Fire Alarm System - ECN Electrical Forums

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This Fire Alarm system was in a large Boston Church, 12 or 14 floors, 6 or 8 of them offices and residences, a coworker installed the replacement.

I guess this building to be from late 40s early 50s maybe someone here can date the equipment better than I can.

In the basement there is a maintenance room that still has some of the overstock from the original build out.

Brand new in the box porcelain(?) Arrow Hart single, double, 3-way and 4 way switches, the kind you can see the workings through the front.

The manual pull stations are like little master boxes, I had never seen that before, from what I could guess each pull station would ring the bells to that box number, there were still legends on the walls that told where each box number was.

It also looks like you could plug in communications into the Pull stations.

I should have gotten a picture of the bells, 10" to 12" chrome bell with a large external chrome clapper.

This buildings wiring system is in great shape, large brass control panels around the building are still in use controlling ventilation systems and lighting.

-iwire

It's kind of sad to see equipment like this that's given decades of realiable service pulled out.

Did you manage to salvage some of this old stuff?

'pears to be an old coded system, each probably has three wheels to give something like a 3-1-5 ring depending on what floor, tier, and section you were in, good reliable stuff. Comm is possible, but check outside the elevators for keys and phone sets.

Need to hire an old geeze who knows how to install 'em? [Linked Image]

George I would like to hear anything you know about this equipment.

I may have been mistaken on the comm.

There is a 1/4" jack on the front (picture 5) labeled "General Gongs" do you know what that did?

The manual pull station I have (the only part I have Paul [Linked Image]

) is station 2-2.

The craftsmanship of these units is unbelievable, I will try to remove the plastic cover and send a better shot of the mechanism.

For those that are not familiar with the old type master box, they are the "Shed shaped fire alarm boxes on the side of buildings.

[Linked Image from stjohnsburyfire.com]

Inside was basically a telegraph system that the key was pushed by a rotating wheel with bumps corresponding to the box number.

These old style boxes are very reliable, and could get a signal back to the fire station even with parts of the telegraph loop open.

iwire:

I remember those old pull boxes from when I was in first grade. The fire department would send somebody to speak to us in school so we would know how to report a fire and about the seriousness of false alarms.

What I was never able to figure out, at the age of 6 years, was how I would be able to reach the thing if I needed to.

The 1/4" jack is likely the old test port, for when you did not want to disturb tenants, but needed to test for Fire Marshall.

Edwards made the exact same system, as did Simplex, unfortunately, I threw skads of tech manuals away a few years ago in a throwing fit. I may still have some of it though.

I'm nearly certain I have some stuff on your master station, they were called "McCullough Loops" and were nearly bomb proof. I'll look it up tomorrow night, or maybe during the day sometime.

Wife's birthday tonight, Daughter and boyfriend took us to dinner........ I mostly noticed the duct detector light and switches on the ceiling were covered over, the Exit lights were not operational, and a piece of lamp cord running to a hidden fixture..... don't remember what I had for dinner. [Linked Image]

I'd personally feel much more comfortable with an alarm system of this type rather than a new high-tech electronic model.
George, I'm afraid your diagnosis must be that of "terminal electricianitis" [Linked Image]

...S

That "pull hook" box was pretty common at one point - I used to see them a lot during my high school days and visits to government office buildings. Is this style still made?

I also remember the much older house-shaped "break glass" boxes similar to the one further down. I think there were also smaller types made. Naturally I thought the small square "pull hook" boxes were state of the art (1980s-early 1990s?). [Linked Image]

The one at work is a "pull hook" but the box is smaller (probably fits into a single gang) and there's no cover, just a little lever you pull down that is attached to a slightly recessed faceplate. Like this one, except the pull handle looks like an upended spoon instead of a tee:

[Linked Image from atsclock.com]

I've got some mixed opinions regarding whether the hook should be protected by a door or not.

I feel like such an old geezer now....

I also still see these every so often -- they look kind of old fashioned (cosmetically speaking) with the glass rod.
[Linked Image from atsclock.com]

[This message has been edited by SvenNYC (edited 08-28-2003).]

Most of the pictures submitted appear to be of modern pulls, so I guess you are going to make me dig into my storage and get some of the old stuff that I have tucked away. I pulled out a 110 volt fire pull from a school when I was attached to the proving ground .. no one could find a replacement break glass. I will get some photos to joe. ERFERTT

SvenNYC, it depends on the enviroment the pull box is located. College dorms are notorous for false alarms. But when they installed metal and glass boxes over the pull boxes, false alarms were much decreased. Possibly the extra step of having to break the glass window with the attached hammer was enough to put off a prankster. The extra time might let him get caught. State law said a year in jail for pulling a false alarm.

Many schools use dye to help catch the false alarmers. There is also an "invisible" kind that becomes visible under black light.

Not nearly as dramatic as an exploding dye pack , though.

Look here too for more old fire alarm equipment.
http://www.joetedesco.com/gallery/album01

If you want drama, the old "alarm grease" that was used years ago provided plenty. That was the stuff that really came out under a black light. Had a drunk pull an alarm one night and try to blame it on some kids in the area .. we were getting ready to go after the kids and were testing the black light when this guy just lit up like a candle in the night. He had apparently wiped his hands off on his shirt, pants, head and whatever he could to get the grease off .. talk about going cold sober in a hurry .. we convinced him it was God punishing him for lying about the kids pulling the alarm .. worked for us.
ERFERTT

The product at http://www.sti-usa.com/product.asp?PartNo=STI-1100 from STI is used in Schools, etc. where they have problems.

"Stopper II consists of a clear, tamper-proof, super-tough polycarbonate shield and frame that fits over manual pull stations. When lifted to gain access to the actual alarm, it sounds a piercing 95 dB or 105 dB warning horn. Immediate attention is drawn to the area and a prankster will either run or be caught. The cover is connected to the frame by a cable. When the cover is lifted, it hangs off of the frame and the horn will sound until the cover is snapped back onto the frame (or for the life of the battery)."

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ThinkGood Many schools use dye to help catch the false alarmers. There is also an "invisible" kind that becomes visible under black light.

I wonder how many kids figure out that they might be able to set the alarm off by using a pencil or such to push the handle, thus avoiding the dye. But kids that smart are likely to be smart enough to not want to pull a false alarm.....

Iwire:

Cincinnati was full of those boxes, one on a utility pole at almost every third intersection, up until only about 10-15 years ago. They also had their handles painted with an ultraviolet grease to aid in catching kids "pulling" false alarms. The fire department also had to "wind" the box back up after and alarm as it work under it's own power via a spring. The wiring for these boxes still exists to this day on the poles. So much for removing abandoned wiring.

codeenforcement guy said:

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no one could find a replacement break glass.

Would it have been possible to get a square of glass cut by a glazier? Or is it a certain type of glass that is used for these things?

I've seen some fire alarms with the break glass also have a heavy iron bolt or rod hanging from a chain in order to break the glass when you need to activate the alarm.

The house-shaped ones in Joe's photogallery: I remember some of those from the old high schools here in the city.

[This message has been edited by SvenNYC (edited 10-21-2003).]

Mean Gene:

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Cincinnati was full of those boxes, one on a utility pole at almost every third intersection, up until only about 10-15 years ago.

Philadelphia had them, but once the crack epidemic started, the boxes were vandalized for the copper wiring. If I'm not mistaken, the alarm came into the FD by some kind of punch tape.

"Master boxes", BTW are improved manual Pull Boxes (the shed type) with a spring loaded rotating arm on the inside of the box, kept in the "cocked" position by a solenoid.

When the (newer) building alarm system trips, the solenoid retracts, allowing the small arm to rotate, tripping the "PULL" hook in the fire box, sending the coded alarm for that location.

Until the inside alarm is reset (or the zone is disabled, allowing reset of the interior panel), the spring loaded arm won't latch, since the solenoid is still withdrawn.

(The Great Lakes Naval Training Center used to have that combination, and it was there that the difference between simple "pull boxes" and "master boxes" was explained to me.)

Let me add my 2 cents here. Some of the old fire alarm boxes were spring wound like a clock. When the alarm went off, the little wheel would turn. The wheel had cogs in it and the cogs were cut into patterns by the installer. For example the wheel on the flow switch might be 2-4-6 and the wheel on the temperture freeze alarm might be 4-6-8. Then in the central office when an alarm came in the person in charge would look up who's alarm code went off and dispatch the fire dept to the proper location. I know because I had to install some of those wheels.