Vintage syren electrics

[Gents']

Gentlemen,

Along with the triple-tone syren I am restoring came the heaviest electrical cabinet I have ever seen. The bolts that held it on the wall ended externally.

It is obviously some sort of test panel with an accompanying: "Slow running switch for syren". Now... I am heartily aware of your, sometimes frightening, knowledge on the topic and would appreciate any input.

I am not an expert on vintage electrics so any comment would be helpful, as my prudent side would have me discard such obsolete equipment. I would sincerely like to be proved as wrong as an extremely wrong thing that's been recently diagnosed with wrongnessitis.









Many thanks, chaps!

[Archon]

Have any pictures of the siren inself

[Conky 2000]

Have any pictures of the siren inself

Um, it's in his avatar. Do Yorkshirians spell it with a "y", like "tire" vs. "tyre"?

[Robert Gift]

Wow! Fantastic, Gent!
The three wyres on the left are RED, YELLOW, BLUE
I assume that is three-phase.

On the right side, all are BLUE.

Are they getting the syren to run at slow speed by using only one phase - the blue phase?

How wonderful that you acquired all of that.
I would not discard or alter anything.
What an interesting syren. (Leave it to a Limey to spell it that way!)

PS: Is the cover with holes on the rotor intake placed there to reduce dB?

[Gents']

Yes, the syren (siren) is featured as my avatar. Also, it is featured in the second image down on the pallet. I will upload some images of the siren soon. It is not as attractive or as huge as your USA sirens, just functional.

At the moment I am having replacement parts made for it, as some were corroded beyond repair, since it was exposed to the British weather for seventy-one years.

It is wholly cast-iron and requires a lot of attention. I don't have the motor because it is being attended to by a friend of mine. The only parts of the siren that are in good condition are the rotors... for obvious reasons.

I will be getting all the external component parts shot blasted to expose all imperfections and to begin the arduous process of welding cast-iron. Some parts are cracked, however, the siren itself is a simple machine for making sound. The only thing that worries me are those electrics... any thoughts?

Syren is just another form of siren, of course. Seems to have been used more during the inter-war period. Not sure; have no experience in modern-day sirens, here, to know if they are still referred to with a "y". Must be a British thing.

I shall take my precision grip outside to carry on with the restoration process. Please let know know if you have any info about the above images.

Thank you

[Gents']

The syren was positioned on a building in RAF Colerne, during WW2 (Including the battle of Britain). It was used to alert the airfield, not for civil response. Maybe this is why ones found in cities (Such as Dan Wisbey's) during WW2 did not have covers on the side. The syren's job was simply to alert 1 square mile of RAF buildings.

I have the airfield map and the syren, usefully, was located at the epicentre. The image you see as my avatar is the syren in situ, at RAF Colerne.

If this helps at all: The majority of the weight in the electrical cabinet is located at the bottom where those two boxes are.

Thanks for your comments, Robert.

[JasonC]

Your going to weld cast iron??? Do you plan on heating the siren prior to avoid warping? This is one piece of cast iron that will be very affected by any sort of welding.

[Robert Gift]

At the bottom left, are those transformers with different taps?
Is that a 15 volt storage battery at the bottom right?

Love your knife switch!

Would love to see a schematic.
Then everything could be understood.

Your historic controller is also interesting.
Can't wait to hear your tri-tone siren.

If you can supply the port counts and peak rpm, I'll determine the pitches produced.

Or is that rotor intake end-piece to balance out the air intake to match the intake of the inside (motor side) rotor?
Otherwise, the open outside rotor intake would allow that note to be too loud.

[Gents']

The areas that are cracked and need welding will not effect the running of the rotors.

Or is that rotor intake end-piece to balance out the air intake to match the intake of the inside (motor side) rotor?
Otherwise, the open outside rotor intake would allow that note to be too loud.

Very interesting you said that, Robert. I never thought about this before but this is the most logical explanation. The rotors are identical in design but oppose eachother in operation. This is a picture of the outer rotor disassembly:



Before I sicken you all to death with this siren I will leave you with two final pictures. The siren in its place on top of the building at RAF Colerne and the controls inside the same building. It was removed in February of this year.





Robert, the siren has 10/12 ports on the left and 15/10 on the right. I cannot give you an exact answer on the rpm as I do not have this part of the siren right now to refer to. All I know is it is approximately 2500rpm (I could be insanely wrong).

A schematic would make it much easier but, unfortunately, not available... so I am Looking forward to more comments on the electrics, boys.

[JasonC]

Without having a schematic or looking at it up close, it would be extremely hard to figure out a controller. I'd just hook the thing up to a simple motor starter right now (though it looks like the bottom portion contains the timer as well). You may want to take it to a motor shop or someone who knows about electricity and they can most likely help you out. Unfortunately, by pictures however, its almost impossible to figure out your controller form over here in the States. If you can, take some more pictures of the interior of the control cabinet including the words. But defiantly hang on to that controller as its very unique!