The Siren Board

I recently acquired a Model 5 with the tag missing. Are there any alternative ways to find information about it such as the production year, voltage, etc. without the tag?

Mostly it’s wear and design features that would do it. I’m really not the most seasoned siren enthusiast so I don’t know much about determining age. And I suggest buying a tag online just to make it look cool. They stopped making Model As in 1987, so that could give a small hint to age if it’s nice looking still. Another big hint is that the later Model 5s had a sticker with the “Federal Signal Corporation” on it.

My ~1950 Model 5 has a tag on the shroud and a tag on the motor. Did you check the motor?

HDN wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 10, 2024 1:57 am

My ~1950 Model 5 has a tag on the shroud and a tag on the motor. Did you check the motor?

Yes, the motor tag is the one that's missing. Is your shroud tag on the inside or outside?

Micsky wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 10, 2024 5:21 pm

Yes, the motor tag is the one that's missing. Is your shroud tag on the inside or outside?

There is a tag located on the shroud with some number on it. I can't remember the exact location, maybe at the bottom of the shroud judging from the picture I have, but on mine I could make out some electrical info:

*BUMP for the sake of providing helpful info*

Here's a picture of the whole thing. The louvers are more widely spaced which may help with ID.

It’s a Fedelcode model 5, from 192?-194?. It’s definitely harder to find one like that, Your chances of finding out the serial on that is low, Personally would just cut your losses., Finding info on one that old is basically impossible. if there is a band around the motor that comes off, That means it’s single phase or if there’s only two wires coming out of the motor.

As far as I know, we don't have a lot of documentation that provides more than broad dates for these older Federals, but I can say it predates 1955. My best suggestion is to look for documents from the town, or newspaper articles, referencing it's installation. Can you closer pictures of the siren, specifically the motor?

This looks to be a very early Federal Enterprises era Model 5 (single phase as well), especially as it does not have any holes cut in the stator top to attach coding gear. When you look on the shroud for a motor tag, also look for another large badge that says “Fedelcode” or “Federal”, as if it has one of those, it would predate Enterprises by a few years. There’s not much known about exact age for this period, but I’d say 1948-1949 would be a safe bet.

Chicagosiren-hunters wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 16, 2024 4:31 pm

This looks to be a very early Federal Enterprises era Model 5 (single phase as well), especially as it does not have any holes cut in the stator top to attach coding gear. When you look on the shroud for a motor tag, also look for another large badge that says “Fedelcode” or “Federal”, as if it has one of those, it would predate Enterprises by a few years. There’s not much known about exact age for this period, but I’d say 1948-1949 would be a safe bet.

Mine's a Federal Enterprises Model 5 and the motor looks different from the OP's. Mine's round on the bottom with legs bolted to the bottom of the motor that terminate into a siren mounting ring. I was also told on here it was about made 1950 or earlier. Maybe they had different motors or motor housing styles in production?

I'll have to see if I can find better pictures on my computer of it. I did a complete drawing with measurements so I could make a CAD file for it to 3D print.

EDIT: Here's the best pic of what I'm talking about which I can find, at least on this machine: