Portable fan device for forced air heating

Claim 1

A readily portable fan device usable both as a cooling fan for circulating ambient air and as a device for increasing the flow of air through a register, comprising a housing containing both a fan impeller and an electric motor for driving the impeller, said housing being generally rectangular and having a front wall, a back wall, two end walls and a top outlet, the lower edges of which walls terminate in a rectangular skirt surrounding an air inlet and having floor engaging edges capable of substantially sealing a space around said register, the impeller being arranged to direct air generally upwardly through said outlet when the device is resting on said skirt; wherein said front wall is lower than said back wall and the end walls are trapezoidal, said outlet being inclined to the plane of the skirt edges so as to direct air away from a plane occupied by said back wall, the device having further floor engaging surface means located on said back wall and occupying a plane generally perpendicular to the plane of said skirt edges and on which surface means the device may alternatively rest, with said air inlet open to the ambient air, when used as a cooling fan with air being directed partially upwardly from the plane of said floor engaging surface means; wherein said housing is molded from plastics material and includes at least one inner duct portion, and wherein said fan is an axial flow mounted on the projecting shaft of said motor and wherein said motor is held by a spider member having arms which are a snap fit into apertures in said duct portions.