Patterson Fan Company Inc.

Patterson Fan Company (PFC) started as a side-line business to Solar Shield, Inc., a small business which manufactured and installed industrial roof cooling systems across the country. A Solar Shield customer needed a fan that could throw air a long distance. G. V. Patterson, having a background in ventilation, knew of a fan built back in the 50’s that would do just that. Two fans were ordered and delivered to the customer. The customer immediately wanted to buy more. G.V. “Pat” Patterson began making plans to become a distributor for those fans. His son, Vance, looked at the fan and said, “We can make that fan.” Pat said, “No way! I don’t want to get back into manufacturing.” Vance knew his father well, and sure enough, two weeks later, Pat said, “You know Vance, we can make that fan.” Parts were ordered to make 16 units, and with some modifications, a more advanced fan was introduced and sent out to other customers. Fan sales exploded past roof cooling sales and Pat described it as “having a tiger by the tail.” Pat and Vance pushed everything on the table, including their houses (with their wives’ blessings) in order to finance the growth of the new company – Patterson Fan. Within 5 years, at #160, Patterson Fan Company made the INC. 500 list for the fastest growing private companies in the U.S. Today, PFC’s philosophy on air movement has changed the mindset of how America’s premier companies cool their distribution centers. Before PFC’s revolutionary high velocity blue fans were introduced, the only thing facility managers had to rely on for heat relief were typical cage style fans. Cage fans provided little comfort, had a very limited range of air flow, and were plagued with high maintenance and replacement costs.