Those are actually two different strobes, even though they look extremely similar. It’s hard to see in the pictures, but the Faraday model I posted has a smaller plate and a slightly different lens and font. The http://i804.photobucket.com/albums/yy322/Chupacabra_1/Fire%20Alarms/SANY0484.jpg rest of the strobes in this building are red-lensed WSTs like yours, so the lone Faraday model is probably replacing one of those.
Unfortunately, the system’s other components are long gone. Many of those bells and lights have either been painted over or removed, so these two are rare survivors. An Electro Vox fire alarm system with new devices was installed sometime around the early '80s. The Electro Vox system is quite interesting (lots of rare devices), although it is nowhere near as special as the 1930s Edwards setup.
There weren’t any extinguishers or hose cabinets below these lights. These signals are simply located in the middle of each corridor, near the newer system’s bells and speakers.
I thought that the Space Age Electronics HA24D/VA4 horns were pretty rare as I only saw two in person.
Somebody on here once said that their middle school had HA24Ds and they all sounded different. Does anybody here know if there is anyway to change the pitch? I found 4 videos on YouTube that have different pitches.
Wheelock makes several “grey” devices for general signaling purposes. Not uncommon. Can be used for boiler alarms, high or low temperature alarms, water level alarms, even gate opening/closing. They have a whole line of telephone ringers too. That’s why you don’t see the FIRE lettering on the strobe, would be illegal.
It probably wouldn’t have that exact model number if it was a general signaling version of the device. Like I said, it is most likely a similar variant.
One of my first “real” jobs was working at a Datacenter for the local hospital. Right outside the room I worked, in the hallway, they had two telephone ringers. One was like the square one pictured above but without the strobe. That one rang when the hot line phone rang. The other one was a bell (I want to say 8" but it was in an enclosure that looked too big for a 6") that rang when someone didn’t answer the hot line after so many rings or the hot line was busy. The bell would always scare the crap out of me!
I found this fire alarm at one of my high schools (I am a travel student). I don’t know what model it is but to me this is like a piece of the school’s history right here in front of me. For context, this school was built in the 1963 so the alarm is about as old as the school if not older.
