Ship Air Funnel

Ship Air Funnel. . Restoration of the Air Funnel made possible through a donation by Robert (Bob) Halman in Memory of his wife, Sara Halman., A ship's air funnel is used to send cool air from the ships upper deck to the lower levels of the ship. It can be mounted anywhere on the deck. A gear mounted on the bottom of the funnel and attached to a rod or handle can rotate the funnel 360°. Cool air is forced through metal duct work to the lower levels where the air can be hot and stagnant because port holes can not be opened. There was no air conditioning aboard ships at this time., The funnel was donated to the museum by Peter and his wife Jeannie Droese in 2010. It was purchased from Louis Simon, owner of Marine Scrapping of Ashtabula, Ohio. Mr. Droese and his son spent many hours stripping and painting the funnel. The family used it for fires to keep warm after snowmobiling and for outdoor entertainment. Over the years' use the steel bands began to deteriorate. Trailers were used many times to move this Giant!, A trailer donated by Bill Amidon was used to transport the funnel to Halman Fabrication and Manufacturing for restoration and painting with help from Jack Perskari, Jim Wisuri, Glenn Beagle and Bob Frisbie., In 2013 Bob Halman decided to sell his business, Halman Fabrication and Manufacturing because of health concerns. The funnel was transported to Newbury Sandblastin and Painting, Newbury, Ohio for sandblasting. When completed Creative Mold and Machine, Inc. owner Greg Davis powder coated the gear base. Then it was taken to Phillips and Son Welding and Fabricating, Unionville, Ohio for repair of the bottom funnel bands by Ken Watts again. Months later Ken Watts delivered the funnel to Diversified Maintenance Co. of North Bloomfield for painting. After completion the funnel was put in storage for the winter and then delivered to Bob Frisbie until it was ready to be put on display. In October, 2014 J.J. Dragon and Sons Construction Company donated the materials and labor for the footer and pad., Display was completed on November 8, 2014 !!, Special thanks to. Ken Watts, Jack Perskari, Al Santill, Jim Frisbie, Harold Mackey, Lynn Stright, Bob Frisbie, Joe Dragon and Nicole Frisbie.