Abstract: An electric ceiling fan of minimum practical axial depth for conserving needed head room includes a wheel-like frame; a fan motor nested therein; a fan blades assembly nested around and driven by such motor; a shallow support adapted to be attached directly to a ceiling; shallow hanger arms pivotally suspending the frame from the support for generally varying the air flow; a shallow, air pervious upper guard enclosing the motor and fan blades assembly; a step motor nested in the frame beneath the fan motor; a thin air pervious lower guard nested within the frame, driven by the step motor in the same direction as the fan blades assembly, but at much lower speed, and having radially spaced parallel vanes directing the downwardly flowing air in both axial and outwardly inclined, slowly revolving columns, for distributing the air over a wider area, while avoiding excessive air flow and "dead spots" beneath the fan; and a control mechanism including a separate switch for operating the step motor independently of t