Siracode Signal Corporation

**Products** | Vehicular sirens

Stationary electric sirens
Industrial sirens

**Siracode Signal Corporation** was a manufacturer of vehicular, industrial, and large outdoor warning sirens, based in San Francisco, CA. They were, most notably, the first manufacturer to design their sirens with tapered rotors and stators. Having purchased Heath Engineering Laboratories in 1926, Siracode started out backed by a reputable name in the market.

Despite this, Siracode lasted less than 10 years before the E.D. Bullard Company bought and sold their designs, which made many more sales. Because of this, Siracode sirens are very difficult to come across today. Around five Siracodes are known to exist today, none of which are outdoor sirens, and all are in the hands of collectors.

## History

On April 21st, 1926, the Heath Engineering Laboratories company was successfully renamed to "Siracode Signal Corporation." Set out to revolutionize the way sirens were designed, the Siracode's designer was engineering the siren years before the company actually started up. This new design used a tapered rotor and stator to help project sound forward in a more focused beam than any siren made at the time, which lead Siracode to refer to their siren as the "searchlight of sound" as it projected an intense beam of sound directly forward as a searchlight does with light. The tapered rotor was also taken advantage of to get extremely tight tolerances between the rotor and stator with extreme ease, as it only took a slight adjustment to bring the tolerance closer. Siracode also developed a unique coding mechanism, with a stator sleeve that had holes for the ports and intake, which immediately silenced the siren when turned by a solenoid. This was considered revolutionary at the time.

Siracode never saw much success, and there is currently only one known buyer of a Siracode "Community PROTECTOR" for use as an actual community warning siren, bought by the Taft, California fire department. They had the siren returned in under 2 months after they experienced persistent reliability issues with the control systems. Siracode saw most of their sales in custom developed industrial sirens for the U.S. Navy, and large coded sirens used as fog horns on bridges. Because of their lack of success, they presumably had to close up shop, and they then sold their designs to the E.D. Bullard Company, who started building Siracode rebrand sirens as early as 1934. Under production at E.D. Bullard, the Siracode designs saw much more success with slight modifications to improve siren performance and reliability. No large Siracodes are currently known to exist, and there are no more than five small sirens known to exist.

## Products

### Vehicular Sirens

#### Midget

The Midget was the smallest vehicular siren sold by Siracode. Presumably, it would have used the 4 inch, 8 port rotor and brass stator used on the special Navy siren. None have been documented, and none are known to exist.

#### D-8 Junior

The D-8 Junior was the largest vehicular siren sold by Siracode. The exact rotor size is unknown, but presumably, it would have been around 6 inches. The D-8 Junior came in high and low tone configurations, which appear to be 7 port and 11 port, though that is not fully confirmed. The D-8 Junior was fitted with a large bowl shaped projector to focus the siren's sound directly forwards and prevent any unwanted side or rear projection. Two D-8 Junior sirens are known to exist.

### Community PROTECTORS

#### R-40 "Duplex"

The R-40 is a double-end, 3 horsepower bi-directional siren. It is 7 port with two, presumably, 12 inch diameter rotors. The R-40 could be equipped with the unique ball-bearing coding mechanism, which was driven by two separate solenoids to create a coded signal with a sharp cutoff. It has two large projectors to help focus the sound to only two directions. One R-40 is known to have been installed as a fog signal on a bridge in 1930, but none are known to exist today.

#### S-40(H)

The S-40, or S-40H, is a single end, 5 horsepower uni-directional siren. It is a 6 port with a 16½ inch diameter rotor. The S-40 could be equipped with the unique ball-bearing coding mechanism, which was driven by a large solenoid to create a coded signal with a sharp cutoff. It has an extremely large projector to focus the sound in one direction. Four S-40s are known to have been installed as fog signals, opposing each other to cover two areas. None are known to exist today.

While only two large Siracode models are listed here currently, the company offered at least three sizes and many more configurations for Community Protector sirens. It is unknown just how many sirens were available, but the company presumably offered omni-directional sirens as well. These will hopefully be uncovered in the future.

### Industrial Sirens

#### Navy Siren

Siracode produced a handful of special sirens for use with the U.S. Navy, though no model name is known, as the only tag on the siren is the one for the motor. These were able to be flush-mounted into a wall, with the rotor and stator sticking out. Presumably, they could also be equipped with a projector. They are 1/8 horsepower, with a 4 inch diameter, 8 port rotor. It has a brass stator, which makes for an extremely unique look. The siren also has a Navy stamp in the motor frame. Two are known to exist today, both in private ownership. It was later sold by E.D. Bullard, starting in 1934, as the Navy Type Q.