Whelen ROTA-BEAM Family History

joemac

New Member
May 19, 2017
3
Elverson, Pa.
They are definitely not available from the factory, but I may have some.
Thanks. That sounds expensive:eek:
Here's my story: I own a 1947 American La France pumper that originally had a pair of red flashers on the rear that I wanted to replace with Whelen RBs.
I volunteer some of my time helping out a fire museum where my engine is stored. The other day I bought a pair of RBIIs from the museum.
I spent some time looking through all of the parts for these lights, hoping to find some good red globes and decent gaskets.
All of the globes were either cracked or broken.
I picked the two best ones and I'm polishing them and have glued the cracks with liquid styrene glue.
I called Whelen yesterday and had two girls tell me that they won't make new parts for old lights.

The museum probably has thirty pairs of these lights ready to sell, but no good globes and no good gaskets. I'd like to help them out and see some of these lights fixed up and sold. They desperately need revenue. They also have a couple of dozen rigs with cracked/broken globes and dried out gaskets. I know collectors who would also buy these parts, but they're NLA.
 

dmathieu

Lifetime VIP Donor
May 20, 2010
8,766
S.W. New Hampshire, USA
Yeah, because of the twist on design of the domes, the domes were definitely a weak point on these lights. Good domes are not cheap. I just bought a nice red, and paid a high price for it, as red is hard to find in really nice condition. I have a few of other colors also, but for the time being, unless the price was right, they will stay in my collection.
 

joemac

New Member
May 19, 2017
3
Elverson, Pa.
Yeah, because of the twist on design of the domes, the domes were definitely a weak point on these lights. Good domes are not cheap. I just bought a nice red, and paid a high price for it, as red is hard to find in really nice condition. I have a few of other colors also, but for the time being, unless the price was right, they will stay in my collection.
Yeah, because of the twist on design of the domes, the domes were definitely a weak point on these lights. Good domes are not cheap. I just bought a nice red, and paid a high price for it, as red is hard to find in really nice condition. I have a few of other colors also, but for the time being, unless the price was right, they will stay in my collection.
I'm very surprised that they didn't learn from the early models that also cracked at the top of the dome. They should have reinforced the plastic at the flimsy mounting points. They could have made the plastic heavier to withstand the strain. Maybe they were aware of the weakness and just decided to sell more replacement globes. Built-in obsolescence.
I wonder if the globes could be easily made by someone else.

How about new gaskets?
 

Southern5

Member
Mar 12, 2017
25
Ozark al
IMG_0414.JPG IMG_0415.JPG Great info! I may have overlooked it, but what do the rb11's go for? I picked up a couple today at a local antique store. Both have cracks on one of the pins. Both work great. Gaskets are a little dry rotted, but overall decent shape.
 

dmathieu

Lifetime VIP Donor
May 20, 2010
8,766
S.W. New Hampshire, USA
In that condition, without seeing and hearing them run, maybe up to $50 each on a good day. Good domes are hard to find, and costly. Motors and gear trains get loose and noisy also reducing value. Gaskets and badges also reduce.
 

Southern5

Member
Mar 12, 2017
25
Ozark al
Thanks for the info! They run quiet. One of the badges is not legible at all, other one is decent. Thanks again for the info, I came out pretty good. Not good as I hoped though!
 

dmathieu

Lifetime VIP Donor
May 20, 2010
8,766
S.W. New Hampshire, USA
My new to me First Version CORPORAL cleaned up nicely, and works perfectly. Due to my research, I believe the CORPORAL was introduced to the ROTA-BEAM line in 1966. That would make this a 1966 first version. The tag is a generic ROTA-BEAM tag, I assume because the CORPORAL tags had not been produced yet. The base is chrome plated brass common on the older ROTA-BEAMs, instead of the typical stainless steel used on the newer. The magnifiers are very slightly larger and thicker, also common with older models, that give a slightly brighter impulse seen in older ROTA-BEAMs.s-l1600.jpg S6306158.JPG S6306159.JPG S6306160.JPG
 
Last edited:

Forum Statistics

Threads
53,962
Messages
449,805
Members
19,102
Latest member
Hilux01

About Us

  • Since 1997, eLightbars has been the premier venue for all things emergency warning equipment. Discussions, classified listings, pictures, videos, chat, & more! Our staff members strive to keep the forums organized and clutter-free. All of our offerings are free-of-charge with all costs offset by banner advertising. Premium offerings are available to improve your experience.

User Menu

Secure Browsing & Transactions

eLightbars.org uses SSL to secure all traffic between our server and your browsing device. All browsing and transactions within are secured by an SSL Certificate with high-strength encryption.