up.

Sent via smoke signals from my Weber kettle

[Jeff]

When I asked about that blower in your charcoal bin thread I didn't mean you had to run right out and buy one.

Did you also find one of those shirts? I hope so, I'm looking forward to the photo shoot duplicating the cover of that catalog.

This one was in my plans for a while now...just had to locate one!  As far as the fancy, way cool clothing, that's something I'm still working on, the rest is coming together nicely so far!

[Jeff]

So a few of you have asked how it works, or maybe a few more pics.  I did a quick search on YouTube, but didn't find anything showing one of these, I did find an original sales brochure and have it posted below with a few other pics.   The idea is to hang it on the side of your kettle, or stand it in front of a fireplace.  Once you have your wood or charcoal starting to smolder, you aim the fire blower at it and turn it on.  The air blowing against the embers will naturally accelerate the burn process and get everything going much faster.  Oh, and Anakimana, yeah, I think I'll try and upload my own video to YouTube and post it here.  Not sure if I'll be cooking today, but next time I do, I'll light the coals with this blower and record it.

If anyone would like one of these, here is a link to a similar one on Ebay right now.  This ad says that the blower is untested though.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/131174338996?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Here are some more pics.

[Duke]

Very cool, I didn't realize it hooked on to the bowl.