Wednesday, June 17, 2009

"KLAXON, KLAXON!"

My father, who was a Cold Warrior, told me never to utter those words out loud in front of fliers on an airbase. Apparently their training impelled them scramble to the bombers whenever they heard these magic words, no matter if it was a nine year-old snot nose puke saying them. Imagine the awesome inner turmoil within me as I struggled to hold my tongue. What nine year-old wouldn't be tempted to send the adult world into an instant tizzy with a few banned words?

So those were the forbidden words that popped into my head when I saw this big beautiful Cold War sentinel rusting in the sun last month. I was on my way to Goodwill, so of course I pulled the car over and had to go check it out.

50 years ago it was the latest in technology, and the last line of Civil Defense in the event of a nuclear showdown...

And now it's little more than a perch for wild birds. Who like the rest of the squares, probably mistake it for an ugly cell phone tower.

My nine year-old self really wanted to scale that pole to see what was in the box -- likely just ancient leaky dry cell batteries, but think like gradeschooler -- it's probably got gold coins, hidden gangster loot, radiation badges, or at least an old air raid helmet inside.

But as I didn't fancy the idea of falling to my death when the rotted wood gave way or being arrested for terrorism/being a 30-something public jackass, I confined my curiosity the control panel on the ground floor.

Amazingly, most of the relays and transistors were left alone. Someone had stolen the cover panel long ago.

I wonder what the "blower" and "rotator" were for? Of course I flicked the toggles but there was no siren -- those Evereadys are long since dead.

Okay, who's the engineering geek out there who can tell me what this schemata means?

So I wonder if when the Berlin Wall came down back in 1989 the CEOs of the "Federal Sign and Signal Corporation" were all, "That's just F-ing wonderful! Now what do we do? What catastrophic and paralyzing fear can we make money off now?"

At some point it got a little hot and I slowly realized that, standing there in my summer shorts and socks full of burrs and barbs, I had wandered into a waist high field of wild grass smack dab in the middle of rattlesnake country.

Yeah, my inner 9 year old is pretty much in charge. I hope my Mom isn't reading.

30 comments:

Wendy Schiffer said...

Sorry, I don't know if my last comment went through, so I'll try again. First of all, great blog! Love the photos and the spare but entertaining text. Unfortunately my blog is very text heavy and not enough pictures, but it'll get there! Second, great to see you all last weekend! Wendy

Anonymous said...

This is a lovely post.

I grew up an army brat an heard the Anthem blasted out of one like that daily for many years!

My 9 year old self thinks your 9 year old self is brave and cool.
Cheers,
Tracey

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usedpaint said...

The schemata: it's an electrical relay (fancy electrical powered switch). The thing with the M's on the ends is an electromagnetic coil that will activate when 440 volts AC is put to it (stand back, kids; where a hat or something...). There are the 4 arrows on the ends of lines that represent contact points. See how the bottom arrows are touching the thick bar (representing the electrical path) and top are not? When the coil is energized, the arrows change position, top now touching and bottom not. Current flow goes through the other set of arrows. It's all just a switching device. You could use it around the house for various things, except for that pesky 440 volts thing...
Cool post; I'm new to this blog, not new to the used stuff scene. Thanks for letting me in.
-Steve

My Patchwork Katt said...

very cool post... my 9 yr old self would Never have had the nerve..LOL! for your sake

i hope your mom didnt read the part about rattlesnake country.. she definately will tsk tsk you!!
rj
so cal desert (also rs country!)

Charlie Davidson said...

Congrats, looks like you've found an old Federal Thunderbolt siren! I actually own one myself, and am in the process of restoring it to be put back into service. These are pretty much some of the meanest-sounding sirens that you would ever hear.

From the looks of those control boxes, I'd date that back to the mid 60's. Nashville, Tennessee had a large system of these same sirens, and ironically all of their control panel covers were stolen too.

That box that you are curious about contains something called a "Blower", which consists of a large 10-horsepower electric motor and a Roots blower, that blows air up into the chopper and out the horn, thus creating that menacing sound that you never want to hear.

If you are interested in learning more about these devices, you are always free to contact me via the "Contact Me" form on my website.

Charlie Davidson
http://www.davidsonfirealarms.com
http://www.youtube.com/soccerdude7330
http://www.youtube.com/davidsonfirealarms

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