Sterling History

[500AT]

Franz,

Here are three more photos of suspected Sterling sirens that were posted here in the recent months by other members. I believe the silver siren, with the square ends is a coded Sterling siren?

The green siren under the water tower, is an original Sterling "M" or is it a Federal siren?

Finally, the last one appears to be a Sterling of some sort.

Thank you!

[Franz?]

Ron, the silver machine is NOT a Sterling. I have seen the inlet configuration before, but I can't remember who made those machines. If you look closely at the pic, you notice the machine has a long clipper on one end and a short clipper on the other. My presumption is the long clipper produces a low tone and the short a high tone. I have no idea if the ends might have been equipped with dampers to produce a single tone for some reason or not.

The second and third machines look like genuine Sterling M machines. The one mounted on the tower base, I'd love to meet the bozo who had that brainstorm) has an enclosed base housing, which might well contain switching for the machine. You'd pretty much need to get up to the machine to see if it has a speed govenor and switching.

The third with the open base is also a genuine M based on the inlet horns. Those horns are original design to the M and are shown on the patent drawings.

My opinion, and it's only opinion is that the M was never designed to be located fully exposed to the elements.

I've managed to locate 3 departments that bought Sterling M machines during the Depression area and am in the process of trying to get responses from them. Hopefully, since they have all published their purchase on their internet history, they will have sufficient pride to contribute to the Company History I'm putting together. If not I may have to lean on members here to go knock on their doors.
Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me to learn there is an original M still running someplace out there.

[Daniel]

I don't want to argue with the expert, but the first one really looks like an M with the coding brake in the longer end. I remember old Sterling ads that showed their coding model and it had a longer end assembly where the braking mechanism went. My guess is some gifted metalworker created the housing to replace the rusted original. The green siren appears to be a Federal siren, since Federal horizontals always had one-piece stator/intake cones, while Sterlings had removable intake cones.

[CinWx]

Is it possible that siren with the square intakes had the external sheet metal parts remade at some point? The intakes have many screws or rivets holding them together. The motor base appears to have some red paint left on it (although it could just be rust).

[MattDean1003]

The middle 2 pictures actually look like old Federal fire sirens. The stators look a little funny, like 2 rows of ports instead of one row of ports. I also think the first and last pictures are both Sterlings, as the bases are the exact same.

[JasonC]

Yea, the green siren is definitely a Federal Fire Siren (circa the 20's and 30's).

[sirenman17]

Franz,
Greetings from one old fart to another. (70 years and counting). Although our interests are somewhat the same, sirens, they differ in that I am strictly into vehicular sirens. I am very familiar with the Sterling line, and coincidentally, the First Sterling model H was a hand cranked siren called the Sterling Siren Fire Horn. . I have a rather large collection of many makes and models including the Sterling model 10, with and without light, model 20 and 30, the same, model 25, Oscillite and what is a very rare piece, a model 20 with trumpet. I also have a reasonable amount of literature on these sirens but nothing on the warning sirens. Sterling were some of the best made electro-mechanical sirens of their time being made with ball bearing motors when most other manufacturers were using Oilite bushings. As you probably know, American LaFrance fire apparatus for many years furnished their rigs with Sterling sirens unless the ordering agency specified another make. Both being upper New York state companies made supply quite simple I suppose.
In any case, if you care to correspond, you can reach me at [email protected] (520) 790-0196 or check my web site at www.sirenman.com
Take care, and have a good one for now.
John Dorgan

[Robert Gift]

Welcome, John

Hope to learn much from you, too.
Thanks to you and Franz for joining.

What is the "trumpet" to which you refer?
An exponential-shaped intake tube?
Were they to direct air into the siren with less turbulance or more to couple the rotor intake sound to the air. (project the sound)
Thank you,
Robert

[sirenman17]

I believe that the trumpet was mainly used to modify the sound at the intake as that was the case with most vehicular sirens of the era. The thing about the Sterling is that it is so rare. I have never even seen advertising on it, and I have access ti Fire Engineering magazines going back to the thirties.
John Dorgan

[Franz?]

Off the top of my head I'm not 100% sure, but I have a pretty good hunch it was possible in the 30s to ride the interurban from Sterling's factory on Allen St in Rochester to ALF's factory and only walk a few blocks. That might have done a lot for the afiliataion.

I'm working at armtwisting Rochester's City Historian for pictures from the late 20s early 30s era in the hope of them having one of the Sterling factory. Being Kodak city there was a lot of film shot back then and archived. The big problem is getting a municipal employee to deliver up what you ask for.

Right now it's a tossup for me between government employees and Historical Society members on which is a bigger pain in my arse. Of course they all would just love to see my work as soon as it's done.