Sun Nov 05, 2006 2:22 am
Send me a regular e-mail address and I'll see if I can locate the info I sent to Ben at Wisconsin Sirens.....I hate to think it got lost forever...
The 125DB Model was identical to the 115DB models....except it had a couple of bearing rings for the souuround to mopve on and a large gear with a worm drive to make the surround rotate....
The contained sound then was forced out thru the horn ports at a higher DB rate to achieve the 125 rating...
These sirens were super simple mechanically and would last for many years if the rotor/stator didn't disintigrate due to icing....there were some made with high powered heater coils lashed around the stator ports to keep them from freezing....how effective this was I'm not sure....
I had a number that had the motor shafts bent from ice forming between the motor housing and the rotor that caused lockup...we used to take them down and have the shaft straightened ... then drill drain holes to keep water from accumulating and freezing....
To many left their sirens sit all winter being afraid to run a test due to ice etc...those that got used daily seemed to survive better....
Ben at Wisconsin Sirens had a whole slew of pictures of the Soundmasters next to new federal models that were replacing them....
The Soundmasters were sold largely in Nebraska - Minnesota - Wisconsin
Joplin Missouri - Oklahoma City - Wilburton, OK and even in Attica, NY...
I saw one still in use in Sutherland, NB some years ago and that one in
Itron Ridge, WI is still active, along with a couple in Rock County, WI that never did get changed out....
The one in henry, TN is a rebuilt from Wisconsin that they chose to mount Horizontally....
The motors were Sterling 20 HP double shaft aand theat was a Japanese
Manufacturer that was owned by Lionel....the demise of the Soundmaster was mostly due to the fact that Sterling quit producing that motor due to the icing defects we mentioned among other resasons...and no suitable replacement was found.....
Soundmaster was owned by a Jim Morgan - a Madison, Wisconsin Attorney who sold fire.police equipment to put himself thru law school....he got into GE Radio and Sirens as part of his interest in the business.....His enterprises folded upon his untimely death by heart attack at a early age.....Sou8ndmaster died with him....
