Federal FIRE BALL Family History

[dmathieu]

Let me see what I can do.

 

[coop359]

I never liked the eye shields. Really cut the light output of the light. On the FD we had guys paint the back and left side of the blue dome or put aluminum foil inside the dome which may be a problem for long on times. I preferred throwing my FB on the roof for the 360 effect. More folks moved out of the way especially at night

 

[Black Hoe]

The vinyl eye shields were made very well but they did retain the heat generated by the bulb during extended interior usage.

 

[dmathieu]

Yeah, if I remember correctly, the instruction sheet said not to use the cover on working light for more than 10 minutes to avoid cover or dome damage.

 

[dmathieu]

Strip-down and clean-up of my new Very first version Fire Ball FB-1, Serial 2A10, 1956 vintage, (going on 63 yrs. old), came out very well. See if you can pick out the differences from the typical 2A12 serial.

 

[shues]

What lubricant, if any, do you put on the small sponge there on the 2A10's gear?

 

[dmathieu]

Light (sewing machine, or gun) oil. Also at the 2 motor bearings, 1 drop each.

 

[dmathieu]

Just latched on to my 2nd Darley rebadged early FB-1 to add to my collection.
W.S.Darley was a large municipal/police/fire supplier back in the 1950s and 1960s. They had Federal rebadge Fire Ball FB-1 s with their own part number H573, (instead of FB-1), stamped in the clamp ring, no sticker was applied. Here are a couple of pics. I'll add more after received and cleaned up.

 

[dmathieu]

1956 First Version Fire Ball Serial # 1A10
Can you list all of the differences between this and the more widely known 2A12? There are at least 6 differences.

 

[southpaw]

Adding this for the group. Runs just fine. Will be removing the magnet..

 

[ur20v]

So when this showed up in the mail and I peered through the dome and saw an H1 bulb, my heart sank. I thought for sure someone had monkeyed with the light and somehow jammed a halogen bulb in it. When I opened it up a few minutes ago, I was even more confused as it didn't look anything like my other Flashballs inside. And what's more, the H1 bulb looked like it was supposed to be in there. I was about to make a post asking for expert opinions but then I found this thread. Looks like I have a "Super Fireball" with the friction drive and halogen capsule. Not sure if I have a genuine FS dome, however, as it just has "F 7" molded into it.

 

[dmathieu]

Right on all counts. You have a FBH11, Super Fire Ball. This is appx. when they started marking their domes as you have.

 

[Mars Light]

I got an unmarked blue teardrop dome for a Fireball.
Does FS marked their domes later with F7 or ist this another producer?
Dietz/TuffBilt/TrailBrite have the same size, but all of them are marked with DZ/TB 7-07...

 

[dmathieu]

Original version Federal.... no markings.

 

[stansdds]

Correct, early production Federal Fireball/Flashball domes had no markings, later production Federal domes were marked "F7". Other manufacturers appear to have mark their domes from the beginning of their production.

 

[Mars Light]

Thanks, is there a time frame until the original unmarked version was used?

 

[dmathieu]

Thanks, is there a time frame until the original unmarked version was used?

1956 to approximately 1975

 

[dmathieu]

FIRE BALL Self Leveling Mount

In a 1971 printed Fire Ball Bulletin #355 Was This:: Self Leveling Bracket. For service vehicles operating on grades off the horizontal, a self-leveling bracket for the FB-2 is available. Model 4FB. It had a 1971 price of $15.75.
Fire Ball Self Leveling Bracket..... a great addition to my museum!
Received in the mail yesterday. Thanks to Fred Weiss. This looks to be a very well engineered and manufactured item. It is also extremely heavy. It would be used in any situation to keep the light level, such as previously mentioned boat or dump truck use. This is made to fit Fire Ball size light specifically. I would not doubt that it could have been made by Federal. The Fire Ball is a 6 Volt FB-2, Serial 1A12.





+5

 

[stansdds]

The only self-leveling brackets marketed as Federal Signal were model numbers:
417, For the Power 184 beacon
414, for the Model 14 beacon
4121, for the Vitalite 121 beacon
These were very simple brackets, no counterweights. They are not listed in the Federal Signal SPI 1989, so I'm thinking they might have been made by another manufacturer and sold through Federal Signal.

 

[dmathieu]

Very possible. It looks like the 4FB follows their numbering system.
So far the only reference that I've found is the 1971 #355 bulletin.