The Siren Board

On my drive down to California for Christmas, I stopped in my old second home town of Ashland, Oregon, to photograph their new system of Modulators (and a brand new Model 2 at the new main fire station, for some reason). At the city warehouses I found the old 7 hp. Fedelcode siren from the old fire station -- the first air raid siren I had ever heard as a kid, and got permission to photograph it.

Since the cover was fastened on, I could only get photos by sticking my camera under the louvre. It was a sunny day, so I couldn't see my screen well enough to retake the photos, but I was still very surprised when I did view them. It appears to be an 8-port siren, but what is most interesting is the coding mechanism. It consists of a damper plug which fits over the air intake, and is raised and lowered by a geared lever mechanism operated by a small motor, the edge of which can barely be seen in the last photo. This probably explains why the siren sounded a "C" note and was never very loud: the damper was never completely opened! If it had, it would have been a much louder Bb note. Also, it explains the old cam-driven coding box on the wall in the old station, just like the fire horn encoder in Mount Shasta.

Wow, excellent find!

I would have never guessed. Excellent engineering solution too.

Funny, I thought they used a solenoid. This one must be really old!

I would have thought a solenoid would work, but perhaps the suction is too powerful to overcome. I'm guessing by the looks of the old clockwork encoder box in the old station that this siren dates from the 1940's. Don't ask me where the encoder is -- I haven't lived there since 1989 and it is 250 miles away.

Is someone going to restore it? It would be cool to tear into that siren and get the damper working again. It looks rusted stuck. Would be A shame to see it scrapped. Don

The last time they tested it, it did not activate, but I don't know whether it was a siren problem or a signal problem. The rotor spins easily with finger pressure. I don't know what its future will be, since it has been sitting there for several years now. When they built the new fire station, the city replaced it with a brand new Model 2, as well as a system of four Modulators for a dam break alarm. I had asked about it's availability for a certain coastal town that needs a tsunami siren and the man I spoke with told me to have that city contact him. I suppose you could contact the city of Ashland and ask about it. Other unused sirens are around for tsunami use, but this coding siren would mostlikely never be used except in normal siren mode, so it would be better in the hands of someone who would restore it.

Wow, that siren is very unique! That is something i would be very interested in. Too bad i live no place near them.

How does that damper system work? I notice a big half "gear" looking thing that must move the "plug" to code things out. But what turns the "gear"? If you don't live that far away, why don't you take that baby home!

It looks just like a Model 5 or 7 on the outside.

pyramid head wrote:How does that damper system work? I notice a big half "gear" looking thing that must move the "plug" to code things out. But what turns the "gear"? If you don't live that far away, why don't you take that baby home!

Unfortunately, Ashland is 250 miles south of me. On the last photo, you can barely see the motor at the top that moves the gear.