Dad brought a grinder to take down the big 10" bell (the bolt holding it to the facade was rusted), but I didn’t think to get the backboxes with it… Would’ve tried, if I knew. I only had two days to work in the building before the asbestos abatement team returned to work, and I was focused on salvaging as many of the indoor devices as I could.
Just looked it up. Those signs are rather unique.
That’s really sad… It’s the same in my area, with almost every town replacing their old schools (some of which I’ve gotten tours of) with new ones. All gone too soon… At least some of them are still around.
there’s a small town west of Akron (Medina) that still has all of their original schools left, all the FA stuff is 1980s Simplex. My GF lives in an eastern suburb of Akron (Stow), which still has the majority of their old schools
Akron’s basically had the same “erase and replace” mentality since the late 60s, when they constructed all of those urban renewal projects
I bought a fire alarm control panel from Old School Fire Alarms!
This Autocall SA Master Code (2FA32W25ATA) FACP was saved from Anne T. Case Elementary in Akron, Ohio. (Dem. 2016) It was manufactured ~1956, when the school was built.
Here is OSFA’s video of the panel in operation in its former home!
OSFA has beautifully restored this panel to its former glory.
The code wheel transmits the iconic 4-4-4-4 march time signal through the notification appliances, in this panel’s case 10” single-stroke bells.
I also bought two pull stations from OSFA; an Autocall FNC, which originally came with the panel, and a later generation Simplex 4251-20 pull station on a backbox.
The panel is fully operational, and I will make a video of it setting off my Autocall Executive chime sometime.
I won’t be able to test other devices in my collection using it, as it is designed to power 2.5 Amp bells and chimes. Also, if I want to run horns on it, I will need a 70 Ohm 100 Watt balancing resistor. This panel has a 30 Ohm resistor in it for the bells it once ran.
**Special thanks to Old School Fire Alarms for this awesome panel!
**
Edit: post year fixed
that is awesome. by the way, he’s also active on here under the username @SpockKirk-1701
I should also mention that Case ES had a twin on the southeast side (the Ellet neighborhood) called Otis C. Hatton, which was sadly demolished in 2012/3 and built roughly around the same time.
I won’t be surprised if that 4251-20 came from either Garfield HS or the now-demolished St. Thomas Hospital
