Thu Jan 11, 2007 4:50 pm
I wonder if the fact that Sentry sirens have an internal cooling fan makes a difference.
The town of McCloud, California, once had a Gamewell call box system connected to a gigantic Sinker-Davis two-bell steam whistle, which was removed in the 40's and replaced with air horns that are still usable and a Sterling Little Giant that was disconnected years ago. When the call boxes were removed in the 1980's, the ability to code the horn blasts went with them. Fire calls then consisted of blowing the three large horns (and one tiny one) until the air ran out, which took a couple of minutes. If I remember, they gave a nice Eb major chord.
BTW, the horizontally-opposed bells on that whistle are almost 2' in diameter. It sits on the front porch of the town museum and must weigh almost a ton. Pitch is variable with steam pressure and temperature, but it sounded a very deep perfect 4th interval.
Lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi.