The Siren Board

I'm definitely too young to remember the days when these were used in stores.

With all due respect, campus warning sirens sounding for a fire is about the worst idea I've ever heard. Do you have any idea how often college students accidentally trigger fire alarms? People would get incredibly annoyed and it would lessen the impact of when we really needed the ATIs.

Do they work? If they do, why get new ones?

This seems to be the Brandeis attitude towards every single space that's not in a super-prominent, high-traffic building. Because money is so tight these days (and the guy who financed all our spiffy new buildings lost a bunch of money with Madoff), we are devoted adherents to the way of "If it aint broke, don't fix it." It's actually quite charming, in a 60's sort of way. The fire alarms are just scratching the surface...walk though some of these buildings and if it wasn't for the computers, it could be any time from 60's through the present.

bwillcox wrote:Heh, I remember the chimes in stores too but it was usually a chime sound over the PA system in the store rather than an actual piece of hardware like these Auths.

I remember both electronic and mechanical chimes. Some older stores still sound them as a signal that they will be closing soon.

bwillcox wrote:I also remember chimes getting used a lot in business phone systems when I was young. Ding!

You can still find those Western Electric ringers that can select between a normal bell sound and a high-low chime on two bells.

Ok, now that I know how to upload photos from iPhoto to Photobucket...what on earth is this? I found it in a building that dates back to 1957 and is to be demolished in a few months.

That is an Edwards Adaptahorn. They sound a lot like a vibratone, and are really good for scaring the hell out of people. Some models had a screw on the front that adjusted the loudness of the alarm.

Here is a vid of mine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln8PRcz6e-s

I had 4 of them with the allen screw on the front for volume adjustment, and boy do I miss them, and deeply regret not moving them to my godmother's old house when I had the chance (long story on how I lost them). These horns are often refered to as "Fire Horns" do to the tag on the front. I still have a NiB 10VAC 360-L flush mount verson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRa-93ezJFo

See if you can by chance snag one durring demolition.

also this was the old style Adaptahorn. They're now square and come in both AC and DC versons where the old 360 series was AC only. This is a 24VDC 881

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y169/w ... rms028.jpg

Thank you both. That would certainly be annoying in a fire drill. And if I was going to get one during demolition, it would certainly go to someone else on this board, because I have no personal interest in collecting fire alarms...

CTsirenhunter wrote:Thank you both. That would certainly be annoying in a fire drill. And if I was going to get one during demolition, it would certainly go to someone else on this board, because I have no personal interest in collecting fire alarms...

If it's going in the trash get a couple of them. I have no interest in fire alarms either and I wound up with my adaptahorn by snagging out of a building that was being remodeled at work.

If nothing else it looks cool hanging on my wall.

Also, you can pull some REALLY good pranks on people with these things. I used to run a long drop cord to mine and slide it under the bed of one of my sleeping/hungover friends.

CTsirenhunter wrote:Ok, now that I know how to upload photos from iPhoto to Photobucket...what on earth is this? I found it in a building that dates back to 1957 and is to be demolished in a few months.

Huh, I was searching an old school for remains of the Edwards system there, and came across an Edwards siren labeled "FIRE HORN" like the one you pictured, but had a large white projector on it. It probably didn't work, but it had a mechanical rotor on it. Anyone know what model this is or when it was made? Wish I had a photo, but the hard drive it was on crashed.

Look into getting one of those horns! I got a pull station and sprinkler head from a building that was to be demolished, the rest of the lot was already laying at the dump.

Our old school in Chamberlain (which no longer has them) used to use those Adaptahorns & they sounded like a fleet of trucks just parked in the hallways & blasted there horns.

I went back last spring & I got a tour of the place, they upgraded the entire thing & have new fire alarms, an elevator & they got rid of the open space that once was the playground to run & well.....play in

I'd rather they kept the place as it was when I was there