Determine the Age of my Thunderbolt

[almdoc]

Hi,
I am new to the forum and I'm glad I found it. I am the fire alarm supervisor for the Schuylkill Historical Fire Society. We assist in maintaining the fire alarm telegraph systems and outdoor warning devises (sirens and air horns) in the county. Our county is very tradition oriented and most of our fire house sirens are of the cold war era. I can use some help from time to time on parts and information on these old sirens so I'm hoping I can get it from this forum.
Back to the question. I recently obtained a complete Thunderbolt 1000 at a county auction and I'm trying to determine its approximate age. It is 220 3 phase. The horn grill is the 9 lite window pane style. It has the large blower with the rounded motor. It appears through the paint that the Thunderbolt emblem has the older circle around the F with the lightning bolt through it. Any help on this would be appreciated. Thanks. Tom D

[Adam Pollak]

Welcome, you definitely picked the right place to ask your question. The window pane/tic-tac-toe style is the oldest of the Thunderbolt runs and was produced only for a very short time. By far, the vast majority of Thunderbolts used a plain screen in front. The largest number of barred Thunderbolts I have seen was in Baltimore, whose system was put in around 1953. Installations done even in the middle '50s had already switched over to the screens. So I would put the age around 1952-1955.

[almdoc]

Thanks for the info. This siren is from central Ohio. I'm not sure of the town it belonged to. I was lucky in that they carefully dismantled it when it was removed from service some 15 years ago and it was stored inside a building. I also got some of the original paperwork. Sometime in the near future I will begin the hunt for a duel tone chopper. Thanks again.

[Jim_Ferer]

Welcome, Tom. There are some genuine experts here, of which I am not one. You'll find a lot of information here.

I believe some people refer to the F with lightning bolt logo as the "electric F."

[Thunderboltlover]

Adam, slightly off topic, but are the Baltimore t-bolts still active? (I realize you brought up that city in this thread)

[thunderbolt69]

I dont know but pictures may help

[CDV777-1]

I also got some of the original paperwork. Sometime in the near future I will begin the hunt for a duel tone chopper. Thanks again.

If the siren is a very early model Thunderbolt and is in good condition why not keep it in it's original configuration.

[Rheems1]

Schuylkill Historial Fire Society you say?? As in the one in Shenandoah/Frackville, Pa?? I am also a member of that organization... what a great set up we have upstairs at the bottling company!! What's your last name Tom?? Have we met before??

Dave Fritz

[almdoc]

Donathan. I work on all the alarm equipment for Mike and the county.

[almdoc]

I was just over this weekend for the convention. Checked out Phoenix new truck in Shenandoah and worked on getting an alarm bell in the downstairs club house at Polish American. Phoenix had a Federal Model 2 on their work bench but it's missing the shrouding.