2 batteries, a bimetallic strip and a buzzer. Good fire alarm, lousy smoke detector, and if you are dealing with a bunch of plastics on fire you are probably dead before the air temp gets hot enough to trigger it. Still a neat bit of history from when home fire safety was starting to become more mainstream.
Years ago, I answered an ad for fire alarm installer, and was given an appointment for an interview. When I showed up, I was shown into a room with about 30 other people, sitting at school desks. Not what I was expecting. Two guys who looked and acted like mafia enforcers came in, and started the "interview". It turns out we were supposed to sell these stand alone alarms door to door. They were similar to the Wilkinson alarm Gilles covered before, but with a few differences. The face of the alarm had a concave impression, that was supposed to focus the heat onto a wax plug. When the plug melted the alarm sounded. If it worked, I suppose it was better than nothing, but the smoke would probably get you first. I never went back.
I guess that in e.g. an appartment building the fire alarms are not so much to save the inhabitants of the appartment where the fire started, but their neighbours.
those buzzers were used in a lot of products, as I had one that originally was used as alarm in a safety briefcase, where you had a loop of bath chain that was attached to your wrist, and anybody stealing the case would result in 2 things. A loud noise from the case, and the companion dye generator making both you, and the contents, a bright orange, along with incinerating the contents of the case, as it burned to release the orange hygroscopic, and indelible, smoke from a pyrotechnic initiator. My father repurposed one of the pyro units behind the dashboard of his car, just in case somebody broke in and stole the radio.
When the air is at 57 °C, the fire is already burning briskly somewhere around. In those years we had the technology to build more reliable optical fire alarms, which sensed the smoke instead of the heat (CdS photoresistors and germanium transistors); the problem was the continuous light source: we only had incandescent miniature light bulbs. When under-volted, a light bulb can last fifty thousands hours; but the power draw of the smallest light bulb would have depleted the batteries in twelve hours or less. So the temperature sensor was the only avenue for a battery-powered fire alarm; the NTC hadn't been invented yet; we only had the PTC, utilised in the start-on demagnetiser for the colour TVs.
Great cleaner, I used an ultrasonic cleaner that used it, you needed a44 gallon drum to fill it, getting 2 fills out of a drum. It heated it up and condensed the vapour, so you had a hot ultrasonic cleaning bath, then a chill zone to dry the parts, and it took seconds to clean anything.
I swore by 1,1,1-trichloroethane. Great cleaner and less toxic than CCl₄. It would knock you out if you inhaled too much, though. Since another way to describe the molecule is methyl chloroform, that makes sense.
It's just not all that great to breathe, or get on yourself; and an environmental pollutant if disposed of improperly. (But most things that are good at cleaning are bad for people, because living things and really stubborn dirt are chemically quite similar. And CCl4 was harder to set fire to.)
I've broken into a neighbor's house over a screaming fire alarm when the people living above came down from smoke. She was in there on the ground floor dope sick on the couch burning hotdogs. Broke the window and acrid smoke rolled out, I just dove into darkness. Someone made the call and they were there soon but it was already over. I jump to it because when I was a kid someone a few miles away had a fire and instead of calling the one in their county 9 miles away, they called the dept. across county lines that was 3/4 of a mile away and they said they were coming but never did and by the time the other fire trucks came like an hour later the guy's propane tank in his garage had already taken a good percentage of it (attached) and his house. The over-pressure dumped the tank in the middle of the fire. Better off to fight what ya can before it builds than stand by and wait for someone to save you. They'll come, until then it is up to you if it isn't already an inferno.
Or GTFO?! (I mean, I get that maybe a person might have no insurance, they may stand to lose everything they have of importance to them, be it economic, sentimental, or whatever; and they may be facing literal homelessness -- but at the end of the day, you've got to figure life trumps everything else...) PS - Congratulations for saving your neighbours. I had a friend, a drug addict, who nearly died along with his girlfriend when someone poured petrol in his letterbox, followed by a match, and the fumes got to them while they slept. (It was one of those situations when 'cuckoos' start to take over a vulnerable person's home and turn it into a party house/crack house/shooting gallery/whatever. He put his foot down after some weeks of this, and ordered his 'guests' out. This wasn't received well...) Luckily someone raised the alarm. I myself once entered a burning building when I was a teenager, to check if there was anyone in need of assistance, seeing as no~one seemed to be taking a whit of notice - this was in broad daylight! Ascertaining that nobody was on the premises, I knocked up a neighbour to phone the fire brigade - perhaps the house might still be saved? (This was long before mobile/cell phones were a 'thing') 'Let it burn' was the neighbour's response! It transpired that the building was being squatted by 'winos'. He seemed almost disappointed that if anyone had been home when the place caught fire, then they'd gotten out! In case it seems that I'm trying to make myself out to be the big, brave hero, I should say that when I happened along, the fire was long past its conflagration stage... one wouldn't want to have entered without good reason, but it was clear that, along with the fire's intensity, the danger had receded considerably.
Found two Carbon tet extinguishers in a garage. One had a accident. Had to evacuate, it didn't sit well on the lungs either. Watched your videos on fire grenades. A excellent use for the modern fire grenade is chimney fires. My volunteer fire dept uses sandwich bags full of extinguisher powder for them.
I mounted one of these in my Mom’s basement, above and between the gas furnace and the gas water-heater. It was almost identical, but used only one D-Cell, and had a slightly more ornate bright-red housing. I faithfully replaced the battery every few months throughout the 1970s.
When I was a kid in the mid sixties our home had a fire alarm that was a brass mesh box. On the front was a sight glass with a blue liquid in it. Inside was an air horn and a canister that I assume was compressed air for the horn. The blue liquid reacted to high temperature and activated the horn. It was VERY loud!
@ Thank you! I just Googled Everguard and that’s exactly it! I think they were sold by a door-to-door salesman, and they were kind of expensive for the time.
When I grew up in Ottawa in the 1960's we had a similar device in our kitchen. Strangely I was just thinking about it a couple of days ago! Our was similar size, flip-up front, bimetallic strip on the bottom, and two D cells for power. Differences were that ours was bright fire-engine red, and rather than an electric horn like this one, the actual alarm was a mechanical siren, i.e. a rotating fan and perforated plate. I seem to recall that the rotating part was white plastic.
That was the same company that made the "100-Year Night Light." It consistented of a bakelite plug-in base, w/ two C7 bulbs, in series. They claimed it would last that long! I have a couple of them.
They had windup fire alarms where I used to work....a wax bar held a plunger down...if it got hot enough to melt the wax, the bell would ring for a couple minutes ( maybe) until it wound down...
The simplicity is a wonder in our complex world. One wonders if these or something similar still exist. Also, when did they stop making them. Good channel.
My wife is(was ) sleeping next to me on the couch, she got startled by the alarm, then he says " i hope you enjoyed that" in the video to which my wife responds, no , no i did not.
Now, do a story about Everguard fire alarms, which are Freon-powered, and one about vacuum tube-type smoke detectors. I have a 1965 Edwards model watching over me tonight and every night.
5 minutes of burning carpet is gonna about kill ya. I know, I put out a house fire with my head out the window half the time. I ran up into it and the first breath sent me back down the stairs. The smoke was so dense I couldn't see the fire till I was laying flat and it was only about 10-15 feet away. A candle yeeted itself into a wicker trash basket that caught the bed and floor on fire. The fire dept. came 45 minutes later to throw the smoking desk drawer out the window. 45 minutes.
If you put that $5 in a S&P fund in 1964 you would have about $1000 now. Inflation is natural in true free market economies, you want to make inflation pay YOU, not the other way around.
@ I disagree. In a true free market without fiat currency, value inflates and deflates with the market. If it were not for government protectionism, particularly as applies to protecting lenders, inflation would not have the long term effects it has had.
@@thetman0068 Crypto, gold, dollars, they're all going to act the same as the top dog currency, value is determined in use, by the people using that currency.
I recall being sent to the local grocer to buy a loaf of bread. I was given correct change for the purchase, a dime and a penny. This was for a 'short' loaf, a long loaf was a few cents more.
57(?)C strikes me as just a little too warm for a proper alarm. but this is from the time when companies would just put something out on the market, with little to no testing, evidenced by the carbon tetrachloride example. puts out fires? perfect! oh. whaddya mean it makes toxic gases? better than burning...right?....RIGHT??
2 batteries, a bimetallic strip and a buzzer. Good fire alarm, lousy smoke detector, and if you are dealing with a bunch of plastics on fire you are probably dead before the air temp gets hot enough to trigger it. Still a neat bit of history from when home fire safety was starting to become more mainstream.
Years ago, I answered an ad for fire alarm installer, and was given an appointment for an interview. When I showed up, I was shown into a room with about 30 other people, sitting at school desks. Not what I was expecting. Two guys who looked and acted like mafia enforcers came in, and started the "interview". It turns out we were supposed to sell these stand alone alarms door to door. They were similar to the Wilkinson alarm Gilles covered before, but with a few differences. The face of the alarm had a concave impression, that was supposed to focus the heat onto a wax plug. When the plug melted the alarm sounded. If it worked, I suppose it was better than nothing, but the smoke would probably get you first. I never went back.
I mean it can be tuned to go off at lower temperatures. Can be as low as 40 degrees Celsius if you want.
Its not a smoke detector. Its a heat detector that alarms.
lolwut 40C is just a pleasant day in the desert ...
I guess that in e.g. an appartment building the fire alarms are not so much to save the inhabitants of the appartment where the fire started, but their neighbours.
omg I have that little fire extinguisher somewhere. I found it in my grandfather's garage. I bet he bought it from a catalogue back in the day
those buzzers were used in a lot of products, as I had one that originally was used as alarm in a safety briefcase, where you had a loop of bath chain that was attached to your wrist, and anybody stealing the case would result in 2 things. A loud noise from the case, and the companion dye generator making both you, and the contents, a bright orange, along with incinerating the contents of the case, as it burned to release the orange hygroscopic, and indelible, smoke from a pyrotechnic initiator. My father repurposed one of the pyro units behind the dashboard of his car, just in case somebody broke in and stole the radio.
Nowdays the whole car is gone in 60 seconds.
Wow!
"The simplest". That could be a theme to an entire series. Thanks for this video and the history of fire detection and extinguishing.
When the air is at 57 °C, the fire is already burning briskly somewhere around.
In those years we had the technology to build more reliable optical fire alarms, which sensed the smoke instead of the heat (CdS photoresistors and germanium transistors); the problem was the continuous light source: we only had incandescent miniature light bulbs. When under-volted, a light bulb can last fifty thousands hours; but the power draw of the smallest light bulb would have depleted the batteries in twelve hours or less. So the temperature sensor was the only avenue for a battery-powered fire alarm; the NTC hadn't been invented yet; we only had the PTC, utilised in the start-on demagnetiser for the colour TVs.
NTC: negative temperature coefficient resistor.
PTC: positive temperature coefficient resistor.
That alarm sound rivals Jim Carreys most annoying noise from Dumb and Dumber.
That sound brought back memories of me annoying startling with my bike horn. They made a really nasty sound but did the job.
Carbon Tet was a great contact cleaner for TV repair guys back in that day, but never knew its fire fighting ability. 👍
Great cleaner, I used an ultrasonic cleaner that used it, you needed a44 gallon drum to fill it, getting 2 fills out of a drum. It heated it up and condensed the vapour, so you had a hot ultrasonic cleaning bath, then a chill zone to dry the parts, and it took seconds to clean anything.
@@SeanBZASounds like a great cleaner
I swore by 1,1,1-trichloroethane. Great cleaner and less toxic than CCl₄. It would knock you out if you inhaled too much, though. Since another way to describe the molecule is methyl chloroform, that makes sense.
AFAIK _Carbon Tetrachloride_ is now known to be a _carcinogen._
It's just not all that great to breathe, or get on yourself; and an environmental pollutant if disposed of improperly. (But most things that are good at cleaning are bad for people, because living things and really stubborn dirt are chemically quite similar. And CCl4 was harder to set fire to.)
I've broken into a neighbor's house over a screaming fire alarm when the people living above came down from smoke. She was in there on the ground floor dope sick on the couch burning hotdogs. Broke the window and acrid smoke rolled out, I just dove into darkness.
Someone made the call and they were there soon but it was already over.
I jump to it because when I was a kid someone a few miles away had a fire and instead of calling the one in their county 9 miles away, they called the dept. across county lines that was 3/4 of a mile away and they said they were coming but never did and by the time the other fire trucks came like an hour later the guy's propane tank in his garage had already taken a good percentage of it (attached) and his house. The over-pressure dumped the tank in the middle of the fire.
Better off to fight what ya can before it builds than stand by and wait for someone to save you. They'll come, until then it is up to you if it isn't already an inferno.
Or GTFO?! (I mean, I get that maybe a person might have no insurance, they may stand to lose everything they have of importance to them, be it economic, sentimental, or whatever; and they may be facing literal homelessness -- but at the end of the day, you've got to figure life trumps everything else...)
PS - Congratulations for saving your neighbours. I had a friend, a drug addict, who nearly died along with his girlfriend when someone poured petrol in his letterbox, followed by a match, and the fumes got to them while they slept. (It was one of those situations when 'cuckoos' start to take over a vulnerable person's home and turn it into a party house/crack house/shooting gallery/whatever. He put his foot down after some weeks of this, and ordered his 'guests' out. This wasn't received well...) Luckily someone raised the alarm.
I myself once entered a burning building when I was a teenager, to check if there was anyone in need of assistance, seeing as no~one seemed to be taking a whit of notice - this was in broad daylight! Ascertaining that nobody was on the premises, I knocked up a neighbour to phone the fire brigade - perhaps the house might still be saved? (This was long before mobile/cell phones were a 'thing') 'Let it burn' was the neighbour's response! It transpired that the building was being squatted by 'winos'. He seemed almost disappointed that if anyone had been home when the place caught fire, then they'd gotten out!
In case it seems that I'm trying to make myself out to be the big, brave hero, I should say that when I happened along, the fire was long past its conflagration stage... one wouldn't want to have entered without good reason, but it was clear that, along with the fire's intensity, the danger had receded considerably.
Someone should have been...Fired
We had one of these on the wall when I was a kid.
2:05 I was just looking at that wire frame in my basement not knowing what it was for. It's very similar to that fire grenade thing.
Well that made the cats take off like THEY were on fire lol.
I love how consice and tightly edited these videos are.
Found two Carbon tet extinguishers in a garage. One had a accident. Had to evacuate, it didn't sit well on the lungs either.
Watched your videos on fire grenades. A excellent use for the modern fire grenade is chimney fires. My volunteer fire dept uses sandwich bags full of extinguisher powder for them.
I mounted one of these in my Mom’s basement, above and between the gas furnace and the gas water-heater. It was almost identical, but used only one D-Cell, and had a slightly more ornate bright-red housing. I faithfully replaced the battery every few months throughout the 1970s.
When I was a kid in the mid sixties our home had a fire alarm that was a brass mesh box. On the front was a sight glass with a blue liquid in it. Inside was an air horn and a canister that I assume was compressed air for the horn. The blue liquid reacted to high temperature and activated the horn. It was VERY loud!
That was Genuine DuPont Freon in the canister. It is called an Everguard. The sight glass showed that the Freon hadn't leaked out.
@ Thank you! I just Googled Everguard and that’s exactly it! I think they were sold by a door-to-door salesman, and they were kind of expensive for the time.
My ears are ringing. RIP headphone users
Eh?? What did you say??? 😁
mmmep mmmep
i love these short form videos, well done!
You are helping people learn about the stuff they are finding in their grandparents attics.
I’m surprised you don’t have 1 million subscribers yet. Your catalog is extensive, informative, and entertaining
A killer bowtie my french canadian man
Keep up the good work!
When I grew up in Ottawa in the 1960's we had a similar device in our kitchen. Strangely I was just thinking about it a couple of days ago!
Our was similar size, flip-up front, bimetallic strip on the bottom, and two D cells for power.
Differences were that ours was bright fire-engine red, and rather than an electric horn like this one, the actual alarm was a mechanical siren, i.e. a rotating fan and perforated plate. I seem to recall that the rotating part was white plastic.
That was the same company that made the "100-Year Night Light." It consistented of a bakelite plug-in base, w/ two C7 bulbs, in series. They claimed it would last that long! I have a couple of them.
I remember them.
I really appreciate this channel. thank you. Truly interesting
Thumbs up,great video,cute fire alarm
I haven't heard that alarm tone in decades! Still makes me jump....
Your face when it went off…. 🤣
I love this channel.
Nice gadget. Thank you 🙏
They had windup fire alarms where I used to work....a wax bar held a plunger down...if it got hot enough to melt the wax, the bell would ring for a couple minutes ( maybe) until it wound down...
Sounds just like the 1st smoke alarms
A.E.Paugh!!! 👍😊
The simplicity is a wonder in our complex world. One wonders if these or something similar still exist. Also, when did they stop making them. Good channel.
you often see similar heat detectors on commercial fire alarm systems where smoke detectors would false alarm normally such as kitchens
It works.
Great video!
you made my boxer jump.😂😂🙃
Headphone warning.
Nowadays we have rate of rise, it triggers at 135F but if temp rises to quickly from say 90-115 it will trigger system alarm.
I had one of those fire grenades in the basement of my house hung up on the wall.
Sound the dread alarm,
Through the primal body.
Money printers go BRRRRRRRRRT
10X Inflation😢
Well said
Halon was in aircraft for some reason until the suffocation risk wasn't tolerated anymore.
How swank, Dura-Clad Jewelry
My wife is(was ) sleeping next to me on the couch, she got startled by the alarm, then he says " i hope you enjoyed that" in the video to which my wife responds, no , no i did not.
Now, do a story about Everguard fire alarms, which are Freon-powered, and one about vacuum tube-type smoke detectors. I have a 1965 Edwards model watching over me tonight and every night.
5 minutes of burning carpet is gonna about kill ya. I know, I put out a house fire with my head out the window half the time. I ran up into it and the first breath sent me back down the stairs. The smoke was so dense I couldn't see the fire till I was laying flat and it was only about 10-15 feet away. A candle yeeted itself into a wicker trash basket that caught the bed and floor on fire.
The fire dept. came 45 minutes later to throw the smoking desk drawer out the window. 45 minutes.
Simple!
The batteries should be Eveready in that time period. No Japanese imports yet.
If you're hanging it _off of_ a nail or screw on a wall then what are you hanging it ON?
What is this? Technology connections on a budget?
Heres a like and sub anyway.
How does it make the hallway chirp when the battery is low.
You talkimboat da ceiling bird?
Aircraft ARE vehicles.
I fell asleeo watching youtube and woke up to that damn alarm. Interesting video minus wakin my up with that horrible alarm sound 😅
Did the literature really saw 200 meters?
yah that was the most annoying sound, but it would have gotten me up...
Sure wish those took off instead of wonky smoke detectors that get set off every time I cook.
Wow, that inflation is insane. $4.95 now worth $57 in today’s money?! Ludicrous!
If you put that $5 in a S&P fund in 1964 you would have about $1000 now. Inflation is natural in true free market economies, you want to make inflation pay YOU, not the other way around.
@@inkydoug Inflation is _not_ natural in free-market economies. Inflation is caused by interventionist state policies.
@ I disagree. In a true free market without fiat currency, value inflates and deflates with the market. If it were not for government protectionism, particularly as applies to protecting lenders, inflation would not have the long term effects it has had.
@@thetman0068 Crypto, gold, dollars, they're all going to act the same as the top dog currency, value is determined in use, by the people using that currency.
I recall being sent to the local grocer to buy a loaf of bread. I was given correct change for the purchase, a dime and a penny. This was for a 'short' loaf, a long loaf was a few cents more.
57(?)C strikes me as just a little too warm for a proper alarm.
but this is from the time when companies would just put something out on the market,
with little to no testing, evidenced by the carbon tetrachloride example.
puts out fires? perfect! oh. whaddya mean it makes toxic gases?
better than burning...right?....RIGHT??
Your reaction to the alarm was visceral. Yeah, annoyingly effective.
TT.
🧯