OLD sirens found still in use at Mount Baldy, CA F.S.

[kx250rider]

Kay and I went up to attend Easter services at the Mount Baldy Village Church in Mount Baldy CA; about 75 miles East of Los Angeles in the San Bernardino Mountains. On the way up, I spotted this really OLD siren, which I can't identify. It's on the Mt. Baldy Volunteer F.D. and Post Office building. It may be missing an original housing, and it has about 1,500 coats of paint on it. Then while looking at it, I spotted a smaller siren mounted on the eaves, which may be a Model A? I also notice a large horn, maybe a Klaxon mounted below that. Wow what a collection all on one building

I asked the pastor of the Mount Baldy Village Church about the fire dept and the siren, and as it happens, he's on the volunteer fire department! He said that the main siren is activated by a control on the front of the post office, which is designed to be available to the public in case of fire. If it sounds a steady tone, it means a fire. If attack wail, it's a mountain rescue or a medical situation.

Anyway, it was a nice bonus to a really nice Easter Sunday!!!

Charles

[Daniel]

B & M perhaps? They did make outdoor sirens at one time. The words on the motor look like ---MYER. Somebody took a photo of another siren in southern California on a fire station which looked a lot like this one, but with a strange, cone-shaped cover on top. This looks like the same thing with the dome part of the top cover missing.

[kanazo]

Looks like the horn is also a siren? There're some rotor-looking blades in there.

[kx250rider]

Looks like the horn is also a siren? There're some rotor-looking blades in there.

Actually, I think the one you're looking at is the Model A siren on the eaves... The Klaxon horn is below the eaves on the wall in the other photos.

Charles

[3t22]

The small siren is a D, which uses the same rotor/stator as the L (sounds just like one). Just under the black pipe under the eaves is a small security system electronic siren, and above that, the "Klaxon", which is an electric Vibratory horn. Judging by it's looks, it's an older Benjamen. It'd make a loud 120hz GURRRRT (like the Family Feud strike buzzer). I own a re-labled 110VAC IBM 4031-2B (double projecctor), which also sounds like that horn would. On the siren I can see some lettering on the motor. Looks like either "TTER" or "TYER" hard to tell.

[kx250rider]

The small siren is a D, which uses the same rotor/stator as the L (sounds just like one). Just under the black pipe under the eaves is a small security system electronic siren, and above that, the "Klaxon", which is an electric Vibratory horn. Judging by it's looks, it's an older Benjamen. It'd make a loud 120hz GURRRRT (like the Family Feud strike buzzer). I own a re-labled 110VAC IBM 4031-2B (double projecctor), which also sounds like that horn would. On the siren I can see some lettering on the motor. Looks like either "TTER" or "TYER" hard to tell.

Thanks for the info on the Model D... I haven't learned yet how to tell the small Federals apart.

I noticed the lettering too, but only after loading my photos. They weren't visible at all in person, but Kay used her new Nikon digital SLR with 200x telephoto lens (I'm jealous, a bit ) , and there you can see the lettering. I don't know if/when I'll be up that way again, but I'd sure like to get a better angle at that lettering!

Charles

[AllSafe]

A friend of mine has a Benjamin horn like that which had never been used until recently when I plugged it in.

[Daniel]

Could the large siren perhaps read FYR-FYTR? That company made a wide variety of firefighting products. The horn is almost certainly an old Benjamin horn. Klaxon products are extremely rare in the US except for the old motor-driven horns and some of the newer electronic ones.

[kx250rider]

I played with Photoshop with the original full-size image... I got it a little better, and I don't think it's Fyr-Fytr, as I can definitely make out "VER" or "YER" In fact, I almost think it's "DENVER". Looks very much like the letters preceding VER are "EN" Any ideas?

Charles

[Daniel]

"Denver" makes sense because there was a siren company with that name that made large, open-frame sirens in the 20's-30's that all had around 20 ports. Perhaps they had a later model, and this siren looks like it has 18 ports. Since they were probably using an 1,870 (?) RPM motor, the output pitch would be somewhere between a modern 8 or 10 port siren.