The Siren Board

N/A Info Updated Elsewhere.

Great info. I have a BN-44E from the 60's with a Doerr 10 horse three phase motor. The stator uses a pump flange for the bolt pattern, so the motor is very similar to a J or JM frame pump motor. The stator is cast iron and weighs a ton, but doesn't make up the front bellhousing of the motor like the later ACA sirens did.

The B & N rotors are extremely similar to a Federal design, with straight vanes and ability to run in both directions. The later ACA rotor and stator designs were excellent and made for a very powerful siren, especially the single tone 8 port.

I'm enjoying reading about the history of these sirens. I've worked on and installed several types of ACA sirens and once you learn their quirks they are very easy to work on. The Doerr motors are big 254 frame beasts and are extremely rugged.

Dude, you need to publish a book. These in-depth company stories are too good!

Amazing write up, so interesting to learn more about their history. The Canadian portion isn't completely correct. Canada needed 10/12 sirens for their commonwealth Civil Defence. CLMs were never criticized, it was actually the other way around. CLM didn't make a siren as large as the MD for coverage, so the army went to the states. They never replaced a CLM due to quality, just coverage. The army purchased them in the 50's for all of Canada, not just Toronto. Though you were correct that Toronto was the only stubborn city that didn't want them or didn't want to pay to install them. Hundreds of Mobil Directo's were installed in Canada but even more CLM's were installed. I've read through alot of archives about our system. The government never really had a complaint about CLM in general but the amount I read about MD's having issues in winter and other mechanical issues was astounding, pretty sure they regretted purchasing them in the beginning. I have a copy of a Canadian MD manual for Canada and a part says it met and surpassed all of Canadian requirements, but beside it someone from the DND circled it and wrote "NO NO NO".

A couple more pics you guys might find interesting!

Hey SuperBanshee I found one mistake in your story. Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941, not 1942.

What a captivating read! Thank you so much for taking the time to put all this together

Thanks for the feedback! It's great to know others are still interested in these older sirens.

I also appreciate Siren Dude's extra photos - the third photo is particularly atmospheric.

All the siren information is meant for a book of sorts I've aspired to publish. I had also looked into having everything published on a website willing to host my information - but it really depends on who's willing to host/publish. I wanted to avoid the Wikis since they're open to vandalism which can hamper otherwise-good articles.

The Canadian portion isn't completely correct.

The information I posted came from Jim Biersach and "Heralds Of Doom" by Andrew Burtch. The latter is a rather interesting article highlighting Canadian civil defense sirens - they even show a Mobil Directo that was preserved on its pole with a little plaque accompanying it. I was certain everything was right, but I'll save the notes you posted.

Regarding the electric Mobil Directo's performance, several were installed in America and served well. The gas engine models were more difficult to maintain which lead to some examples being withdrawn and converted to electric. There used to be several more Mobil Directos across the country - the snag is that many were replaced as the years went by with newer sirens such as the Penetrator, 2001, and T-128. It's a shame, but it is the very reason I began documenting these older sirens.

Hey SuperBanshee I found one mistake in your story. Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941, not 1942.

Pearl Harbor was still fresh in everyone's minds during early 1942 - that was the time-frame I was going for. Although America declared war on December 7th 1941, the mass of war efforts didn't roll in until 1942.
I should note that my postings largely serve as previews of what I've written for the siren "book" - the final articles will be even longer and will include more photos. As a result, some of the finer notes end up getting trimmed out of the forum posts. The reason for trimming down is just to avoid running up the post length limit.

I'd rather pace things out and ensure everything documented is correct rather than pump out a book that will require several changes later on. In the meantime, I'm always willing to take in any material other users might have.

Wow! I learned a lot about these sirens. Keep up the good work, these posts that you have made are very interesting and i enjoy reading them.

There are no words to describe how amazed I am at their post; as I have always been interested in B&N and the Mobil Directo since I saw the one in ASC's lobby. I think that there should be a Sticky made exclusively for posts like these (along with the others made/will be made) to avoid redundant questions in a few months (but then again, there is a search function). Well done!