Lakewood 3rd Generation Box Fans with Different Blades - Evidence that Robeson Rebranded Lakewood?

These are two seemingly identical Lakewood 3rd generation box fans I saw at a vacation destination this summer. While I cannot prove it for certain, this is likely one of those rare cases where the 2 fans were purchased by the same person at the same store at the same time. On the outside, they appear to be identical. On the inside, there's a slight difference.

One of the units has the typical 3rd generation blade set that I've always seen on these fans. The other has a blade set I've never seen before. The difference lies within the center hub; the typical one has the faux vent pattern, the other is smooth.

This is intriguing by itself, but it's also intriguing if we bring Robeson into the picture. I have long thought that Robeson simply rebranded box fans from other OEMs. The older Robeson box fans appear to be a variant of the Lakewood P-223, and the later ones appear to be a variant of a Toastmaster product. In more recent times, I've been told by a few individuals that Robeson made it's own fans.

The only difference I could see in the blade of the Robeson 223 fans was the blade -- the hub was smooth and lacked the faux vent pattern. I've never seen that on a Lakewood 223. The fan seen in the picture is the first time I've seen that design on a Lakewood blade. Robeson never used a Lakewood 3rd generation blade that I've seen; the '3rd generation' of Robeson were the Toastmaster like units.

I have no reason to believe this blade isn't original to the fan. It's identical to the standard one in all respects sans the pattern on the hub. I feel that this is a potential piece of evidence that shows the blades on the 223-like Robeson fans could have been made by Lakewood, which also opens the possibility that other parts of the fan were made by Lakewood as well.