Captive fasteners and alignment posts for allowing
ceiling fan blade arms to be easily and safely mounted onto ceiling mounted motors. Fasteners such as Philips head screws, regular head screws and bolts can be held captive in place on blade mounting arms with rubber
grommet type washers. The
grommet type washers have portions that can be sandwiched between the
fastener head and the mounting arms and sandwiched between the mounting arms and rotating member on the
ceiling fan motor in order to reduce vibration
noise and movement Alternatively, novel captive fasteners having a thicker neck portion between a threaded end a the bead can be positioned within the
grommet type washers. A second embodiment of the captive
fastener is floatingly supported within the mounting arm between the
fastener head and a ledge within the mounting arm through-hole, with an enlarged threaded end of the fastener on the opposite side of the ledge. A tip portion of these captive fasteners can remain extended from the upper surface of the mounting arm and is used to guide the fasteners to the mateable threaded openings on the bottom of the rotating member on the motor. A third embodiment incorporates at least one alignment post and mateable receiving hole for allowing the mounting arm to be properly aligned with the correct position on the rotating member. The alignment posts can be tapered, rounded or having flat sides such as squares and hexagons, to further position and hold the mounting arms to the rotating members on the motor. The alignment post(s) can be located on the upper surface of the mounting arms or extend downward from the rotating member of the motor. With the alignment posts either or both captive fasteners or regular fasteners such as bolts, regular head and Philips head screws can be used. Additionally, the alignment post(s) can be used without the grommet shaped washers. The alignment members and captive fasteners eliminate wobble effects by evenly attaching the mounting blade arm to the
ceiling fan motor.