I started out installing fire alarm systems in 1967, most were Faraday because the company I worked for shared an office with the Faraday factory rep. This was before the dawn of Voice FA systems. The company I worked for was a factory direct dealer for Gamewell, Spectronics, Standard Electric Time, Evax, Mircom and I was the trouble shooter when the electrical contractor couldn’t get the system to work. I also ran factory service for Mircom who had just introduced their Voice Evac panel that was being coupled together with most of the above mentioned FA companies. The voice message was being generated by a Mackenzie tape deck and was mechanical in design and if not exercised, over time they would quit working and there was no audio supervision of the message. I also ran service for the local Faraday factory representative when his customers could not get their systems working. Most of the old Faraday systems used series wired horns and a single break resulted in rendering the FA system useless. I was also a distributor for Kiddie, FireLite, Fenwal, Potter, VES, Hochiki, Siemens and others who were very obscure. Today I am a distributor for Notifier and sell, design, install many of the 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70 story buildings built and being built on Miami South Beach. I also have a collection and one item is a very old Faraday fire alarm panel that was often referred to as a “bakelite” panel because the factory built it custom to the specific requirements of the project and the bakelite board is about 4.5 feet square and about 1" thick and weighs in at approximately 300 pounds. The factory mounted relays and coders (motors with code wheels) in rows filling the board. Its a rather neat item and was working when I removed it from a hospital. I have seen a lot of manufacturers come and go and merge and close their doors over the years.