Mystery Omni-Directional Siren my Uncle collected

[Vintagecollections]

It’s a Federal 20. Has to be. I own a model 7, the rotor and stator are identical except it’s an 8 port rather than 12.

My Federal:

In the picture you posted, the vanes on the rotor are vastly different. The ones on your Federal, when viewed horizontally from the side, are straight. The ones on the mystery siren have an exponential curve.

Federal vs mystery siren.png

Federal vs mystery siren comparison.png

Hm. Didn’t totally catch that. It still seems to be federal, I do also see resemblance in the stator mounts, where they bolt on and have the distinct brackets like on my type 7, alike the base on mine (where the 2nd stator on your Uncle’s attaches. Also, I found a photo of a rusty model 20 which is near identical (if not identical) to your Uncle’s one:

[Vintagecollections]

Seems like it to me, but I honestly don’t know now.

[07VFDInLCD]

Hm. Didn’t totally catch that. It still seems to be federal, I do also see resemblance in the stator mounts, where they bolt on and have the distinct brackets like on my type 7, alike the base on mine (where the 2nd stator on your Uncle’s attaches. Also, I found a photo of a rusty model 20 which is near identical (if not identical) to your Uncle’s one:

Good point. One thing that would confirm if this has Federal Electric / Federal Signal parts in it is a clear picture of the siren without the outer shrouds on. The ID tag would also be a good indicator, but unfortunately it seems to have long been unreadable.

Oh, and I'm not the dude with the siren. Just a fellow Siren Board member interested in this case.

[HDN]

I'm looking at this because another military vehicle collector almost bought this exact siren - without knowing about the rotor damage! I was doing some research on this unit because I had no idea what it was, so I came here and found this thread. It seems that no one here knows what this siren is for sure either!

I do believe that the motor tag is a GE tag. It looks a lot like this one, and I can faintly see the GE logo in the middle of it:



I'd think a brass wire brush might clean that tag up a little so we can see at least what the motor details are. I'm not sure where you'd find another rotor, or maybe swap the rotor with something that roughly fits.

[Luke Moran]

I believe that it might actually be a later & more compact version of a Fedelcode Mach. 10, since the core looks just like the interior of one, & the Housing has a skirt that is at the very bottom of it, like some early Mach.10 Models. it is most likely either an Fedelcode Mach. 10 or Model 5OC. Hope this message was helpful, I like to help others!

[ArxCyberwolf]

It's definitely not a Mach. 10. Mach. 10s had absolutely massive 24-inch rotors, far larger than this siren. For it to be a 5OC, it'd also have to have dampers or formerly had them. This siren looks to be a typical Type Mach. 5 to me.

[Chicagosiren-hunters]

Most certainly a Type Mach. 5. The proportions are a bit larger than my Type Mach. 3, and the inclusion of a motor access hatch lines up with other dual rotor 5’s out there.this does indeed have mounting holes for coding equipment, unlike the 3’s I’ve see.

What’s interesting to note is the rotors on this 5 are not curved, instead having a straight-vaned bi-directional design; likely a cost saving measure due to launching the products shortly before the Great Depression. Unfortunately there is a large chunk missing from the bottom rotor, but there are videos of it running, albeit ill advised.

IMG_2687.png (5.55 MiB) Viewed 10287 times

[Synther]

but there are videos of it running, albeit ill advised.

Can you link the video here?

[ArxCyberwolf]

I'm floored anyone tried to run that thing when it's that heavily damaged. That's a rotor explosion just waiting to happen!

[Chicagosiren-hunters]

but there are videos of it running, albeit ill advised.

Can you link the video here?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ15ShLhS3Q