Federal FIRE BALL Family History

[dmathieu]

This Signal Stat Model 340 / Rebadged Federal FB-1 Fire Ball cleaned up nicely, and works like a charm.

Other than a small part of the left side, the label is perfect.

This is my 23rd DIFFERENT Federal Fire Ball teardrop light.

 

[ex416]

looks like that turned out to be a real nice one for you Dan. 

 

[dmathieu]

Perfect! A beautiful and different addition to my Fire Ball subcollection.

Thanks again Ken!

 

[stansdds]

The only rebranded Fireball I have is a FB-1 labeled for J.W. Speaker Corp.  That's a nice Signal Stat badged Fireball, Dan.

 

[Skip Goulet]

It can be surprising at the rebadging that Federal did.   On one of the Facebook sites I see a guy here in TX had a Federal Model "O" siren that had been rebadged many, many years ago for the old Detroit-General Corp.  I saw a few of those as a kids and just thought then that they were copying what Federl built.  Now I know better!

 

[stansdds]

I know that through the decades Federal Signal has rebadged beacons to be sold by Dietz, J.W. Speaker, Signal-Stat, and W.S. Darley.  I wonder how the prices on the rebadged products compared to prices on the same products sold under the Federal Signal name?

 

[Skip Goulet]

I know that through the decades Federal Signal has rebadged beacons to be sold by Dietz, J.W. Speaker, Signal-Stat, and W.S. Darley.  I wonder how the prices on the rebadged products compared to prices on the same products sold under the Federal Signal name?

I know that the sirens rebadged for Darley  as Champion Sirens were considerably lower than the stock Federal sirens. I'd assume the same was true for the beacons.  I have a beacon that when I first got it I thought it was a low-skirted older 17. Turned out to be a 174 with the older skirt and smaller dome and is labeled as a Darley Champion.

 

[Fireball]

Picked up a new addition for my Fireball collection. F7 dome is a little rough. It could use a wet sanding.  A clear dome model FB13W Series A2 seems like a good find for under $100. Now I have a Fireball rainbow! I knew someone here would enlighten me as to what FB13W was.

Nice family !

 

[dmathieu]

Interesting thread on the second generation rubber friction drive ring.

 

[dmathieu]

Just added another New In Box 1959 vintage Fire Ball FB-1 / 2A12 with cover, plate and instruction sheet to the collection. PERFECT!

It's hard to see in the picture, but the eye shield cover is a much darker gray/silver than is typical...nice!

 

[tsquale]

That is an awesome NOS find! It's miraculous how well some NOS pieces can look after sitting for years.

 

[dmathieu]

2 NOS NIB FB-1 / 2A12 Fire Balls.

One with lighter gray eye shield and sticker type red label.

One with darker gray eye shield and painted on red label.

 

[Fireball]

I love it

 

[toon80]

Very Nice Dan.

I wonder: with all the Fireballs you have, have you come across every single version that was made? Do you have many Fireballs that are identical (in model, serial, color, etc) meaning when you find a NOS one/newer/better one you already have, you just keep this better one and sell the lesser nice one? (Altough they are ALL nice)

 

[dmathieu]

I have a few NOS, and rare repeats, but for the most part, I do exactly as you say, ending up with a pretty complete NOS to mint collection.

I think I have most of what was offered. I know that I am missing split teardrop domes.

I'm always on the look out.

I currently have 24 teardrop Fire Balls in my collection, plus the FB2 rotating and strobe versions, as well as the FireBeam/MagnaBeam series.

 

[dmathieu]

Another oddity........NOS FB-1 with serial number 2A12P1.

The typical serial number is 2A12 .

In previous posts I have noted other odd serial Numbers.

Unsure why the added letters and numbers in these odd serial numbers. Maybe special manufacturing run, or made for special customer. Open to other suggestions.

 

[Skip Goulet]

I have a few NOS, and rare repeats, but for the most part, I do exactly as you say, ending up with a pretty complete NOS to mint collection.

I think I have most of what was offered. I know that I am missing split teardrop domes.

I'm always on the look out.

I currently have 24 teardrop Fire Balls in my collection, plus the FB2 rotating and strobe versions, as well as the FireBeam/MagnaBeam series.

What do you have in your collection of non-Federal teardrop lights?

 

[dmathieu]

I have a blue NOS, NIB Trippe MR-3 teardrop, and 2 French National Police GDO blue teardrops, all for sale. Other than those, the only teardrops that I have in my collection are 24 all different Federal Fire Ball teardrops.

I have a more specialized collection than I used to, not quite as eclectic.

 

[dmathieu]

November, 1956 ad , the oldest that I've seen advertising the Fire Ball.

The first production run of the Fire Ball was August 1956.

 

[kitn1mcc]

cool catalog

 

[Skip Goulet]

November, 1956 ad , the oldest that I've seen advertising the Fire Ball.

The first production run of the Fire Ball was August 1956.

The first ad I ever saw showing the Fireball was Federal's Catalog 300 that came out in 1959.  I'm sure you've seen it, Dan, with a picture of a red Fireball sitting on the dash with the slip-on cover.

 

[dmathieu]

Here is a great long awaited addition to my Fire Ball sub-collection, (thanks to eric6913!!).

This is a Federal Signal F-7 dome in European CIE blue. It is mounted to my Rebadged Sirac Paris FBH11. The pictures show that it is darker than the standard Federal blue, but the pictures don't do it justice. This is very dark, very blue, more on the dark indigo side. The Federal CIE blue is the same very dark blue as is on the European made GDO teardrop also used by The French National Police.

On the negative side, this very dark European blue decreases the light output substantially.  

Thanks again Eric!

 

[rond]

Thanks for sharing. It sure is darker.

 

[tsquale]

Very cool Dan!

 

[Windycity411]

Where's the "super like" button?!? Drool......

 

[stansdds]

Great comparison shots.  I never understood why European nations adopted such a dark blue for warning beacons.  I'm sure it is visible at night, but during the day blue light is already at a disadvantage, making it darker would make it even worse.

 

[Skip Goulet]

Great comparison shots.  I never understood why European nations adopted such a dark blue for warning beacons.  I'm sure it is visible at night, but during the day blue light is already at a disadvantage, making it darker would make it even worse.

I agree with you on that.   When I was in Lubbock, the one funeral home still running an ambulance operation put two then-new '69 Oldsmobile ambulances in service. Both came with the two roof-mounted "torpedo" light that Cotner/Bevington used at the time, along with a roof-mounted Q and Dietz 211 beacons behind the sirens.  The two torpedo lights were barely visible, so they mounted a pair of blue Dietz lollipops between the torpedo lights and Q sirens. Didn't do them much better, as they couldn't be seen that well during the day; but at night the blue sure stood out.  Eventually they got the "message" and removed the torpedo lights, replacing them with red Dietz lollipops.  Much better!

 

[dmathieu]

Here is the only FB-1 base that I have ever seen that does not have a swing out security mounting clip to slide over a small screw installed in the roof to keep the light from sliding off.

 

[tsquale]

Well, you not having it and describing it now allows me to know what it is for, so thanks!

 

[stansdds]

Here is the only FB-1 base that I have ever seen that does not have a swing out security mounting clip to slide over a small screw installed in the roof to keep the light from sliding off.

Perhaps this was very early production and the need for the clip had yet to be discovered.

 

[Skip Goulet]

Perhaps this was very early production and the need for the clip had yet to be discovered.

That's possible, but even the early Juniors had the clip.  At Ellis Funeral Home we had a Junior on our '58 Chrysler wagon, and it had the security clip; but it didn't do much good. At 65 the light flew off the car despite the clip and badly damaged the light.  The ambulance was run sans-light for nearly two months while the light was being repaired by Federal.

 

[dmathieu]

You know, you think you've seen it all, and know your lights.......then something comes up to prove you wrong!

This is the roughest Fire Ball that I have bought......here's why I bought it.

The earliest S/N of any Fire Ball that I've seen, or even seen discussed is   2A12......

Below are pics of my new 2A10

Very early version, 2A10 S/N, has no vibration plate for rotator assy. The assy, and everything else is mounted directly to the aluminum base instead of a gold colored vibration absorbing mounting plate. There is no security mounting clip mounted to the front of the base. The power strip screws come up from the bottom, with the nuts at the top. The clip system holding the dome clamp ring is different from all that I've see. I don't believe this is a home made clip because the riveting and types of rivets used is proper for this type of clip system, and not for the typical Fire Ball clamp ring clip.

I think I might have another piece of history here.

More after I receive it and get it cleaned up.

 

[tsquale]

Wow that is rough! But it certainly suits your collection, Dan. Congrats on the find!

 

[dmathieu]

Rough shape, but a different, historical item added to the extensive Fire Ball sub-collection.

A good teardown and clean-up will help some.

Never even heard of a 2A10 before.

 

[Skip Goulet]

That must be one of the old ones I  used to see that whined and rattled loudly when it spun.

 

[rond]

Nice find and considering the age it looks pretty good.

 

[dmathieu]

Could be as early as August 1956, the 1st production run.

 

[dmathieu]

That's possible, but even the early Juniors had the clip.  At Ellis Funeral Home we had a Junior on our '58 Chrysler wagon, and it had the security clip; but it didn't do much good. At 65 the light flew off the car despite the clip and badly damaged the light.  The ambulance was run sans-light for nearly two months while the light was being repaired by Federal.

The Junior came out in March of  1958, well after the  August of 1956 start of the Fire Ball. By that time, the Fire Ball definitely had the screw clamp. The same screw clamp was used on the cast aluminum base Model 15E, and the 1962 Vitalite.

 

[stansdds]

Betcha dollars to donuts that the series 2A10 was from the first two years of production and the 2A12 incorporated fixes in the design.

 

[dmathieu]

I'm going with something like that.

Version 1 Fire Ball