I forgot to mention that my high school had Simplex 4040 horns, and they are LOUD. They aren't on 4050-80 light plates, but they are on flush-mount grilles, which the user here also has with his 4040 horn.
They're interesting. Different designs, sirens, lights, everyone's got at least one that they remember scaring the shit out of them during their school years.
mine was the old IBM 4030-1s (same horn as my Faraday Type 2) in Middle School. Now that I own one I really enjoy setting it off. The 4040+4050-80 I saw in several building, and my old apartment building had them, until they upgraded to System Sensor MA/SSes (set to slow whoop) which were mounted on the disconnected 4050-80s
To be honest, mine is one of the few I DON'T actually know that well. I think it's a Simplex, judging by the fact that you just put the strobe on the bottom in "Simplex fire alarm test 3" and give it a continuous beat, but I'm not positive. I always recognized the different designs of these things, but I never knew the brands until a few months ago on YouTube. I'm going to feel so nerdy being able to name them by sight, now. :P
Mine was the Simplex 4040s (not on 4050-80s like this though), in high school. At least your middle school upgraded to the Wheelock MT4s (bet you felt a whole lot better after that).
As for those MA/SSes, I remember you saying how they were all unsynced, and the apartment units having the PA400Rs in them and the system not being ADA-compliant. Hope they'll do a new upgrade soon (probably with Spectra Advances or something)
I had to deal with a 4040 my freshman year of high school which did coded 4s (buzzbuzzbuzzbuzz,short pause,buzzbuzzbuzzbuzz,longer pause,:repeat::)(was in a small "private" school), but the "rec" building, had 870 Adaptahorns, and much to my "delight" 1st generation 4030-1s in narrow hallways, with oddly enough 4251-20 T-bars. I narrowly missed getting blasted by them on my last day there, thanks to a prankster (I was already outside when they bellowed to life)
I felt better about the MT4s when I saw them, not so much when a teacher told me after I got back from a field trip "good thing you wern't here. we had a fire drill with the new alarms, they were horrible". Even heard one of my friend say after the 1st time I got to hear them "I like the old ones better". Oddly enough, they didn't bother me in the gym, where there was 4 of them, replacing 1 4030-1. Now I know of doubt my old apartment will ever upgrade. the Middletown housing authority is cheap
Wow. I know Simplex continued "making" the 4040s until the late 1970s; that could be why you saw 4251-20 T-bar pulls with it, or they used to have older IBM pulls or something but replaced all of them (like in SimplexTech's "Old IBM/Simplex system", it's an old 1950s IBM system with single-stroke bells coded, but all pulls are 4251-20s.)
The 4040s (there was others in the building, but only one in the HS wing) had flush mount Gamewell M "street boxes" (old round "eye" window). I suspect they were coded as the system did coded 4s during drills. The 4251-20s were with 1st generation 4030-1s (aka Faraday Type 2s), which did continious. I suspect there was originally IBM chevrons, and the 4251-20s replaced them. The 4040 system is no more, as they were installing ET-LSMs (the whole place was upgrading to voice EVAC) with BG-8s.
Hmm, they had those same Gamewell pulls you mentioned at my middle school, but the horns were old loud Federal Signal flush-mount horns with the explosion-proof grille. The "4040s" you mentioned might actually have their original Federal Signal branding, being a Gamewell system
I suspect the same thing, but just called them "4040s" out of habit. I'm almost certain those old 4030-1s were IBMs. I'm kind of bummed out both of those systems are gone (I assume the 4030-1, 870 system is also gone, with ET-LSM ion their place). Sadly I'll have no way to checking up in person, as it's on gated secured private property. My only hope is to hear an alarm call over Hartford's fire frequency (they're tied into the city box system).
West Junior High, where my parents went, had an old Gamewell system from cira 1954 with Faraday Type 2s and those same Gamewell M "street box" pulls as my middle school (East Junior High) had. But when they recently put in a new elevator, the alarm system was upgraded. Most of the old Gamewell pulls are still intact, but BG-12 pulls were installed at exits, and SpectrAlert speaker/strobes and Spectra Advance remote strobes were installed (a few of the old horns remain, probably disconnected)
All the public schools I attended still have their original fire alarm systems intact and active. The most recent being the elementary school I attended for kindergarten; they have Simplex 4051+4050-80s for most of the alarms and 4251-30 break-glass pulls. The school was built in 1974 and those are the original alarms, though the panel was replaced in the 1980s with a Simplex 2001 (the Simplex graphic annunciator can be seen in the main lobby)
just about every apartment building in Middletown CT, where I grew up had them. It wasn't until a few years ago when I came across a 4050-80 with a 4050/4051 (I assume 4050s as they also had an 874 in hte computer lab, one of the 4050-80s had the lens of a 4903-9101 on it)
Almost every Simplex 4050-80 light plate I've seen had a 4050 or 4051 in it. The last few ones surviving at my college have 4051s, and so did one at an elementary school I went to for a summer program (I even heard them go off: 20 BPM March time). Usually I see them with 4251-30 break-glass T-bar pulls, but a courthouse that has 4050/4050-80s has old Simplex Chevron pulls, and my college has 4251-20 T-bars.
The guy that shot this video mentioned his older apartment used to have these: 4040 horns on 4050-80 light plates (with "FIRE" on the lens). But in 2004 they did a rather sh**ty upgrade with a new Honeywell system, where they merely took the 4040s out, left the 4050-80 plates intact (but disconnected the lights) and installed BRK-MA/SS horn/strobes on them. To make matters worse, the new horn/strobes were unsynchronized and were not ADA-compliant!
When the Notifier system 5000 was installed, the MASSADA was not available, only the original 1cd MA/SS was. If the MASSADA was available I'm sure they would of installed those instead. But I do agree thay should of synced the horns, even though hearing several of them whooping at differetn times, along with several PA400s was errie.
Nice! I miss being able to set off my 4051, I guess it decided to quit working while in storage, so that's one less working alarm I own now.
Great video Dan!
soccerdude7330 2 years ago
thanks. That reminds me, I need to give my 4051, and both 4050s a test
Federal3t22 2 years ago
Where the 4901 light plates ever made with a red lamp light?
Goldenrod636 2 years ago
to my knowledge, they only came with a "white" lamp
Federal3t22 2 years ago
I ask, because I took 3 years off SchuminWeb to figure out the mystery of the red 405085.
Goldenrod636 2 years ago
What you saw was probably a larger variant of the 4050-80 painted red
wilek209 2 years ago
Does the light pulse on it's own?
coffeeandsugar20 3 years ago 6
I forgot to mention that my high school had Simplex 4040 horns, and they are LOUD. They aren't on 4050-80 light plates, but they are on flush-mount grilles, which the user here also has with his 4040 horn.
wiley207 3 years ago
my old school had simplex horns all around including the 4050's without the light plate though.
computerTube3000 3 years ago
Why do you care somuch about fire alarms?
Mezza333 4 years ago
same reason why some people care about finding coins, or fixing up cars. It my hobby.
Federal3t22 4 years ago
my hobbie to - including outdoor warning sirens -
computerTube3000 3 years ago
mine too.
computerTube3000 3 years ago
because somone has to have a hobby
umahuma4 3 years ago
They're interesting. Different designs, sirens, lights, everyone's got at least one that they remember scaring the shit out of them during their school years.
CaptainHollyShort 2 years ago
mine was the old IBM 4030-1s (same horn as my Faraday Type 2) in Middle School. Now that I own one I really enjoy setting it off. The 4040+4050-80 I saw in several building, and my old apartment building had them, until they upgraded to System Sensor MA/SSes (set to slow whoop) which were mounted on the disconnected 4050-80s
Federal3t22 2 years ago
To be honest, mine is one of the few I DON'T actually know that well. I think it's a Simplex, judging by the fact that you just put the strobe on the bottom in "Simplex fire alarm test 3" and give it a continuous beat, but I'm not positive. I always recognized the different designs of these things, but I never knew the brands until a few months ago on YouTube. I'm going to feel so nerdy being able to name them by sight, now. :P
CaptainHollyShort 2 years ago
Mine was the Simplex 4040s (not on 4050-80s like this though), in high school. At least your middle school upgraded to the Wheelock MT4s (bet you felt a whole lot better after that).
As for those MA/SSes, I remember you saying how they were all unsynced, and the apartment units having the PA400Rs in them and the system not being ADA-compliant. Hope they'll do a new upgrade soon (probably with Spectra Advances or something)
wilek209 2 years ago
I had to deal with a 4040 my freshman year of high school which did coded 4s (buzzbuzzbuzzbuzz,short pause,buzzbuzzbuzzbuzz,longer pause,:repeat::)(was in a small "private" school), but the "rec" building, had 870 Adaptahorns, and much to my "delight" 1st generation 4030-1s in narrow hallways, with oddly enough 4251-20 T-bars. I narrowly missed getting blasted by them on my last day there, thanks to a prankster (I was already outside when they bellowed to life)
Federal3t22 2 years ago
I felt better about the MT4s when I saw them, not so much when a teacher told me after I got back from a field trip "good thing you wern't here. we had a fire drill with the new alarms, they were horrible". Even heard one of my friend say after the 1st time I got to hear them "I like the old ones better". Oddly enough, they didn't bother me in the gym, where there was 4 of them, replacing 1 4030-1. Now I know of doubt my old apartment will ever upgrade. the Middletown housing authority is cheap
Federal3t22 2 years ago
Wow. I know Simplex continued "making" the 4040s until the late 1970s; that could be why you saw 4251-20 T-bar pulls with it, or they used to have older IBM pulls or something but replaced all of them (like in SimplexTech's "Old IBM/Simplex system", it's an old 1950s IBM system with single-stroke bells coded, but all pulls are 4251-20s.)
wilek209 2 years ago
The 4040s (there was others in the building, but only one in the HS wing) had flush mount Gamewell M "street boxes" (old round "eye" window). I suspect they were coded as the system did coded 4s during drills. The 4251-20s were with 1st generation 4030-1s (aka Faraday Type 2s), which did continious. I suspect there was originally IBM chevrons, and the 4251-20s replaced them. The 4040 system is no more, as they were installing ET-LSMs (the whole place was upgrading to voice EVAC) with BG-8s.
Federal3t22 2 years ago
forgot to mention the 4040s were behind FG grills. They installed 2 ET-LSMs to replace one 4040.
Federal3t22 2 years ago
Hmm, they had those same Gamewell pulls you mentioned at my middle school, but the horns were old loud Federal Signal flush-mount horns with the explosion-proof grille. The "4040s" you mentioned might actually have their original Federal Signal branding, being a Gamewell system
wilek209 2 years ago
I suspect the same thing, but just called them "4040s" out of habit. I'm almost certain those old 4030-1s were IBMs. I'm kind of bummed out both of those systems are gone (I assume the 4030-1, 870 system is also gone, with ET-LSM ion their place). Sadly I'll have no way to checking up in person, as it's on gated secured private property. My only hope is to hear an alarm call over Hartford's fire frequency (they're tied into the city box system).
Federal3t22 2 years ago
West Junior High, where my parents went, had an old Gamewell system from cira 1954 with Faraday Type 2s and those same Gamewell M "street box" pulls as my middle school (East Junior High) had. But when they recently put in a new elevator, the alarm system was upgraded. Most of the old Gamewell pulls are still intact, but BG-12 pulls were installed at exits, and SpectrAlert speaker/strobes and Spectra Advance remote strobes were installed (a few of the old horns remain, probably disconnected)
wilek209 2 years ago
All the public schools I attended still have their original fire alarm systems intact and active. The most recent being the elementary school I attended for kindergarten; they have Simplex 4051+4050-80s for most of the alarms and 4251-30 break-glass pulls. The school was built in 1974 and those are the original alarms, though the panel was replaced in the 1980s with a Simplex 2001 (the Simplex graphic annunciator can be seen in the main lobby)
wilek209 2 years ago
Haha i sure do! the ones at my school are a long ass buzzz sound its so annoying. id jump everytime they went off lol
JBroLivingTheDream 2 years ago
lol why was this common to hear for you when you were a kid?
FireLiteAlarms 4 years ago
just about every apartment building in Middletown CT, where I grew up had them. It wasn't until a few years ago when I came across a 4050-80 with a 4050/4051 (I assume 4050s as they also had an 874 in hte computer lab, one of the 4050-80s had the lens of a 4903-9101 on it)
Federal3t22 4 years ago
Almost every Simplex 4050-80 light plate I've seen had a 4050 or 4051 in it. The last few ones surviving at my college have 4051s, and so did one at an elementary school I went to for a summer program (I even heard them go off: 20 BPM March time). Usually I see them with 4251-30 break-glass T-bar pulls, but a courthouse that has 4050/4050-80s has old Simplex Chevron pulls, and my college has 4251-20 T-bars.
wiley207 4 years ago
The guy that shot this video mentioned his older apartment used to have these: 4040 horns on 4050-80 light plates (with "FIRE" on the lens). But in 2004 they did a rather sh**ty upgrade with a new Honeywell system, where they merely took the 4040s out, left the 4050-80 plates intact (but disconnected the lights) and installed BRK-MA/SS horn/strobes on them. To make matters worse, the new horn/strobes were unsynchronized and were not ADA-compliant!
wiley207 4 years ago
When the Notifier system 5000 was installed, the MASSADA was not available, only the original 1cd MA/SS was. If the MASSADA was available I'm sure they would of installed those instead. But I do agree thay should of synced the horns, even though hearing several of them whooping at differetn times, along with several PA400s was errie.
Federal3t22 4 years ago
to wiley207: that's a bummer.
TheUPBNSF 3 years ago
oh well.
computerTube3000 3 years ago
I remember that! I like the 4040 on there better with the working light better. Good to see that combo in action.
DavidFromAE 3 years ago
holy shit, that buzz sounds evil to me
TheUPBNSF 4 years ago
The horn vibrating agenst the 4050-85 gives it more of a metalic sound. Also what you didn't see was dust falling out of the 4040 as it sounded.
Federal3t22 4 years ago