Need help bring a Sterling M-10 back into service.

[CDV777-1]

Under that cover is probably 10 pounds of bird crap.

Jeb.
I think this is possibly the single greatest post ever put on the siren board!
Short, right to the point, hilarious and very likely absolutely accurate!

[Bryan]

Well that cover may have made this restore less of a pain! Usually the ones i've dealt with have been exposed to the elements and had lots of corrosion! Let us know as things progress!

[MVFD823]

Well, I got my dates wrong. I thought the Chief worked today, but I was wrong, so it will be tomorrow for the up close pictures. So I went back to the jail and tried to get some better pictures of the controls on the pole with the Sterling. But between the zoom on my phone and the cloudy skys, they didn't turn out too well. I tried to enhance them with a photo editor, but the quality still isn't that great. Anyone able to identify any of them?

[Bryan]

Top box is the disconnect and the bottom one is the motor starter with a reset button.

[MVFD823]

Top box is the disconnect and the bottom one is the motor starter with a reset button.

So the disconnect obviously cuts power on and off to the motor starter, and the bottom box starts and stops the siren with the push of a button? So more than likely no attack, or any other function other than on and off with those controls?

[CDV777-1]

So more than likely no attack, or any other function other than on and off with those controls?

You won't know for sure until you see what activates the motor starter. It might be a simple switch or some type of siren timer.

[MVFD823]

Ok, hopefully I will know more by the end of the week. As for now I could probably talk to my grandpa about it. He could recall hearing it run in the early 80s, or late 70s at his house when the wind and humidity was just right. He's a few mountians over, and a good 4 miles "as the crow flys" from Marshall. I will ask him if it was more of a solid tone, or if it fluctuated up and down.

[holler]

Motor starter will be controlled by something else, like a telephone relay, timer, or light switch.

Once you get the siren done let us know. Me and and several other members have extra timers laying around.

[Bryan]

Top box is the disconnect and the bottom one is the motor starter with a reset button.

So the disconnect obviously cuts power on and off to the motor starter, and the bottom box starts and stops the siren with the push of a button? So more than likely no attack, or any other function other than on and off with those controls?

The button is to reset the starter should it trip, which would indicate something maybe wrong with the motor.

[MVFD823]

No more pictures today, the Chief had them on his old phone, and it's no longer with us... But I did find out some history about it from some of our senior members at the department. They did say it was a Sterling, and thought it was a M5, and it was disconnected in 1981 because it was supposedly disrupting court, as the courthouse is less than 100 yards away, and in direct line of sight of the siren. And it was also operated by a pushbutton inside the old jail. When a call came in for a brush, or car fire, the dispatcher would hold the button to bring the siren to full speed for about 30 seconds, then let go. And for structure fires, they would run it up to full speed twice. And they also mentioned that there was another one near a maintenance shed in the county, they described it as a large box with a long horn on the top that rotated, sounds like we might have a Thunderbolt around too, they said it was disconnected 2 or 3 years before the Sterling though.