Federal Electric Company oscillating light

[Tomhae]

Couple weeks back I brought a pair of these cool oscillating lights which clearly seem to have come off a fire truck. The labels read Federal Electric Company, Inc. They are 6volt and I believe it says Model 16. I tried an online search for more info but was surprised about the lack of results. Anybody restore any of these? One works great, and the other is "frozen" for lack of a better term. I took it apart as far as I could, and found the electric motor still works, but the issue seems to be inside a compartment that is pressed together. There must be some type of cam mechanism inside that creates the oscillation. Any experience you could share would be awesome, I would love to have the pair working together. The area I cannot access is the solid olive green portion above the exposed motor.


Thanks, Kevin

 

[ERIC6913]

i have one just like yours i am currently restoring.

 

[Skip Goulet]

Looks like it could be a Buckeye MotoRay (there's anoather thread about them) that was produced with a Federal label.

 

[Tomhae]

Does anybody know the vintage of these, and am I correct in assuming that Federal Elcectric was a precursor to Federal Sign and Signal?

 

[lotsofbars]

I'm thinking 30's-40's.

 

[ful-vue]

am I correct in assuming that Federal Elcectric was a precursor to Federal Sign and Signal?

From Wikipedia: "Federal Signal started out as the Federal Electric Company in 1901"

 

[ERIC6913]

I think Federal did not make them. I think they were made for Federal by the Carpenter light co., based on the design and tag. I think this light was the inspiration for the traffik-king light assembly from Federal. The interior designs is strikingly similar.

 

[Tomhae]

Well they are pretty well made. Look how great that motor looks, I didn't clean it up at all, that's how it looked when I opened it!

 

[wfdstation42]

Here's my Carpenter version before and after pics. The only thing wrong with it was one of the copper wires supplying power to the motor windings was broke. Soldered it back together and it worked perfectly.








Obligatory video

 

[Tomhae]

Looks cool in white! I was actually thinking about doing that since I'm more of a police guy than fire. Where were these being mounted on the vehicle?

 

[ERIC6913]

mines gonna sport fresh chrome

 

[Phillyrube]

Along these lines, one of the guys I ran with in PA back in the 70s had a dash light that looked like a Mars light, being chrome, with a wig wag light inside. Just back and forth, no up and down. Any ideas? I thought I saw one on Dorgan's website, called a Dorgan light, but I can't find it.

 

[Torpedo]

Along these lines, one of the guys I ran with in PA back in the 70s had a dash light that looked like a Mars light, being chrome, with a wig wag light inside. Just back and forth, no up and down. Any ideas? I thought I saw one on Dorgan's website, called a Dorgan light, but I can't find it.

I remember that light too, I can't seem to get Dorgan's site to display right now...has the URL changed?

 

[Skip Goulet]

I think Federal did not make them. I think they were made for Federal by the Carpenter light co., based on the design and tag. I think this light was the inspiration for the traffik-king light assembly from Federal. The interior designs is strikingly similar.

You're right, it is the Carpenter, not the MotoRay. The TraffikKing also oscillated the same way.

 

[Skip Goulet]

From Wikipedia: "Federal Signal started out as the Federal Electric Company in 1901"

Federal ran as Federal Electric up until the early '40s. They then became Federal Enterprises. By the late '40s, maybe early '50s, they became Federal Sign and Signal Corp., and since the '70s, Federal Signal Corp. There was also another division known as Federal Laboratories which was based, if I remember correctly, out of PA or NY, not out of the Chicago as was the case with the parent companies. They had the full line of Federal sirens but they all had different model numbers. For example the Q-2 became a 102 under Federal Labs.