ARCHIVED: Mystery Sirens (2008-3/2021)

[Oldiesmann]

I've been doing a virtual hunt in the Erie, PA area as I'm going to be up there for a couple days this summer, and found this weird box with horns in Northwest Harborcreek... Anyone have any idea what it might be? https://goo.gl/maps/z4bCwjz825x

[connerdstines]

I've been doing a virtual hunt in the Erie, PA area as I'm going to be up there for a couple days this summer, and found this weird box with horns in Northwest Harborcreek... Anyone have any idea what it might be? https://goo.gl/maps/z4bCwjz825x

Bet you 1 cent that it's a Sterling of some sort. Most of those "mystery machines" that have custom horn pieces like that that iv'e seen were all Sterlings.

[GreenblottF]

It's probably a Sterling, like connerdstines said. A lot of Sterlings have different horns, and as such, people classify them as "mystery sirens".

[Jake_7367]

It could be a modified Sterling Little Giant

[4J25]

The fact that you can see inside both horns at the same time makes me think this isn't a horizontal siren.

[Valra Bellkeys]

Perhaps it is just very, very weird looking diaphones?

[KGK1234]

I was doing a virtual siren hunt in Gibbon, NE and found this. I'm thinking Decot, but I can't be too sure. https://goo.gl/maps/Y4pAmaNp6tD2

[Valra Bellkeys]

I was doing a virtual siren hunt in Gibbon, NE and found this. I'm thinking Decot, but I can't be too sure. https://goo.gl/maps/Y4pAmaNp6tD2

Yup! I'm pretty sure that is a Decot! Congrats! You found a Decot, not too many are Known, so awesome dude! Thank you very much for finding another Decot location that exist!

[Synther]

I was doing a virtual siren hunt in Gibbon, NE and found this. I'm thinking Decot, but I can't be too sure. https://goo.gl/maps/Y4pAmaNp6tD2

Yup! I'm pretty sure that is a Decot! Congrats! You found a Decot, not too many are Known, so awesome dude! Thank you very much for finding another Decot location that exist!

That's actually an Eric Fire Siren. They seem to be fairly popular in Nebraska.

[SuperBanshee]

The siren in Gibbon, NE is an Erick fire siren, made by the Erick Electric Siren Company of St. Paul, MN. They are named after their inventor Emil Erick. Good quality sirens, and built to last. They're easy to tell from the Decot Red Arrows: the Erick sirens use a direct-coupled motor shaft, mounting legs are welded smooth onto the motor housing, and they are usually single tone 12 or 16 port. The exact shape of the Erick sirens varied over the years - some had a taller "basket" while others were flatter.

Erick was sold off to another Minnesota firm during the 1940s. Production continued under new ownership until the 1950s or thereabout. The later Erick sirens are different from their pre-war counterparts. In fact they were very similar to the sirens produced by Decot Engineering Works of St. Paul, MN.

Here is one of several Erick siren advertisements. They were most popular in Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

Erick Advertisement, 1920s.

Erick 4.png (147.41 KiB) Viewed 3163 times