Here are more pictures of South Junior High School’s Simplex fire alarm system and a few other assorted things relating to that school. Nothing has been changed since I last went there. I didn’t get a pic of the Simplex 4100U voice-evac panel or the 4603-9101 annunciator, but at least they weren’t in Trouble mode for once! This should interest the user TrueAlertSpeaker/Strobe, as the system here is quite similar to the alarm system at Chenery Middle School, where he had junior high.
As I’ve mentioned before, 99% of the signals in the building are Simplex TrueAlert speaker/strobes, often with different strobe candela ratings. This one is a 4903-9357 (the 75-candela version), and are common around the building. They have the speaker/strobes installed just about everywhere in the building, even in the classrooms!
The remote strobes in the restrooms are Simplex TrueAlert strobes. They are 15 candelas and, unlike the speaker/strobes, do NOT have the TrueAlert logo on them! Maybe the strobes were new-old-stock, or Simplex makes versions with and without the TrueAlert logo still. Usually with the exception of Brockton Hospital and Brockton Public Library, usually when I see remote TrueAlert strobes they do not have the TrueAlert logo on them, like the ones at this school.
Most of the pull stations are Simplex 4099-9003 T-bars. All but at least two of them have Sigcom covers that are a knock-off of the Stopper II. Today I even heard a kid bump into one of the covers and set off its built-in sounder! It sounded like a Wheelock MT in Continuous. I knew for sure it couldn’t be the school’s alarm system, and the kids were thinking he was going to “pull the sprinklers” or already set off the alarms! I explained that pulling the fire alarm does NOT activate the sprinkler system, and the alarm that sounded was just the horn in the pull station cover used to scare away pranksters. So that proves a long-held suspicion I had, that these covers have built-in sounders like Stopper IIs do!
That large backbox with the silver plate over it is where an Edwards 360-L flush-mount horn used to be prior to the renovation six years ago. There’s another like this, and all the others were regular flush-mounted. The smaller silver plate next to it is where a 6-inch IBM bell used to be. You’d think that Simplex would’ve taken out that backbox and plated over if there was a hole behind it. But then again, the old Edwards fire horns were AC-voltage, and the Simplex speaker/strobes are DC-voltage, so it makes sense to plate over the old alarms and put the new ones on backboxes in other areas. If they were replacing a Simplex 2001 system with 4051+4050-80s, then it would’ve been different.
The sprinklers. They have these everywhere in the school. I think they are SimplexGrinnell sprinklers, since the school has a Simplex fire alarm and clock system. These were put in when the school was renovated.
The smoke detectors are Simplex TrueAlarms. I don’t know their model number, but I am pretty sure they are addressable since the system’s a Simplex 4100U and the pulls are addressable too. They occasionally blink a red LED. These are installed in all hallways and office areas and large rooms. The kitchen has Simplex heat sensors, which makes sense.
However, THIS is located right near an exit in the auditorium. It’s a Simplex 4099-9001 pull! I don’t know why there is a 4099-9001 here while the rest I have seen so far are 4099-9003s. Maybe the installers ran out of -9003s at one point when the upgrade was almost complete. I think it would’ve been funny if they put in a 4099-9002 or even an addressable 4251 pull that was new-old stock!
This speaker/strobe is a Simplex 4903-9356, the 15-candela version. They have these in some areas instead of 4903-9357s. The 4903-9356s are the exact same TrueAlert speaker/strobe model installed at the Brockton Public Library and the South Shore Plaza mall. I also saw a 4903-9358 speaker/strobe somewhere in the building (the 110 candela version :shock: )! The TrueAlert speaker/strobes in the gymnasium have red metal grille thingies over them to prevent being destroyed, which made sense since they were playing dodgeball when I was there!
This is in the men’s locker room. What I THOUGHT was a regular Wheelock E70 turned out to be a DIFFERENT speaker/strobe! It know for sure it’s a Wheelock alarm judging by the strobe design and the “FIRE” font, and of course the Wheelock logo on the bottom. It is a Wheelock ET70WP speaker/strobe. The design reminds me of a Wheelock E50 but with a Wheelock weatheproof RSS strobe on the top and a shorter height. I guess since Simplex does not make their own weatherproof signals they had to order them from Wheelock.
However, the restroom in this locker room has a Simplex TrueAlert strobe. I think they should’ve used a weatherproof Wheelock RSS strobe in here, because it’s in a locker room and they already have a weatherproof speaker/strobe here.
On a semi-related note, these are the Simplex clock/PA speaker combos in the school. They all look like this. I think they should’ve used some individual clocks in some rooms like the gymnasium and hallways and hook up some of the old existing speakers in those areas to the new PA system. They sound a tone over the PA system for class-change signaling, but there are NO loudspeakers outside! Also, in the classrooms they mounted these new clock/speakers right next to the old PA speakers from when the school was built in 1954, which are disconnected (the new clock/speakers were installed right where the old IBM clocks and at least one Simplex clock were). They kinda remind me of the clock/PA speaker combos in my high school.
This is the outdoor clock tower. This was added to the school when it was renovated and is not part of the original structure. It also contains the school elevator. It should be noted that this clock is not set for Daylight Savings Time (the clock system inside was, though). They told me the clock towers in the city are controlled by somewhere downtown. This clock does not have any chimes in it (we have some churches in my town, including one near my college, that do chime on the hour).
Interestingly, the school still has its old fallout shelter sign still intact! It’s pretty much out of date by now (the school closed their fallout shelter several years ago). The school is built with very thick concrete to help prevent radioactivity from a nuclear explosion getting in the building (they obviously built this school with The Bomb in mind, as “Duck and Cover” referred to it as). The sign is to be taken down in the future, and the principal said I can have it, since I knew him from East Junior High (he was one of my health teachers there) and he knows I’m interested in that old Civil Defense stuff. The fire station on Main Street and an old warehouse not too far from the library also have fallout shelter signs, too. Good to see my city knew plenty about “Duck and Cover” back in the 1950s and 1960s!
Also, I checked out the Huntington K-5 school right near South Junior High, and like its middle school neighbor, nothing has been changed here since I last saw. I didn’t see their panel, but the old Simplex annunciator is still intact (it’s a Simplex 4208 system installed when the school was renovated in 1978-1979, it was originally built in 1896 and added onto in 1914!).
The Simplex 4051+4050-80s are still intact…
Likewise the 4251-30 pulls. Even the Wheelock MT horn/strobe outside is still there!
Any comments?