Federal Signal Model 17-Please help with date of manufacture
- Thread starter Sgt. Rep
- Start date
lotsofbars
Member
Doing some homework, they changed their name to "Federal sign and signal corporation" in 1956, and in 1958 they moved to Blue Island, IL from Chicago. Since mine says "Federal sign and signal corporation" and "Chicago, Il", I am going to assume it is a 1956-1958 manufacture date?
Mars Light
Member
Skulldigger
Member
There is a difficulty in dating these before 1969 with 100% accuracy. Starting in 1969 the serial number changed from 2N to 2R or 2P and the whole year was put at the end. Example: 2R16A69
From 1955 until 1969 there seems to be little to go by as far as how they were numbered. So 2N16G7 could be 57 or 67. In my index I have a 1N16G7 that was made in Chicago and and that would put it before 1955 but after 1948 so the 7 makes no sense as for a date code.
The first number is voltage
1=6v
2=12v
3=18v
4=24v
The second number is believed to be the dome color but it's not clear which is which..... but this is a possibility:
P-Blue?
R - RED?
N -Clear?
A- Amber?
16 means Model 17 (go figure? Federal had no rhyme or reason for model numbers)
In some it is thought the next letter code is for the month then the last number is the year, but that is questionable. Sometimes there is a final letter at the end for a special order. for example 1R16A69P
Even Federal has no clue as to the meaning of their serial numbers.
From 1955 until 1969 there seems to be little to go by as far as how they were numbered. So 2N16G7 could be 57 or 67. In my index I have a 1N16G7 that was made in Chicago and and that would put it before 1955 but after 1948 so the 7 makes no sense as for a date code.
The first number is voltage
1=6v
2=12v
3=18v
4=24v
The second number is believed to be the dome color but it's not clear which is which..... but this is a possibility:
P-Blue?
R - RED?
N -Clear?
A- Amber?
16 means Model 17 (go figure? Federal had no rhyme or reason for model numbers)
In some it is thought the next letter code is for the month then the last number is the year, but that is questionable. Sometimes there is a final letter at the end for a special order. for example 1R16A69P
Even Federal has no clue as to the meaning of their serial numbers.
The de facto expert here is stansdds when it comes to Federal Signal serial number decoding. I've begged and pleaded with him a few times over the years to write down everything that he knows, lest he gets hit by a bus or something, god forbid.
So they way I understand part of it is Federal used a alphanumerical month system.
A=January
B=February
C=March
and so on, right?
A=January
B=February
C=March
and so on, right?
It's fully explained in my how-to guide.
http://elightbars.org/forums/thread...ial-numbers-a-how-to-guide.80166/#post-615800
Dome shined up quite well after scrubbing with some wet aluminum foil. Still gotta fix up that crack though.