So this is, unfortunately, my fault. I bought this with a lot of other blacksmith stuff and it was frozen solid no movement i took it apart and cleaned it up got it spinning after cleaning out 100 years of rust and oil. I was attempting to mount it to a stand i made when the handle slipped off and it fell right on my foot (lucky for me i had steel toed shoes on). I didn't notice any cracks or damage and I realized a locking screw had been sheered off the handle at some point in the past. I can no longer get it to spin by the handle only when i manually turn the fan will stuff spin, i did take it apart again and can't find anything wrong any thoughts?

Ok, so is the handle spinning on the shaft? Shaft spinning in a gear? Blades spinning in the shaft?

Everything turns when i move the fan. The fan gears, shaft, and handle. It has a lot resistance but does turn when i try to move it from the handle i get nothing. 

Did you set the lash to tight? That lower nut with the slotted stud, it controls the fan shaft end play, to tight and it is very hart pd to turn, to loose and the fan blades will clash with the housing

 

You loosen the nut, adjust the lash with the stud and wile holding the stud tighten the nut. Mine is set up a bit tight, forget to oil it and it is a bit sticky

 

I honestly didn't touch it but I will check it out later today and let you know.

By the handle did you mean the parallel shaft that you turn to produce fan movement? Expect somewhere around 32x more force to be applied to the handle end than to the fan end of the assembly.  I obtained my nearly exact copy because the person offering it didn't think it would ever work again and after clearing it out and redoing the assembly it works beautifully.  Without the main handle I still cannot turn the fan end without a serious attempt.