Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel Carter
In Canton Mass. the fire dept had a horn at the fire house that was used to call in off duty fire fighters in case of a large fire. Using a series of blasts to signify the box number they knew where to go. Also blew one blast at noon each day. The advent of pagers did away with the need for it but they continued the noon blast until it broke down.
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Ah...such fond memories of the "slow-time" horns in my home town. What a fascinating system, most made by the Gamewell Company, beginning in the mid 1800's. The old fire alarm boxes were mechanical wonders that, when you pulled the handle on a street box to report a fire it caused a brass wheel with cogs on it to turn. A coiled spring caused the cog to open a circuit then punch holes in a tape that ran between 2 spools in the fire house. It also rang the bells inside the station in a sequence determined by the cogs on the wheel. So the firefighters could count the sequence of holes in the tickertape or listen to the bells. The photo shows a wheel the would have tapped out box # 2164. Then the firefighter looked at the chart to see the location of box 2164.
The first firehouse I was assigned to, built in the late 1800's had a 120' tower for hanging wet hose. On top of the tower was a huge bell and two large horns fed by air from two massive presurized air tanks at the bottom of the tower. A special mechanism used to convert the "fast-time" of the bells tapping out to "slow-time" for the air horns. Those horns were punishing to the ears if you were within several hundred yards. Ours sounded 2 blasts at 8am and 5pm every week day. Children, not expecting the blast, would drop their lunch boxes, scared to death on their way to school in the morning.
These boxes were mechanical wonders, very similar to the telegraph and worked whether it was 100 degrees and humid or -20 F and dry.