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Old manual fire alarm pull station (Big Pics)

8K views 19 replies 11 participants last post by  jwjrw 
#1 ·
This old pull station was given to me by one of my buddies. He pulled it out of a 15 story building in Boston when he installed an entire new system. I wish I got one of the bells. The Bells had to be about 12" in diameter and where high quality chrome. Made to be seen, not hidden.









 
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#6 ·
Great pics Bob, thanks for posting them. :thumbup:

If I understand this thing, it looks like pulling that lever runs the mechanism which pulses the contacts in a specific pattern...I guess that tells some central location exactly which alarm was activated.

A lot of the older stuff used some really clever solutions that are now done with microchips.
 
#8 ·
Great pics Bob, thanks for posting them. :thumbup:

If I understand this thing, it looks like pulling that lever runs the mechanism
which pulses the contacts in a specific pattern...I guess that tells some
central location exactly which alarm was activated.

A lot of the older stuff used some really clever solutions that are now done
with microchips.
Yes, there is a wheel with cogs on it that send the location.

If you look you can see the 2 cogs, space 9 cogs. This would actully cause all
the bells in the building to ring in that 2 - 9 pattern. All over the building
where legends that told what area the bells where indicating.

You can also see a 1/4" 'phone jack' that allows the fire fighter to plug in a
headset to communicate within the building. Boston still requires the Fire
Com jacks at elevator lobbies and fire stair landings.

The old stuff is so well constructed and was very reliable.
 
#7 ·
I'm glad I'm not the only one with a mind depraved enough to see the Acme brand stamped on it. lol. Apparently, this stuff was made a bit better than the Acme stuff the Coyote bought. lol.

Really nice pics though; this stuff looks pretty much bullet-proof. Some of the fire alarm stuff these days seems pretty chintzy.

Rob
 
#20 ·
We had outside pull boxes here on street corners for years. We took them out of service for several reasons. 1) age of the system....... and 2) many false alarms were caused by people sitting their 40 oz malt beverage on the call boxes while they were hanging out on the corner. The firemen would arrive and ask who pulled the alarm.....alarm? huh? we don't know nuthing bout no alarm...:laughing:

I have one in the garage. I'll dig it up tomorrow and take some pictures.
 
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