I have a phobia of modern fire alarms because of the painful high-pitched quality. This is one I definitely would have preferred to hear having fire drills back in my old school days. Lower-pitched, sounded friendlier on the ears, still had urgency.
+Old School Fire Alarms Hey buddy it's me again. Check this out. upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Robert_E._Lee_High_School,_Staunton,_VA.jpg
My elementary/middle school was built in 1937- perhaps it may have had a pull rod too, but I remember actually seeing some old bells on the walls, and there are a lot of unused electrical things sticking out of the walls.
The (used to be) school located not far from my residence has this style of system installed along with modern fire alarms. It is now a daycare and some other programs.
@@OldSchoolFireAlarms It used to be called Hudson Park before the (much newer) Hudson Park school was built up the hill from where I live. It now houses Sunnyside Daycare and it is on 305 W 3rd St, Rainier, OR 97048. Go ahead and check it out! I'm not 100% sure where the pull stations are located (if any.) The daycare is the place you probably won't be going into. It has nothing but modern fire alarms that speak! Elsewhere in the building you will see aged vibrating horns (painted red.) You can check the place out, but you might have to ask for some permission. The bathrooms are not a place you'd want to go either as they are old and not working. I think one of them might work still but the light iirc does not, and they are very very very eerie. Come check the place out!
We had these fire alarm horns in our elementary school. Boy, did they scare us! These horns scared the living daylights out of us! They sure don't make fire alarms like that anymore. Today's fire alarm control panels are the size of hand held transistor radios and contain a microcircuitry handling the same tasks once handled by relays and code motor and code wheel in the big old Autocall fire alarm control panels like the one featured in this video.
They actually do more than just that. They send a current through the system which supervises it and makes sure all a the initiating and signaling devices are in working condition. There is also addressable fire alarm systems which are way more advanced and are really helpful for firefighters as they can just look at the fire panel to see where exactly was the system activated, which tells them where the fire is
The high school I'm having my transition program at was built in 1956, it makes me wonder what kind of fire alarm systems they had back then or if some parts of the original systems remain in the basement. They just have new alarms now that sound like police sirens and it talks too, that's lame compared to this old tech with unique mechanisms inside.
We had one of these in my grade school- it would sound 5 times between one r…… scared the hell outa me- especially when i was under it when it was set off during a practice drill!!
Back in my old school in elementary we had an old fire alarm that sounded like this but it was just an endless loud buzzing noise and it scared the hell out of me😭
@@OldSchoolFireAlarms my old school is an old Highschool that was built in the early 1900’s and we had a new building and an old building so the old building had the old pole and in the new parts of the building we had the new pull fire alarms
The video you see was shot two months before the school was abated/demolished in 2011. It was then edited and posted on You Tube in January of 2016. Thank you for your question and for watching.
The code wheel reminds me of a music box that when it hits the grooves instead of the musical piece playing the horns sound. When you pull the rod it winds up the Code wheel much like a music box. Am I right?
Not exactly; when you pull the rod, it triggers an actuation switch that is tied to the pull rod. Once the actuation switch has been activated, that signals the control panel to go into actuation mode. The code motor/wheel is designed to make four revolutions which has the Cadence Marching Code 4-4-4-4. Thank you for watching and your great question.
These old systems are far superior then the new plastic junk we have today. While newer alarms kindly ask me to leave, these scream "GET THE H*LL OUT!"
A shame they have to demolish those old school buildings! They should just renovate them; sure, the old fire alarm system would probably get removed, but the old structure will probably get many more decades of use! My parents' middle school had those old Faraday horns, from a Gamewell system when the school was built in 1952. In 2008, the school was renovated, the Faraday horns were disconnected and painted over (along with the old IBM school bells), and a Notifier voice-evac system was installed.
+Tom Tom Yeah; there's a really old elementary school building a couple streets over from where I live, built in 1896, expanded in 1914 and renovated in 1978. The structure is over a hundred years old, and it's still being used today. IDK if that school had any pull-rod fire alarms; I'm guessing in the past they did, but now they have a Simplex 4207 fire alarm system that was installed during the 1978 renovation (with 4051+4050-80 horn/lights.)
my primary school in the old 50s building we had a old bell fire alarm system wich was our class change bell we had a button by the offices and a switch in the hall. it was manual witout the panel so a basic switch circut sadly it was demolished.
I still think old fire alarms are much louder than newer ones. Not even some of the loudest new horn/strobes like the System Sensor SpectrAlert Advance and the Simplex TrueAlert can compare to those old electromechanical horns.
I agree with you 100%. Not only were they much louder, they were also constructed much better then the cheap, plastic signaling devices that are made today.
@@OldSchoolFireAlarms Yeah, regarding the cheap plastic, I hope at my first elementary school they install protective wire cages over the SpectrAlert Advance horn/strobes in the gymnasium, like they did at my college's Field House building. The Simplex 4051+4050-80 horn/lights both buildings originally had were unprotected, but the horns were very durable and sturdy. In fact, at said school, one of the 4050-80 light plates got smashed by a ball in the 1980s, but the 4051 horn survived, so they just re-mounted the 4051 horn on a Space Age AV32 light plate (as Simplex's own light plates of the time would probably not fit well on a 4050-80 backbox.)
@@firealarm2903_ Faraday dual projector horns are extremely rare and hard to find. Autocall made the very same type of dual horns which I have a few left in my inventory. You can reach me through my website, OldSchoolFireAlarms.com
I was looking at the school before the words came up. I was like "This looks like McKinley!" There's another old school in Toledo I used to go to that surprisingly doesn' have this system. This school also came down with an old air raid siren on top of it.
+Sirens & Aviation Man, I just don't like the fact that old buildings get torn down (they shouldn't be torn down unless they're in bad shape). We could use them for like, movies or TV shows set in 20th century. Also it would be nice if they could remodel them instead even though it cost a lot of money.
@@OldSchoolFireAlarms see ok I hop we can be Friends at well be good too be are Friends let me kown fe we can be Friends on Facebook at well be good my Facebook name see greg Bouchard and my eamil address gregbouchard@mail.com
Unfortunately, there's a school in Akron, Ohio that might get demolished soon, the school is Rankin Elementary School. I found out when I was in bed looking up pictures of the building, you might wanna go see the Fire Alarm System there if you can
I was in that school several years ago when it was still owned by the Akron Public school district. Other then the pull rods and a few bells, most of the fire alarm system was removed by the electricians who work for the district.
What do the other relays do I know the TPST relay probably controls the horns but I’m unclear as to what the other set of 3 do as well ast the 2 singles.
That is correct. The code and/or signal comes from the control panel and is sent out over the horns. What signals the control panel are actuation switches that are hooked to the pull rods. When you pull the rod, it triggers the actuation switch which in turn signals the control panel to send the cadence code 4-4-4-4 over the horns.
Personally I have not seen cowbells used in hallways for signaling devices with respect to fire alarm systems. With that said, I do know that in years past there were several companies such as Edwards, Faraday, and Wheelock that had and used them with their fire alarm systems. Autocall used them too on their control panels for trouble bells in the 1930's and 40's. Starting in the 1950's they were pretty much phased out of production.
Were the trip bells ever smaller? At an antique store where I bought a 10" fire bell, I saw a bell with a pull chain not dissimilar to these, except it was about 6".
Yes, manual and/or mechanical trip bells did come in smaller and even larger sizes. They were manufactured in increments of 2" and ran as small as 4" inches and as large as 22 inches.
Many of these old schools should not have been demolished. There are many reasons why school districts choose to build new instead of renovating and keeping the old. The reasons are too many to mention here. Construction companies convince school boards that it is cheaper to tear down and build new schools verses restoring / renovating old schools. In some cases this is true, but in most cases it is a downright lie and very deceptive. In short, construction companies pocket more money in new construction because labor cost is cheaper in contrast to restoration labor.
+Old School Fire Alarms Those people are dumb if they just choose to destroy history. Here in the south we have a lot of history and we try to cherish our history well. The holy high school in Tuscaloosa county was built in 1941 (after the original burned in 1929). Their building a new one but keeping the old one up and might use it for something else. They should've kept these buildings, they could've used em for movies or tv shows set in 20th century. I know the new ones look not so good but are you sure they're gonna fall apart soon?
+Will “Ford” Butter The entire fire alarm system was saved for historical preservation, including those beautiful old trip bells. Regarding the "horn that sounded a little sick", keep in mind that those horns were installed in 1940, so that makes them 71 years old when the school was demolished in 2011. The horns have seen a lot of wear and tear. But with that said, those babies are still loud and putting out the sound. I loved hearing them resonating throughout the hallways.
Great question! In the event that there is trouble in the system, the trouble bell that supervises the system would ring. Also, if the electric were to go out, the manual trip bells attached to the pull rod would still ring.
@@firealarm2903_ Yes, you break the glass and flip the switch to turn it on and flip it again to turn it off. Then you replace the glass. You can also open the door with a special key and then flip the switch to save having to replace broken glass.
I was allowed access into the buildings during the abatement process, before the schools were actually demolished. The pictures and videos were not shot in 2016 but before the schools were demolished. Thank you for watching and for your question and comments.
at the old public school in cape vincent new York where i used to live they had and i think they might still have it a 1950s ara autocall fire alarme system in witch the horns sounded the code 444-444-4444 puse then repeated this code i asked the principle about it and he said it was standard at the time the school was build but they did have electronic simplex fire alarmes that would also sound when the fire alarme was activated
Autocall was the only company that had the Cadence Marching Code 4-4-4-4 that sounded 4 complete rounds. Those particular fire alarm control panels that Autocall made were called SA panels (SA stood for School Alarm). They were manufactured in Shelby, Ohio from 1940 thru the 1960's. Autocall did have sales reps in New York for a long time, so it more then likely was Autocall. Thank you for watching and for your comment.
Old School Fire Alarms i think the system is still in use today if it is an autocall system it would be the last of its type in new york state as cape vincent public school is currently the oldest school in jefferson county new york
In my opinion, these old school built in the 1920s should of ben NOT demolished unless their falling apart/in bad shape. I hope no more tearing down the schools for at least in 10 years.
I do not know, but I am going to call the school to find out. I'm hoping they have a pull rod system. If they do, then I'm going to visit the school and do a video.
+James Wheeler There are no pull rods on the main floors but there may be an old one around the building where the students cant access. There are old horns and sirens all connected to the main system and pull systems.
I noticed that allot of schools exposed in your videos were orginally built with a manual pull rod system and in the 40s or 50 they were upgraded to autocall. So that would be the last time the systems were ever changed? Manual pull rod would be you just pull down and the alarm rings and with autocall it does coding like in this video? Am I correct?
Autocall, IBM, Simplex, Standard Electric Time, etc., all made electric, automated fire alarm systems that were tied into manual pull rod systems. Most of these upgrades did take place in the 1940's and 50's after several tragic school fires. Many schools have not changed or upgraded their fire alarm systems since that time.
These systems seem cheaper than the modern ones today. I saw on your page that those horns seen in some videos of fire alarms that was a faraday type horn or possibly IDM 4030 horns that was becoming obselete. I wish they still make those model projectile horns today because they seem even louder than those modern alarms we have today.
Those old projector horns you mention are much louder then the newer horns of today. The fire alarm systems of yesteryear were comparable in cost to the new systems made today, but with that said, everything cost more today because of inflation. The sad thing is, the new systems of today are made mostly out of plastic and are cheaply constructed. All the old systems were all made in the U.S.A. whereas all the new systems are all made in other countries, sad, but true.
There is an actuation switch that is tied to the pull rod that has a built-in timer set for one minute. After one minute the actuation switch automatically shuts off.
Thank you Jeff, most appreciated. I usually only produce and post 3 videos per year on average. I am working on a new one and will be posting at the end of September.
The relays on this particular panel have nothing to do with zones. One relay controls the code motor, the two smaller relays on the left side of the panel control the two trouble bells, and the other relay controls the signal being transmitted to all the horns in the building.
WHEW I thought our fire alarm back in the day had a terrible sound. “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE” That buzzing tho…. That’s just something ELSE to run your mfin nerves… “BZZZ BZZZ BZZZ BZZZ”
Wow, I wish I could get my hands on a system like this. "Very likely eh"? How many panels do you have? I've seen your website and someday I would like you to create a collection video of all of the memoribillia you've been able to collect. (mind my spelling)
+Garrett Compton; Hello Garrett, Most of the old fire alarm artifacts I collect are for museums and serious collectors only. I do have a few items in safe storage that I use for exhibits and educational purposes. The Autocall panel you see in this video is very rare and hard to come by. Most of the artifacts I collect are documented and photographed and can be seen on my website, OldSchoolFireAlarms.com. All artifacts are at least 50 years old or older.
You flip-up the hinged knocker. It then swings up, breaks the glass and engages the button that completes the circuit. This in turn triggers the master control panel to sound the horns.
You flip up the hinged knocker that hangs at the bottom of the pull station. The knocker swings up and breaks the glass, which releases a small button completing the circuit. This then sets off the fire alarm system.
This is a pretty cool system, but even old things have their cons, (now this is just what I know, so if I miss anything, correct me please.) 1. ADA was never a thing (Idk if strobes were used for systems like this, maybe lights?) 2. No speaker/strobe alarms 3. No such thing as smart technology's Now before I bash on these too much, I'll say 1 pro. That is the quality of the alarms, they won't get smacked off the wall or ceiling from a hockey stick or some other object as easily as today's stuff.
If you look long and hard enough just about everything has it's pros and cons. You are correct about there being no smart technology when these types of older fire alarm systems were manufactured and installed. And since there were no ADA regulations at the time this particular system was installed, it does not have flashing lights and/or strobes. One thing the older systems have/had that the newer systems of today do not, and that is well made hardware that was designed and manufactured to last for decades without having to be replaced,
The code on this particular Autocall fire alarm system was commonly referred to as the Cadence Marching Code. I have never heard the explanation of the code that you have described. If true, it is the very first time that I have heard of your explanation.
No, this particular system did not have a battery back-up power source. Autocall designed their control panels to be wired into two separate, electrical power sources. So if one power source failed there was a back-up. If the system was tied to a manual pull rod, if all electrical power sources failed, you could still ring the manual trip bells to signal for a fire or drill. This is the reason most schools left the manual pull rod systems in place after the electric, automated fire alarms were installed. Thank you for the great question.
Wow that is a lot of money but it's less expensive than a gaming pc the Acer predator Orion 3000 Goes for 1600 dollars for the GEFORCE RTX 3070 with the core I7 Processor and a 512gb SSD and a 1TB HDD to give the experience of a SSHD. Does it come with the cabinet and can it be tied in with the SIMPLEX 4020 As a master control system and can the code wheel be changed to the code that My high school used instead of the cadence march time my school used code 3-4-5 as the signal witch we all know is called code 3/ Temporal Code ? I don't mind the cadence march time but it's not what I had in my school.
This dude is still hearting comments even though this video is 5 years old. Respect.
@cynthiacosta9195wrong.
This is a beautiful example of old tech. Love it!! Neater than the ones today
I have a phobia of modern fire alarms because of the painful high-pitched quality. This is one I definitely would have preferred to hear having fire drills back in my old school days. Lower-pitched, sounded friendlier on the ears, still had urgency.
These ones would be louder, but yeah
The older ones are WAY louder and you can easily cover a large building with only 3-6 horns depending on the size of the building
@cynthiacosta9195same
Same
Thats a very beautiful system. Also those 4030 horns resonate very well in the halls
broski is still hearting all these comments EVEN WHEN THIS VID IS EIGHT YEARS OLD?
Wow, my grandma was born in 1922. It's sad that this building also had to be demolished. It looked beautiful even for its age
+SRCVintage Electronics It was truly a magnificent and beautiful school inside and out. Thank you as always for your interest and comments.
No problem, I find intrest in anything that has history :)
+Old School Fire Alarms
Hey buddy it's me again. Check this out.
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Robert_E._Lee_High_School,_Staunton,_VA.jpg
Thank you so much for the picture. Always appreciated.
+Old School Fire Alarms
The original Hueytown high school here in Alabama is still standing and it was in the movie 'Woodlawn'.
Thank you for sharing, and thank you for rescuing part of this old system for a fire alarm museum!
My elementary/middle school was built in 1937- perhaps it may have had a pull rod too, but I remember actually seeing some old bells on the walls, and there are a lot of unused electrical things sticking out of the walls.
We had these horns in my grammar school I attended in 1985 - 1992. Used to scare the hell out of me.
School was built in 1968.
They are very loud, that's for damn sure.
That system breaker looks so cool, with the dials and buttons and stuff.
The (used to be) school located not far from my residence has this style of system installed along with modern fire alarms. It is now a daycare and some other programs.
What is the name of school building and where is it located ? I would love to see it.
@@OldSchoolFireAlarms It used to be called Hudson Park before the (much newer) Hudson Park school was built up the hill from where I live.
It now houses Sunnyside Daycare and it is on 305 W 3rd St, Rainier, OR 97048.
Go ahead and check it out! I'm not 100% sure where the pull stations are located (if any.) The daycare is the place you probably won't be going into. It has nothing but modern fire alarms that speak!
Elsewhere in the building you will see aged vibrating horns (painted red.)
You can check the place out, but you might have to ask for some permission. The bathrooms are not a place you'd want to go either as they are old and not working. I think one of them might work still but the light iirc does not, and they are very very very eerie.
Come check the place out!
@@hacktrixapii Thank you for the info, most appreciated.
@@OldSchoolFireAlarms Yeah, no problem.
U do a rally good job on here
We had these fire alarm horns in our elementary school. Boy, did they scare us! These horns scared the living daylights out of us! They sure don't make fire alarms like that anymore. Today's fire alarm control panels are the size of hand held transistor radios and contain a microcircuitry handling the same tasks once handled by relays and code motor and code wheel in the big old Autocall fire alarm control panels like the one featured in this video.
Thank you Jerry for watching and for your comments.
They actually do more than just that. They send a current through the system which supervises it and makes sure all a the initiating and signaling devices are in working condition. There is also addressable fire alarm systems which are way more advanced and are really helpful for firefighters as they can just look at the fire panel to see where exactly was the system activated, which tells them where the fire is
The high school I'm having my transition program at was built in 1956, it makes me wonder what kind of fire alarm systems they had back then or if some parts of the original systems remain in the basement. They just have new alarms now that sound like police sirens and it talks too, that's lame compared to this old tech with unique mechanisms inside.
i don't like voice assisted alarms, they just sound wrong
We had one of these in my grade school- it would sound 5 times between one r…… scared the hell outa me- especially when i was under it when it was set off during a practice drill!!
Back in my old school in elementary we had an old fire alarm that sounded like this but it was just an endless loud buzzing noise and it scared the hell out of me😭
Yes, I am very familiar with the continuous sounding horns. I hate those kinds of fire alarms.
@@OldSchoolFireAlarms my old school is an old Highschool that was built in the early 1900’s and we had a new building and an old building so the old building had the old pole and in the new parts of the building we had the new pull fire alarms
I like Vintage alarms
new schools should bring these fire alarms back.
Freight Jackson I agree
Actually if you notice with the pull station you have to pull it three times. That's a bit inconvenient
IKR the fire alarm I have SCARES ME
Freight Jackson They should bring back the old alarms . Including the Simplex 4050
@@skywolfx76 You only have to pull it once but he pulled it three times since he wanted to hear the bell ring.
The video you see was shot two months before the school was abated/demolished in 2011. It was then edited and posted on You Tube in January of 2016. Thank you for your question and for watching.
:( I wish this was rebuilt again
The code wheel reminds me of a music box that when it hits the grooves instead of the musical piece playing the horns sound. When you pull the rod it winds up the Code wheel much like a music box. Am I right?
Not exactly; when you pull the rod, it triggers an actuation switch that is tied to the pull rod. Once the actuation switch has been activated, that signals the control panel to go into actuation mode. The code motor/wheel is designed to make four revolutions which has the Cadence Marching Code 4-4-4-4. Thank you for watching and your great question.
These old systems are far superior then the new plastic junk we have today. While newer alarms kindly ask me to leave, these scream "GET THE H*LL OUT!"
I agree 100%. Thank you for watching and for your comment.
Love that brass trip bell!
Me too! That's why I pulled it 3 times. I love to hear it ring.
Dude, imagine one of those 4030 horns was installed on a railroad crossing
Oh Man I hope the system was saved...
It was saved.
I cant get enough of this video
Thank you for your comment and for watching!
I hope someone saved the bells and fire alarm system
This system was removed and saved for historical preservation.
A shame they have to demolish those old school buildings! They should just renovate them; sure, the old fire alarm system would probably get removed, but the old structure will probably get many more decades of use!
My parents' middle school had those old Faraday horns, from a Gamewell system when the school was built in 1952. In 2008, the school was renovated, the Faraday horns were disconnected and painted over (along with the old IBM school bells), and a Notifier voice-evac system was installed.
You must live in the south right?
I live in eastern Massachusetts.
+wileyk209zback
Oh. Well we have a lot of old buildings here in the south and we tend to value them.
+Tom Tom Yeah; there's a really old elementary school building a couple streets over from where I live, built in 1896, expanded in 1914 and renovated in 1978. The structure is over a hundred years old, and it's still being used today.
IDK if that school had any pull-rod fire alarms; I'm guessing in the past they did, but now they have a Simplex 4207 fire alarm system that was installed during the 1978 renovation (with 4051+4050-80 horn/lights.)
I grew up outside of Toledo! Thank you for this video, it is a shame these historical architectures aren't preserved.
I very much agree.
my primary school in the old 50s building we had a old bell fire alarm system wich was our class change bell we had a button by the offices and a switch in the hall. it was manual witout the panel so a basic switch circut sadly it was demolished.
I just like the alarm clock
What is that little notch in the code wheel just before the actual coder teeth? is that for the panel to count the rounds of the code wheel?
Great observation, and you are 100% correct.
I still think old fire alarms are much louder than newer ones. Not even some of the loudest new horn/strobes like the System Sensor SpectrAlert Advance and the Simplex TrueAlert can compare to those old electromechanical horns.
I agree with you 100%. Not only were they much louder, they were also constructed much better then the cheap, plastic signaling devices that are made today.
agreed
@@OldSchoolFireAlarms Yeah, regarding the cheap plastic, I hope at my first elementary school they install protective wire cages over the SpectrAlert Advance horn/strobes in the gymnasium, like they did at my college's Field House building. The Simplex 4051+4050-80 horn/lights both buildings originally had were unprotected, but the horns were very durable and sturdy. In fact, at said school, one of the 4050-80 light plates got smashed by a ball in the 1980s, but the 4051 horn survived, so they just re-mounted the 4051 horn on a Space Age AV32 light plate (as Simplex's own light plates of the time would probably not fit well on a 4050-80 backbox.)
@@OldSchoolFireAlarms i want a old faraday dual projector horn
@@firealarm2903_ Faraday dual projector horns are extremely rare and hard to find. Autocall made the very same type of dual horns which I have a few left in my inventory. You can reach me through my website, OldSchoolFireAlarms.com
I was looking at the school before the words came up. I was like "This looks like McKinley!" There's another old school in Toledo I used to go to that surprisingly doesn' have this system. This school also came down with an old air raid siren on top of it.
It was demolished?
Tom Tom unfortunately yes 😔
+Sirens & Aviation
Man, I just don't like the fact that old buildings get torn down (they shouldn't be torn down unless they're in bad shape). We could use them for like, movies or TV shows set in 20th century. Also it would be nice if they could remodel them instead even though it cost a lot of money.
Tom Tom I agree. I think they tore it down not because it's old, but because very few people went to school there anymore.
+Sirens & Aviation
People just sometimes don't know the meaning of cherishing history.
See a really good one mate keep up there good work on TH-cam u do a really good job on TH-cam
Thank you!
@@OldSchoolFireAlarms see ok I hop we can be Friends at well be good too be are Friends let me kown fe we can be Friends on Facebook at well be good my Facebook name see greg Bouchard and my eamil address gregbouchard@mail.com
Unfortunately, there's a school in Akron, Ohio that might get demolished soon, the school is Rankin Elementary School. I found out when I was in bed looking up pictures of the building, you might wanna go see the Fire Alarm System there if you can
I was in that school several years ago when it was still owned by the Akron Public school district. Other then the pull rods and a few bells, most of the fire alarm system was removed by the electricians who work for the district.
@@OldSchoolFireAlarms Oh ok, what kind of Bells did they have & who was the manufacturer of the system
@@FrozenFan765 The bells were 10 inch, single stroke and the make was Autocall. The control panel was Autocall also.
@@OldSchoolFireAlarms Thanks so much, keep up the good work
The first ever school in reynoldsburg Ohio was Hannah Ashton middle school and that is my school *!!!!!!!!!*
my school was built in 1901, its still intact 🤣
What do the other relays do I know the TPST relay probably controls the horns but I’m unclear as to what the other set of 3 do as well ast the 2 singles.
So the actual alarm is in the control box, but it just gets projected loudly onto the horn speakers??
That is correct. The code and/or signal comes from the control panel and is sent out over the horns. What signals the control panel are actuation switches that are hooked to the pull rods. When you pull the rod, it triggers the actuation switch which in turn signals the control panel to send the cadence code 4-4-4-4 over the horns.
When I was in elementary school, there was a school that I went to had cowbell type bells. Have you ever seen that type in the use in a building.
Personally I have not seen cowbells used in hallways for signaling devices with respect to fire alarm systems. With that said, I do know that in years past there were several companies such as Edwards, Faraday, and Wheelock that had and used them with their fire alarm systems. Autocall used them too on their control panels for trouble bells in the 1930's and 40's. Starting in the 1950's they were pretty much phased out of production.
Do you have to pull down on the rod three times/ What if you only pull it down once?
You only have to pull the rod one time, but I like hearing the bell ring, so I pulled it three times.
The very sad part is that if they waited at least 2 more years, the school would have been able to celebrate it's 100th Anniversary :(
So very true. Another great school that should not have been torn down.
keep up there good work on here
Were the trip bells ever smaller? At an antique store where I bought a 10" fire bell, I saw a bell with a pull chain not dissimilar to these, except it was about 6".
Yes, manual and/or mechanical trip bells did come in smaller and even larger sizes. They were manufactured in increments of 2" and ran as small as 4" inches and as large as 22 inches.
How do you reset the alarms on this old system?
The actuator switch that is tied to the pull rod has a built in timer and automatically resets itself. Thank you for a great question.
+Old School Fire Alarms
Great ones too. Are you sure these buildings were in great shape, but tore them down anyway?
Many of these old schools should not have been demolished. There are many reasons why school districts choose to build new instead of renovating and keeping the old. The reasons are too many to mention here. Construction companies convince school boards that it is cheaper to tear down and build new schools verses restoring / renovating old schools. In some cases this is true, but in most cases it is a downright lie and very deceptive. In short, construction companies pocket more money in new construction because labor cost is cheaper in contrast to restoration labor.
+Old School Fire Alarms
Those people are dumb if they just choose to destroy history. Here in the south we have a lot of history and we try to cherish our history well. The holy high school in Tuscaloosa county was built in 1941 (after the original burned in 1929). Their building a new one but keeping the old one up and might use it for something else. They should've kept these buildings, they could've used em for movies or tv shows set in 20th century. I know the new ones look not so good but are you sure they're gonna fall apart soon?
+Old School Fire Alarms
If I said holy I meant holt.
At least these won't hurt my ears
That one horn sounded a little sick. I hate to see a real nice building get wasted. I hope you've taken the manual trip bells
+Will “Ford” Butter The entire fire alarm system was saved for historical preservation, including those beautiful old trip bells. Regarding the "horn that sounded a little sick", keep in mind that those horns were installed in 1940, so that makes them 71 years old when the school was demolished in 2011. The horns have seen a lot of wear and tear. But with that said, those babies are still loud and putting out the sound. I loved hearing them resonating throughout the hallways.
+Old School Fire Alarms
I bet you do buddy. The new ones are just pretty boring but these can get your attention in a heartbeat.
it could of been demolished cuase a fire ok
I wish they had these alarms in my school,but it's much much bigger though.
nice job
Thank you for watching and for your comment, most appreciated.
Simplex 4030 doing Code 4-4-4-4? Wow cool!
Actually, this is an Autocall system, not Simplex. The vibrating horns are model 121-S
Can you do March time?
@@Ultimate2T22 Darcy this is march time. It is Autocall's Cadence March Time.
Oh ok 👍
Pull stations with bells. quite interesting
Fire alarms don't sound good like that anymore lol
Wow, all the mechanical action just to get the fire alarm going.
Would the fire alarm activate if there something wrong in the system or just the trouble bells
Great question! In the event that there is trouble in the system, the trouble bell that supervises the system would ring. Also, if the electric were to go out, the manual trip bells attached to the pull rod would still ring.
Those fire alarms are original, and can you tell me what is the brand of the vibrating horn?
Those are Autocall, model S-121 vibrating horns.
+Old School Fire Alarms oh thank you
Autocall pull station by the panel has a LEVER?
It is not a pull lever per say but in fact an "on and off" switch that is exactly like a light switch.
@@OldSchoolFireAlarms so you break the glass and lift the switch ?
@@firealarm2903_ Yes, you break the glass and flip the switch to turn it on and flip it again to turn it off. Then you replace the glass. You can also open the door with a special key and then flip the switch to save having to replace broken glass.
@@OldSchoolFireAlarms so it's not a pull staion?
@@firealarm2903_ Any device that activates a fire alarm is considered a "pull station". It is a general term that has been used for decades.
When was this video taken
This video was shot in 2011, about 2 months before the school was demolished.
How did you film this in and the demolition of G. B. elementary in 2016 if they were demolished years earlier?
I was allowed access into the buildings during the abatement process, before the schools were actually demolished. The pictures and videos were not shot in 2016 but before the schools were demolished. Thank you for watching and for your question and comments.
I have had this horn at my sunday school.
at the old public school in cape vincent new York where i used to live they had and i think they might still have it a 1950s ara autocall fire alarme system in witch the horns sounded the code 444-444-4444 puse then repeated this code i asked the principle about it and he said it was standard at the time the school was build but they did have electronic simplex fire alarmes that would also sound when the fire alarme was activated
Autocall was the only company that had the Cadence Marching Code 4-4-4-4 that sounded 4 complete rounds. Those particular fire alarm control panels that Autocall made were called SA panels (SA stood for School Alarm). They were manufactured in Shelby, Ohio from 1940 thru the 1960's. Autocall did have sales reps in New York for a long time, so it more then likely was Autocall. Thank you for watching and for your comment.
Old School Fire Alarms i think the system is still in use today if it is an autocall system it would be the last of its type in new york state as cape vincent public school is currently the oldest school in jefferson county new york
Were there pull rods?
I love the simplex 4030 horn
In my opinion, these old school built in the 1920s should of ben NOT demolished unless their falling apart/in bad shape. I hope no more tearing down the schools for at least in 10 years.
Check out St Charles Preparatory High School in Columbus. it was built in 1923 and the fire alarms are old.
Thank you Zach...Wow, what a beautiful old school. I'm definitely going to visit.
I do not know, but I am going to call the school to find out. I'm hoping they have a pull rod system. If they do, then I'm going to visit the school and do a video.
+James Wheeler There are no pull rods on the main floors but there may be an old one around the building where the students cant access. There are old horns and sirens all connected to the main system and pull systems.
I didn’t know these horns existed in 1940
They actually started to make these type of Klaxon style fire alarm horns in the 1920's.
@@OldSchoolFireAlarms oh wow. Interesting.
You should really see the south. We have a lot of old buildings here.
Beautiful buildings too. Do they demolish them as much? I assume not.
I noticed that allot of schools exposed in your videos were orginally built with a manual pull rod system and in the 40s or 50 they were upgraded to autocall. So that would be the last time the systems were ever changed? Manual pull rod would be you just pull down and the alarm rings and with autocall it does coding like in this video? Am I correct?
Autocall, IBM, Simplex, Standard Electric Time, etc., all made electric, automated fire alarm systems that were tied into manual pull rod systems. Most of these upgrades did take place in the 1940's and 50's after several tragic school fires. Many schools have not changed or upgraded their fire alarm systems since that time.
These systems seem cheaper than the modern ones today. I saw on your page that those horns seen in some videos of fire alarms that was a faraday type horn or possibly IDM 4030 horns that was becoming obselete. I wish they still make those model projectile horns today because they seem even louder than those modern alarms we have today.
Those old projector horns you mention are much louder then the newer horns of today. The fire alarm systems of yesteryear were comparable in cost to the new systems made today, but with that said, everything cost more today because of inflation. The sad thing is, the new systems of today are made mostly out of plastic and are cheaply constructed. All the old systems were all made in the U.S.A. whereas all the new systems are all made in other countries, sad, but true.
I wish for fire alarms they kept it the same but if they still made them today they would've at with strobe or flashing light with them.
I agree with that.
was the system saved?
+Roush Hawley Yes, the entire system was salvaged including the control panel.
Old School Fire Alarms
good!
Did you also rescue the control panel?
+SRCVintage Electronics Yes, the entire system was collected.
Thats good. How many fire alarms have you taken out of old schools?
Approximately 40 old schools to date.
+Old School Fire Alarms Wow! You should open a museum one day
Most of the fire alarm artifacts I collect go to fire museums across the country and Canada.
That's really an old fire alarm system
How does the horn turn off
There is an actuation switch that is tied to the pull rod that has a built-in timer set for one minute. After one minute the actuation switch automatically shuts off.
What’s the model number of the cowbell?
There is no model # on the bells.
Okay.
What’s the type I meant.
@@poppylover2586 Printed on the I.D. Tag is, Type "RVT" which stands for, Ringing Vibrating Type.
How much does that bell cost?
will they reset when past 1 minutes?
On this particular control panel, you have to manually reset the pull station to stop the system.
Nice vintage fire alarm man please
Please upload somemore vintage fire alarm videos please
Thank you Jeff, most appreciated. I usually only produce and post 3 videos per year on average. I am working on a new one and will be posting at the end of September.
The panel is a 4 zone panel because of the 4 relays .
The relays on this particular panel have nothing to do with zones. One relay controls the code motor, the two smaller relays on the left side of the panel control the two trouble bells, and the other relay controls the signal being transmitted to all the horns in the building.
I didn't know that.
WHEW I thought our fire alarm back in the day had a terrible sound.
“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE”
That buzzing tho…. That’s just something ELSE to run your mfin nerves…
“BZZZ BZZZ BZZZ BZZZ”
Wow, I wish I could get my hands on a system like this. "Very likely eh"? How many panels do you have? I've seen your website and someday I would like you to create a collection video of all of the memoribillia you've been able to collect. (mind my spelling)
+Garrett Compton; Hello Garrett, Most of the old fire alarm artifacts I collect are for museums and serious collectors only. I do have a few items in safe storage that I use for exhibits and educational purposes. The Autocall panel you see in this video is very rare and hard to come by. Most of the artifacts I collect are documented and photographed and can be seen on my website, OldSchoolFireAlarms.com. All artifacts are at least 50 years old or older.
MmmHmm are you familiar with a National Time 411 horn?
Yes, I have seen those horns before. That's a good company.
Very interesting. My son told me about your channel. Thanks.
Thank you Pamela for watching.
116 Yrs Old!!!!
What's that other bell next to the alarm?
That is an Edwards class change bell.
@@OldSchoolFireAlarms Do you have a video of that bell ringing?
@@sandiegotrafficlightstrain354 Which bell are you talking about?
@@sandiegotrafficlightstrain354 No I do not.
@OldSchoolFireAlarms How loud was that bell when it rung? Looks like one of those loud Edwards 6 inch vibrating bells that are usually outside.
What happened with this system? Did anything get salvaged?
+The Bigmindcreator AKA Elliot The entire fire alarm system was salvaged for historical preservation.
Skip to 4:08 for alarm. Your welcome :)
Therealracer Productions ij
👙💶💷💴💡
I love that trip bell! Can it be sold?
Yes, I do sell these types of trip bells. You can reach me through my website, OldSchoolFireAlarms.com
at the system it sounds like an alarm clock
I also wanna tell you there are schools in Akron that are old but they still use them today.
Is the school still in operation and is it still opened
This school was unfortunately demolished in 2011.
How do you activate the pull autocall station
You flip-up the hinged knocker. It then swings up, breaks the glass and engages the button that completes the circuit. This in turn triggers the master control panel to sound the horns.
You flip up the hinged knocker that hangs at the bottom of the pull station. The knocker swings up and breaks the glass, which releases a small button completing the circuit. This then sets off the fire alarm system.
@@OldSchoolFireAlarms it has a lever inside it tho
Those definitely sound like school alarm clocks.
This is a pretty cool system, but even old things have their cons, (now this is just what I know, so if I miss anything, correct me please.)
1. ADA was never a thing (Idk if strobes were used for systems like this, maybe lights?)
2. No speaker/strobe alarms
3. No such thing as smart technology's
Now before I bash on these too much, I'll say 1 pro. That is the quality of the alarms, they won't get smacked off the wall or ceiling from a hockey stick or some other object as easily as today's stuff.
If you look long and hard enough just about everything has it's pros and cons. You are correct about there being no smart technology when these types of older fire alarm systems were manufactured and installed. And since there were no ADA regulations at the time this particular system was installed, it does not have flashing lights and/or strobes. One thing the older systems have/had that the newer systems of today do not, and that is well made hardware that was designed and manufactured to last for decades without having to be replaced,
Nice music 🎵
Who made the trouble bell down on the farm? Autocall made the trouble bell down on the farm! Who them? Yes them! Couldn’t be! Then who?
Action Begins At 4:20.
If I remember correctly, it's a lot like a coded pull-station.... one=drill, two=test, three=gas leak, and 4=fire?
The code on this particular Autocall fire alarm system was commonly referred to as the Cadence Marching Code. I have never heard the explanation of the code that you have described. If true, it is the very first time that I have heard of your explanation.
Old School Fire Alarms It more or less applies to coded pull stations that have their own code wheels, which are mechanically driven
Old School Fire Alarms Either way, pleased to meet you
@@EnderShadowborne Thank you, and very interesting. I'm always learning something new.
i didn't know autocall made "cowbell" trouble bells
They only had them on their earlier panels (circa 1940's).
If the school was demolished how did you get in there
I was in the school and made the video before the school was demolished.
Ok how long did you work there
I did not work at the school. I got permission to go into the building before it was demolished.
So even these older systems have backup battery's?
No, this particular system did not have a battery back-up power source. Autocall designed their control panels to be wired into two separate, electrical power sources. So if one power source failed there was a back-up. If the system was tied to a manual pull rod, if all electrical power sources failed, you could still ring the manual trip bells to signal for a fire or drill. This is the reason most schools left the manual pull rod systems in place after the electric, automated fire alarms were installed. Thank you for the great question.
Code 4-4-4-4
Cadence Marching Code
@@firealarm2903_ its called march time
So cool lol
On the right on the panel, is that a autocall pull station
Yes.
This was published on my uncle's birthday
How mutch would it cost to get one?
Depending on the model and condition, it can be anywhere from $300 to $1200. The control panel featured in this video is $1200.
Wow that is a lot of money but it's less expensive than a gaming pc the Acer predator Orion 3000 Goes for 1600 dollars for the GEFORCE RTX 3070 with the core I7 Processor and a 512gb SSD and a 1TB HDD to give the experience of a SSHD. Does it come with the cabinet and can it be tied in with the SIMPLEX 4020 As a master control system and can the code wheel be changed to the code that My high school used instead of the cadence march time my school used code 3-4-5 as the signal witch we all know is called code 3/ Temporal Code ? I don't mind the cadence march time but it's not what I had in my school.