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.
