Fire Alarm Types?

[3t22]

I am back in school after several years away to finish my MA. The building I live in has Wheelock NS horn/strobe units, which were installed in 2002 and I have not yet heard.

If you want to hear what an NS sounds like bad enough, I own one, and have a recording of it in Temporal code-3 and steady. And I agree with you, those old AC vibratory horns were real alarms . If you ask me, nothing says fire quite like the loud low unmistakable 120hz (the tone was 120hz or a low B if your musically inclined on 60hz AC power) buzz of these horns. I am proud to say that I own 14 of these types horns. They're

2 120VAC Federal Vibratone 350s (old large square grill and current grill styles),

a 120VAC FCI HVA (relabeled Federal Vibratone 350) with a Federal PR single projector,

6VAC Simplex 4040 (another relabeled vibratone 350),

120VAC Edwards 876-N5 adaptahorn,

10VAC flush mount Edwards 360-L "Fire Horn" adaptahorn, 120VAC

Simplex 4050,

120VAC Simplex 4050+2903 horn/light (cheese wedge shaped light),

120VAC single goose neck projector auth electric co 1786-C (relabeled Standard 50),

120VAC single projector Faraday type 2 (my loudest alarm),

120VAC double projector IBM 4031-2B (sounds like the family feud strike buzzer),

12VAC IBM double projector 4030-2,

12VAC surface mount IBM 4032-1B (another very loud alarm),

120VAC Tork Alert 874-N5 (looks like a Simplex 2901-9838 sounds like an old doorbell).

I also have a 10VAC and 6-18VAC step down transformers to run the 4040, 4032-1B, 4030-2, and Fire Horn. I also have a 120VAC Federal 55 (loud sucker), and way too many other alarms, and alarm devices to mention including a control panel.

[Robert Gift]

LOL Daniel!

Hey 3t22, do the institutions from which they came know they are missing?!

Nice collection. I'm envious.

The Red 12?inch O fire alarm bells I heard were 1950s vintage. Those were #1 followed by the 120 Hz buzzers.

[Daniel]

3T22,
You are correct. 60 Hz. is an octave below what those horns sound. Nearly anyone can learn to have perfect pitch, and I started with learning Bb from things like fire alarms and electric alarm clocks. I then learned what different pitch intervals sound like, and based them off of Bb. Finally I was able to recognize other pitches without referring to B flat. Pitch recognition is very much like color recognition. Playing a certain song in F instead of G gives it a completely different color, even though it is the exact same song played a whole step down.

I have sold my GCS Model 2 siren, my CAM Model 4 vehicle siren, my FS Model 28 siren, and my FS resonator horn. I still have:

Magnavox 120 volt horn (nearly identical to the old style Vibratone)
Benjamin 120 volt horn
IBM 24 volt horn off of a school in southern Oregon (most older Oregon schools used horns rather than bells to bring the kids in, with bells indoors, and fire alarms being sirens)
Funke-Huster 120 volt horn from Germany with downward-pointing horn
Fiamm 12-volt klaxon
Fiamm high-low police horn (a.k.a. Wolo)
Unidentified 120 volt siren from former Yugoslavia
Ademco 120 volt motor siren (horizontal type)
Ancient steam-driven alarm bell.
USAF/USN jump bell from Bendix Aviation
Various alarm bells and air horns.

I'd love to get my hands on a 120 volt motor-driven klaxon, a steam siren, and one of those hugh Kheraj sirens that looks like a Carters but costs about $800.