Thread: North American Signal Trail Blazer Mech Siren

I'm looking for any info on a North American Signal Trail Blazer Mechanical Siren. I got it from my father, who got it from someone along his 40 years of being a FF. Its a 12V model about 4.5" in diameter and 7" long. It has 4 wires coming out of the side rear; yellow, brown, red, and green. The red and green are connected to each other.

I've already tried calling North American Signal with no luck. They no longer have any paperwork on this model. I spoke to their "unofficial historian", an employee who has been there longer than anyone else (approx 30 yrs) and he never remembers seeing this siren. He did say it was most likely theirs but they were getting out of the mechanical siren business when he started there, and their only model then was much larger then what I have.

Does anyone have anything relating to this siren?

Pics:

Have you contacted John "Sirenman" Dorgan here on the forum, he would be the first person i would try.

Originally Posted by plybeep68

Have you contacted John "Sirenman" Dorgan here on the forum, he would be the first person i would try.

+1 Bet the exta wires are for the brake.

Originally Posted by Hoser

+1 Bet the exta wires are for the brake.

No brake on that one, Hoser, it's not a coaster siren. This siren was made for North American and under a couple of other labels by the old Auto-Matic Products Co. of Chicago. They were owned by a guy named Lynn Berman, who to call a horse's behind, is being polite. They sold a lot of their sirens thru W.S. Darley. Their sirens were originally built primarily for alarm systems and for marine use. I have one that resembles a Federal Model 2 fire siren, but the siren rotor is only about 4" and it is 12-volt. They built in two sizes: 4" and 6" (like a Federal EG,etc.). The few that I've actually seen were well made and quite loud. I understand that their selling prices were relatively low. A guy who was on my old volunteer fire dept. had bought one from a place somewhere in Ill. that specialized in old police cars and emergency equipment. It was black like the one pictured on this thread and was the 6" size. A couple of our guys decided they wanted one, but when they called Auto-Matic, they were told by this Berman guy that he didn't sell to Texas, saying that someone in Texas had stolen a couple of sirens from them. That was back in the '80s, so I don't know when or why they shut down. Dorgan has a couple of sirens on his website under his own label that are foreign made but look just like the Auto-Matic sirens.

Wow, thanks for the quick response!

That CHGO, 7 should also be helpful, sort of indicating mid sixties or earlier. It probably indicates that it is previous to the 5 digit zip code, when they were still on the near west side of Chicago.

Great Info Skip.