What is the oldest system you have seen in operation?

I have seen ancient systems with SAA av-32’s with 2dcd horns with what i believe are couch pulls, my grandmothers condo has those alarms without any visual signals and the old gamewell-fci pulls. I have also seen a couple of systems from a distance with Simplex t-bars and 4050-80s + 4050’s or 4051’s

I’ve seen an older Faraday system from the 1970s controlled off a Autocall CL series panel at my third elementary school. With the exception of building 12, pulls were originally a mix of 4521-20s and some sort of older Faraday pulls from the late 70s early 80s before they were all replaced with FCI MS-2s; signals were Faraday 5640 horns on light plates (like what JTD321 has only flipped upside down) inside and 2901-9806 horns outside with some on 2903 plates. Some 5640s were replaced with Wheelock MTs, and Gentex Commander 2s, with the exception of an AS in building 10 and a Gentex GOS in the music room. There are four MT-WMs outside building 7 (media center), and a Gentex GOS outside the MPR. Building 12 has Federal Signal 450D+VALS horn/strobes with remote strobes in the bathrooms. The portables had Commander 2s. Building 13, which was completed by the time I left has Notifier BG-12LXs and Commander 3s! The system was upgraded sometime back with the majority of new signals being Gentex Commander 4’s and Commander 3’s, with BG12LX pulls and Notifier smokes and heats. Building 9 has ceiling and wall mounted speaker/strobes. They have a NFS-320 system now.

The second oldest system was at my first elementary school (where I attended Pre-K from 1998-1999, late 1999-2001, Kindergarten, and First Grade). At the time I was there, they had an ADT Unimode system from what appeared to be around the 1980s. Buildings 1-4 had ADT 5050-001 pulls and ESL smoke detectors. Signals were Wheelock MT4-WM horn/strobes, with one System Sensor MASS, I believe a Wheelock NS, and RSS strobes in the restrooms outside the cafeteria. This school was built in the 60s, so it wouldn’t surprise me that this would be a replacement system. Buildings 5-9 on the other hand were built in 1988, and they had FCI MS-2 pulls and Simplex 2901-9833 horns on 2903 strobe plates. The ADT pulls were replaced with FCI MS-2s when I was in first grade, and all the signals were replaced sometime after I left with Commander 2s. The Unimode Panel was replaced with a conventional Silent Knight FACP sometime after I left as well.

Oldest system I’ve seen was a very rare one… Dating as far as the 1960’s.

It was a very mixed bag, the earliest parts dating from 1967, the late parts dating as far as 2010.

The panel was a Cerberus Guinard panel, all electromechanical logic, a work of art, probably as large as a 100-zone Simplex 4208 would be. It was a 30-zone Guinard panel… Signals of course were a mixed bag of old 240V bells, Legrand sounders (1970s models) and Merlin Gerin SR-57041 sounders.

The Cerb panel was tied to a relay to trip à second panel, which was a Merlin Gerin type IV panel of some sorts which served purely for the 24VDC signals.

Smoke detectors were tied to a 3rd panel, a ATSE A320 which also served for some of the extra call points tied in to the existing Cerberus panel.

And of course the smoke detectors were (if I can recall correctly) Nugelec optical smokes mixed with ATSE Ionization smoke detectors (some of the ion heads were labeled Simplex!!!)

On 2013 all the system got ripped out and replaced by a CHUBB addressable system, ironically 4 days after the building got demolished.

The oldest I can remember, is possibly this one:

What I think is a Notifier system, which in the newer parts, (maybe the later-1970s, but I don’t know) had bells like these:

At the Vermont Achievement Center school. In the newer-looking parts, there were fire indicators that reminded me of an exit sign, which said “FIRE” and would blink.

The pull stations in the newer parts, were the silver Notifier ones with red lettering or fluorescent orange lettering, but I suspect those would be later ones, but I don’t know.

The oldest-looking building right in the front, is the administration building, which had bigger-diameter bells with an unknown brand.

Even though there’s a couple of spots with FireLite bells. They’re ironically larger bells!

The residential homes had the newest systems, with an FCi FC-72 FACP and Wheelock 7002Ts.

Probably my middle school which at least for the time being still has its system in place. Simplex 4051 horns on 4050-80 flashers in continuous with Edwards SPO pull stations. Never saw the panel but its either an Edwards one from when they upgraded the system in the 1970s or a 4208.

A really old Gamewell system with “Local alarm” Centuries and Vibratone 350 horns.

It’s defunct… you can probably guess what it was replaced with.

Ooooh! Ooooh! I bet I can guess it in one try! Is it a certain piercing ear-bleeder horn made by System Sensor? :wink:

I’ve seen a couple oldies.

  • Plainville Municipal Center (town hall) has a pre-4207 Simplex system, with 4251-20 pulls and 4040 horns on single double projectors.

  • The former Holy Cross School in New Britain had Simplex 4040’s or 4050’s. When I was a kid, I peeked inside during their annual carnival. I also got to hear the system in action once while we drove by.

  • Some old school building, also in New Britain (can’t remember the name) had Simplex 4030’s. I can’t remember the pulls, either.

  • HALS Academy had Gamewell pre-Century pull stations (the ones that resemble street boxes), but the signals were SHG’s. Fire drills were done by playing a chime tone on the intercom, and we never got to hear the system go off.

The oldest system I ever worked on was a 4245 in an elementary school in a small town. The data plate with the model and serial number was labeled International Business Machines. That places the manufacture year prior to 1958 which was the year Simplex bought that division of IBM. I am quite sure the system is still in service.

What were the notification appliances? Bells?

[quote="Simplex 4051" post_id=83842 time=1557688080 user_id=18]

What were the notification appliances? Bells?

[/quote]

The system used horns. As I remember the ones at corridor ends were front projector types and along corridor walls they were dual projector types. The pull stations were a mixture of old and new as replacements were made over the years for various reasons.

As you can see from the schematic below, there is not much to a 4245 FA panel.

[quote=Alexis_T post_id=83802 time=1557432163 user_id=3602]

Oldest system I’ve seen was a very rare one… Dating as far as the 1960’s.

It was a very mixed bag, the earliest parts dating from 1967, the late parts dating as far as 2010.

The panel was a Cerberus Guinard panel, all electromechanical logic, a work of art, probably as large as a 100-zone Simplex 4208 would be. It was a 30-zone Guinard panel… Signals of course were a mixed bag of old 240V bells, Legrand sounders (1970s models) and Merlin Gerin SR-57041 sounders.

The Cerb panel was tied to a relay to trip à second panel, which was a Merlin Gerin type IV panel of some sorts which served purely for the 24VDC signals.

Smoke detectors were tied to a 3rd panel, a ATSE A320 which also served for some of the extra call points tied in to the existing Cerberus panel.

And of course the smoke detectors were (if I can recall correctly) Nugelec optical smokes mixed with ATSE Ionization smoke detectors (some of the ion heads were labeled Simplex!!!)

On 2013 all the system got ripped out and replaced by a CHUBB addressable system, ironically 4 days before the building got demolished.

[/quote]

Whoops I meant to type “before”… Silly me…

Anyhow another one I just saw:

Signals were Roshni ROLP red… Some had strobe attachments, nothing too unusual.

Call points were old KAC KR-1 Glass-break models (with the glass branded “NUGELEC S.A.”)

So far nothing unusual but wait for the best:

The panel was a… CERBERUS GUINARD TG-02D (one of the panels that is on my “absolutely would like to have one day list”)

And it was still active too! Serviced in 10th of May 2019, there was roughly 5 mcps on zone 1 (the 2nd zone was only heat detectors).

So nothing too unusual but still old.

[quote="Simplex 4051" post_id=83837 time=1557633232 user_id=18]

Ooooh! Ooooh! I bet I can guess it in one try! Is it a certain piercing ear-bleeder horn made by System Sensor? :wink:

[/quote]

Unfortunately… yes.

The oldest system I have seen so far was a simplex 4002 system from 1990, I have yet to see any systems older than the 1990’s

What were the alarms in the 4002?

Simplex 2901-9838’s on 4903-9101 strobe plates

the oldest one i saw was a simplex light plate

What was on the light plate?

the lifealarm one

Oh yeah. I saw that once when I was in Connecticut visiting my sister at the university she was going to up there.

Not the oldest I’ve seen but Miriam Hospital has in some renovated areas Wheelock E70 speaker/strobes while in the other areas they have Simplex chimes on 2903-9101 plates that are either strobe or lights.