NNN/AAAAAAA

[SuperBanshee]

Thanks for all the feedback - in regards to the single tone 500s, I have never seen a deep tone 8 blade version although one can see the monster-sized prototype siren did use an 8 blade chopper. The 500-SH and 500A/B used 12 blade choppers - no deep toned versions were offered by this time. I don't have any catalog material showcasing the earlier 500 and 500T from 1954 to 1958, although I'm always on the look-out for anything that might turn up.

[Chicagosiren-hunters]

Mind = blown

You blow me away every time I see your name in the ARS!

[Jake_7367]

Isn't the smaller variant of the 500 the Model 300' with a massively overloaded 3HP motor?

[Startug]

I'm going to assume the prototype was scrapped. What a monster!

[WolfSoul]

That prototype is huge, how would that be able to be mounted to a roof easily?

[uncommonsense]

That prototype is huge, how would that be able to be mounted to a roof easily?

Who said a lick about easy? Note the insane amount of scaffolding/support behind it. There's a reason it wasn't any thing beyond a prototype

[WolfSoul]

True, but if there was more prototypes out there I was just wondering.

[Siranator3001]

This was a great artical, keep up the good work! 8)

[Chicagosiren-hunters]

Now that I see all this information about the 500, and ever since the release of the 508 I have wondered, could the name "508" be a reincarnation of the 500 series?

[SuperBanshee]

It was my impression that 508 meant 500 hertz and 8 hornlets, however it does look like a modernized version of the original 500. Federal is no stranger to modernizing old siren concepts - the Eclipse 8 is basically a deeper toned, spruced up STL-10 with battery backup. Then comes the Modulator II which is a direct relative to the original Modulator. Finally, people have yammered about a modernized Thunderbolt while clearly overlooking that such a thing already premiered back in 1988: it was called the 2001. It seems like a stretch, but the 2001 amplifies its volume with those hornlets rather than a component blower. It also used a Thunderbolt's rotator platform in the earlier years, and a neat customary "2001-DC" graphic. Federal's modern siren lineup isn't as far departed from the past as one might think.