Brass Model A Restoration

[holler]

I found this old up beat Model with a solid brass housing on ebay for $40. The motor housing had several large dents in the back and was caved in on one side. The motor was in pretty decent shape, just needed a new set of brushes and some lubrication.

picture of the huge dent on the side of the housing. Note the piece of baling wire that is wrapped around the bolts. Apparently that was some sort of mounting system (and probably why this thing had so many dents in it).



The intake shroud, pretty straight but far from being shiny.



one piece motor and stator design.



and now for the finished product,





Shot of the ID tag

[zetronist]

Nice job on the restoration. It really looks nice. Congratulations.

Do you know if Federal actually marketed a brass model A? Or was this some kind of special order?

John

[Daniel]

That's really beautiful. I've never seen a brass one. Was it designed for marine use?

[holler]

I'm really not sure why Federal made a brass housing, I was hoping somebody here would know.

[CABLEVision]

Corosion resistance for near the sea most likley.

[Franz?]

Chemical Plant system to resist the corrosive atmousphere. Probably a sealed motor too.

[JasonC]

Brass housings were mainly made for marine use. After all, many of these sirens served on naval warships in a high salt environment. Large vessels like that have 120vac easily available thus the voltage. Nearly all warships in the US Navy have model A like sirens in service.

I owned a similar model A, complete with explosion-proof conduit. That motor may be sealed as well, but its certainly not up to today's standards of explosion proof alarms. Interesting find, whatever the case.

[thunderbolt69]

This is siren you own was made before Federal Electric was changed. Possibly 1930's?

[John in MA]

That style of motor was used on all older Model As, as far as I know. I'm restoring one that I believe is from the '40s and sold under the Faraday brand. Standard steel housing, though.

The motor uses two sealed ball-bearings instead of sleeve bearings or bushings. Offset inner race with a felt seal on one side. No way to properly clean or lubricate unless you destroy the shield to remove it. I've found that at least one of them is still available from bearing houses and I'm trying to track down the other one.

[CABLEVision]

[quote="John in MA"]That style of motor was used on all older Model As, as far as I know. I'm restoring one that I believe is from the '40s and sold under the Faraday brand. Standard steel housing, though.

The motor uses two sealed ball-bearings instead of sleeve bearings or bushings. Offset inner race with a felt seal on one side. No way to properly clean or lubricate unless you destroy the shield to remove it. I've found that at least one of them is still available from bearing houses and I'm trying to track down the other one.[/quote]

I love any thing stainless, any pics?

Never mind, didn't read it thouroughly enough.