Glass Strobes?

Are there any strobes with glass covers instead of the usual plastic? I’ve never seen or heard of one so i’m curious if there are. Thanks.

I have never heard of a strobe with a glass lens either. I’d assume they would have to be rare and durable if there are any existing now since many notification appliances could be exposed to many elements.

I don’t think so because that would be pretty difficult to attach to any plastic or metal housing.

To add onto what has already been stated, considering that fire alarm strobes really came onto the market it the late 1970’s when mass plastic production had already been in full swing for quite some time, it would have been odd for a manufacturer to revert to glass components within their products.

That being said, I’m sure there were many fire alarm “lights” produced throughout the years that were partly or entirely made of glass (not counting the incandescent bulb itself). The large red glass indicators above Gamewell Masterboxes come to mind immediately for outdoor applications, and smaller versions such as the one in the image below were probably installed occassionally for indoor applications at some point.

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And here I thought that the strobes WERE already glass because they could crack and have filaments in them. So they were plastic the whole time? You learn something new every day.

I’m not talking about the actual strobe element, i’m talking about the part that covers the strobe. For example, the triangle piece on the 2903 series.

Federal Signal currently makes an explosion-proof strobe that uses a glass lens.

That’s what I was talking about also. The part that covers the strobes. Of course, I’m taking about horns that have their own strobes like the 9219, SHG, SpectrAlert Classic, SpectrAlert Advanced, Wheelock NS and the MASSes.

The SHG, SpectrAlert Classic/Advanced, Wheelock NS, MT, AS, MASS, they all have plastic bulbs around the strobe. These signals need to be relatively durable to withstand the elements and day-to-day exposure (for example, signals in a gymnasium or woodworking shop are subject to impacts from all sorts of things). Durable plastic bulbs are easier and cheaper to produce than glass, especially impact-resistant glass, and on the off-chance a signal should be damaged by a physical impact and the bulb were to fracture, the plastic bulb is much less likely to shatter into tiny sharp fragments.
Obviously the xenon strobe tube in the center is glass, and I believe the mirror lens reflectors are made of glass too.

On most units, those are just plastic castings that are painted or plated with a chrome finish. A few models may have an actual reflective metal film applied to the interior of the strobe body, but plastic remains the predominant material.

That makes sense. Now the new LED strobes are probably all plastic housings too since they don’t have a flash tube like the xenon strobes have am I correct?

I would assume so. Most LED products are housed in plastic housings except for light bulbs.

The only one that may have been was the Whelen VSA strobe. This was one of the earliest high-candela strobes for hearing impaired people before they were mandated by ADA. Someone who actually has one of these would have to confirm or deny this though. I’ve only ever seen this strobe in an older system in a state school for the deaf and blind – they were installed alongside Edwards 892 horn/strobes.

I have a Whelen “Strobe-Alarm”, which uses the same type of strobe. The lens on the strobe appears to be plastic. There are strobes with glass lenses, but I can only find them being used on explosion-proof devices.