The Last Siren In Seattle

[SirenMadness]

Sirens in that era were triggered through a telephone line.

I'd think that the battery was charged manually, as you would not want to waste fuel to charge the battery; there could be a generator, though.

[Robert Gift]

I wonder how a 1 or two minute operation can charge the battery sufficiently to replenish the electricity used to start the engine?
Also, what about gasoline becoming stale and needing replenishment?

[kx250rider]

Also, what about gasoline becoming stale and needing replenishment?

Most of the Los Angeles County Chryslers were fitted to use LPG or Natural Gas. I think David Stall's siren came with an LPG tank.

Charles

[KnightFox]

This is great. A chrysler finally getting the attention it deserves. I'm going to Seattle this friday, and I'll see what I can do to get a few pictures.

But yeah, The Chrysler had a generator in it, but it had a battery charger built on as well as a heater to keep the battery from icing up and ready for starting

Also here are other "acessories" it came with (taken from VictorySiren.com):

REMOTE CONTROL
Operation Units can be started, idled, operated at rated speed or cycled from remote location
Installation Components integral with siren - external circuits and switch gear supplied and connected by customer
Components Engine coolant and battery heater 110 volt A.C.
Battery charger
Follow through type starter drive
Automatic Starter control
Starting time limitor
Anti-kick-back control
Overspeed control
Low oil pressure safety
High coolant temperature safety

[L.A. sirens r us]

The Chrysler sirens operated by LA County (Not LA City) were controlled by a 39 MHz receiver on the Sheriff's old "Frequency Charlie" car-to-car channel, using Secode format dial-pulsed tones. There needed to be power available for this receiver and control decoder, so therefore, it would also have been available for battery charging as well.

I can't remember if they ran on LP or gas. I do remember that they were pretty noisy even while being serviced without the blower on. I guess there was no point of having a very efficient muffler, since you wouldn't hear the motor running when the siren was on anyway!

I have a couple of pictures of the remaining Chrysler siren at the Cerro Negro Lookout Tower near La Canada Flintridge, taken in 2002 if anyone is interested.

[Robert Gift]

The Chrysler sirens operated by LA County (Not LA City) were controlled by a 39 MHz receiver on the Sheriff's old "Frequency Charlie" car-to-car channel, using Secode format dial-pulsed tones.

I have a couple of pictures of the remaining Chrysler siren at the Cerro Negro Lookout Tower near La Canada Flintridge, taken in 2002 if anyone is interested.

Yes, I kind of laughed when I saw a photo of one in China with a muffler.

I'd like to see your photographs.

What is "dial-pulsed tones"? Beeps pulsed in number like a rotoray dial?

Where is La Canada Flintridge?

Thank you,

[L.A. sirens r us]

Here are the two photos I have of the siren, plus a link to LA Public Library's site with a picture of the same siren in 1967.




http://catalog1.lapl.org/cgi-bin/cw_cgi ... 46135+1+45

La Canada Flintridge is north of Los Angeles, by the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains. That would be west of Pasadena. The actual siren is west of the 2 Freeway, between the 210 and 134 Freeways.

"Secode" was commonly used in early car telephones to signal the radio unit in the car that a call was coming in. It was an adaptation of dial telephones, and consisted of either a 1500 Hz or 2805 Hz tone, interupted by pulses generated by a telephone dial. When the rotary dial was moved off of its resting position, the tone would be transmitted over the air, and would be interupted by the number of the corresponding digit being dialed. When the proper sequence of digits was received by the decoder, a buzzer would sound in the car, or in the case of the siren, would initiate the noise! A different sequence would be used to silence the siren.

The decoder was typically a mechanical wheel, with pegs in it programmed to the desired sequence. When the tone interuptions took place, the wheel would physically rotate the same number of "notches" as the dialed interuptions that were sent. If there was a peg in the correct spot, the wheel would be held in place until the next digit was received. If the wrong digit was received, the wheel would return to it's resting position until the next time. After typically 4 correct digits were successfully received, a contact was closed and the appropriate action was initiated.

I hope my explanation makes sense.

[Robert Gift]

Nice photos, L.A.

Your explanation was excellent - clear and concise.

I always wondered about those old car phones with their rotary dials.

Wonder what the RF exposure is up on the lookout?

Thank you very much for the photos and education.

[Hacksaw]

I would not want to go into that area due to the RF exposure danger! Too many dishes & antenaes.

[Jonas Clark]

I've been poking through older posts, and wanted to note the Seattle Chrysler. I wondered for many years about the purpose of this mysterious 'thing' atop Phinney Ridge. I was a wind tubine nut long before I discovered sirens, and wondered whether this could be the remains of a big turbine. The tower used to be bare wood, in fair but not great shape, but the siren looked terrible. With the repairs and repaint, even if it isn't functional, it looks great. For anyone trying to find this, it's a short distance past the Woodland Park Zoo, on the right-hand side, just before a dogleg in the road where a Starbucks and a Red Mill Burgers sit. The cosmetic restoration looks great - yellow paint for the siren, green for the tower.

There were other Chryslers in Seattle, and I'm currently trying to find out whether more still exist. Locations:

Northacres Park. I've seen a photo, and it's supposed to be on a metal frame tower like the Phinney Ridge Chrysler. Live Search Maps seems to show the tower, on 1st Ave. NE on the east side, just south of the park's parking lot entrance and surrounded by trees - I can see the platform!

Seattle Light building, beside the West Seattle Bridge - Live Search Maps shows nothing on the roof, though I see two blocks that might by some chance have been a mounting spot and would jibe with the side of the building pictured in the installation photos. If my guess is correct, the mounts may still be up there, but the Chrysler definately isn't.

Seattle Police Garage, 5th and Cherry - building demolished, no idea how long ago.

Unknown location on a tower, on a hill by Rainier Ave. south of Columbia City - I've seen a very old photo, but this area is full of houses and trees now. I'll have to head up there and ask around, see if anyone's seen it. If it's still there, people probably have noticed it, even if they don't know what it is.

Georgetown Steam Plant. This coal/steam power plant is being restored. I've looked at the roof many times and not seen a siren. I just now studied the installation photos versus a sattelite map of the roof. Confirmatyion: neither it, nor any sign of its mounting, exist. However, it'll be worth asking when I go check out the plant itself.

Washington Athletic Club, downtown: Again, I studied the installation photos, and I'm looking at Live Maps as I type this. Unfortunately, for the life of me I can't correlate what section of the complex roofline it's located on. I've contacted WAC, but they tell me this is something to ask the maint. guy, who's never there whenever I call. I'd pay a direct visit, but you can't even walk in the door any more without a (expensive) membership. I walked in once a few years ago, and saw a beautiful lobby with a grand piano in it, as well as overhearing the concierge tell a man in a spiffy suit that "your bags have been taken to your room". WAC is extremely exclusive. I'll get to the bottom of this eventually!