Would like to learn about early electronic sirens

[MattDean1003]

Spawning off of the thread about the 1959 electronic speakers, I'm just somewhat curious how far back electronic outdoor warning sirens date back. Is the WS-1000 or 2000 models from Whelen the earliest? I'd like to find out as much information for early electronic sirens as I can. A sudden interest just sparked.

I wasn't sure whether to research earlier board topics because I don't think we as a group have ever discussed electronic sirens prior to the WS series.

[Daniel]

I remember reading about an electronic siren installed in the carillon tower of Texas A&M (I think) in the 1940's which used a single speaker of enormous proportions and some kind of electronic driver circuit. The speaker may still be there.

[jkvernon]

I remember a thread a few years ago about a speaker array that Altec produced. I think it was the first mass produced civil defense speaker/siren. Someone had several pictures including one of a speaker array next to an elementary school and a couple pictures of the controls. I can't remember exactly what city they were installed in but it was somewhere down south like Birmingham or something. Someone also described the siren sounding similar to a Carters dual head siren.

[weasel2htm]

I recall an advert for a late 60s/extreme early 70s for one made by FyrFtr (only about 95% sure, so I could be wrong) It looked like four rectangular PA horns on a pole one in each direction.

I wish I could remember where I saw the ad, it wasn't on this board, I know that. I think it was on a siren picture and ad montage on youtube.

[ginbot86]

I remember a thread a few years ago about a speaker array that Altec produced.

Altec Lansing indeed did make compression horn speakers, both for high-fidelity (I'm trying to obtain a pair from my school) and for siren applications.

Some of them overlapped and were used for high-fidelity audio systems, indoor paging, and outdoor warning.

[JasonC]

I recall an advert for a late 60s/extreme early 70s for one made by FyrFtr (only about 95% sure, so I could be wrong) It looked like four rectangular PA horns on a pole one in each direction.

I wish I could remember where I saw the ad, it wasn't on this board, I know that. I think it was on a siren picture and ad montage on youtube.

Yea, does anybody have a pic of this ad? I remember the controller was basically a desk you literally sat at and you had to flip several switches just to get it to sound the alert signal. Very crude technology.

[Jim_Ferer]

Well, anything before transistors were in wide circulation would have required a lot more maintenance, warm-up time for the tubes, etc. It would have been a bear to manage.

[Charlie Davidson]

Here is something interesting:

[Jim_Ferer]

Thaniks, soccerdude, what can you tell us about it? It looks like some early form of ATI in a steeple or something similar, although those speakers are used by other customers than ATI. Was it a siren, or one of those hokey sounding chime things that played "The Old Rugged Cross" once in a while?

[Charlie Davidson]

Thaniks, soccerdude, what can you tell us about it? It looks like some early form of ATI in a steeple or something similar, although those speakers are used by other customers than ATI. Was it a siren, or one of those hokey sounding chime things that played "The Old Rugged Cross" once in a while?

I actually found this on the internet by simply searching for "Old Sirens" in Google Image Search, I should have stated that in my post, sorry about that. On the website that I found it on, the label under the image was "Old Air Raid Siren inside of a bell tower". It was not from here in the US.

To me it looks like a bunch of early underhood-mounted police siren speakers. I have no clue who made it. I wish the guy would have taken more pictures of it, but the site I found it on was pointed more towards ancient history and had more scenic pictures than anything else.