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Old 17th Oct 2022, 10:06 am   #1
Courtney Louise
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Default Automated Fire Alarm help please?

OK, so this is something a bit different and wasn't sure which section to put it in but as it plays a record I am going to put it here...

This is a 1960's/1970's automated fire alarm that played a record.

Does anyone know who made it, how to connect it up etc?

It's a fascinating bit of kit and I have sampled the record I have for it and posted it to my YouTube. Link below.

https://youtu.be/9DcmNH2plA8
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Old 17th Oct 2022, 10:52 am   #2
vidjoman
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Default Re: Automated Fire Alarm help please?

A shop I worked in during the early 60's had a similar recorded message player connected to the intruder alarm. It connected to the phone line and dialed the 999 number using the old pulse system and then announced that the shop had intruders on the premises, the message repeated several times just in case the call was not picked up quickly. Your one looks like a more upmarket one with a die-cast turntable. The arm used to sit just above the disc and dropped when the turntable was set in motion by a pin that knocked the arm rest away after one rotation.
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Old 17th Oct 2022, 12:20 pm   #3
wd40addict
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Default Re: Automated Fire Alarm help please?

A fire at a gun factory was obviously serious enough to warrant spending the money on this system!
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Old 17th Oct 2022, 12:32 pm   #4
TonyDuell
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Default Re: Automated Fire Alarm help please?

It somewhat similar to a burglar alarm autodialer made by Burgot that I restored a few months back. I've put some photos of my unit in my flickr account here :

https://www.***********/photos/tony_d...77720302948721

The turntable on mine runs at 33rpm or so, but it appears to need a standard groove record, the stylus skates over a normal microgroove one.

I've attached a reverse-engineered circuit of my unit.
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Old 17th Oct 2022, 12:43 pm   #5
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Default Re: Automated Fire Alarm help please?

Wow, amazing that they were apparently still using this technology in 1976! One would have thought a tape based solution would've taken over by then.
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Old 17th Oct 2022, 1:05 pm   #6
Courtney Louise
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Default Re: Automated Fire Alarm help please?

Hi Tony,

That remarkably similar! Mine has a lot more terminals and the main board from what I can see looks completely different but the turntable is identical and the drive section for the arm automation so could have a shared pedigree.

The box is also the same and also the key hole for the arm/disarm switch too.

Thank you so much for this.

Quote:
Originally Posted by TonyDuell View Post
It somewhat similar to a burglar alarm autodialer made by Burgot that I restored a few months back. I've put some photos of my unit in my flickr account here :

https://www.***********/photos/tony_d...77720302948721

The turntable on mine runs at 33rpm or so, but it appears to need a standard groove record, the stylus skates over a normal microgroove one.

I've attached a reverse-engineered circuit of my unit.
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Old 17th Oct 2022, 1:08 pm   #7
Roger Ramjet
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Default Re: Automated Fire Alarm help please?

I used to service these units in he 70's when I was a burglar alarm engineer. They were connected to a standard telephone line & used to dial 999 then transmit a pre recorded message via the GPO Operator i.e.FIRE FIRE FIRE This is an automatic alarm reporting from [tel. no]. Fire at Acme Toys, 100 High Street, Anytown AA01 0AO.... Stand by for repeat.

The Fire & Police emergency services banned these types of units in the early 80's when other DIGITAL COMMUNICATORS became available that transmitted the alarm to a private monitoring centre who in turn notified the emergency services.

Tape machines with same features were also deployed at the time. The choice of Record or Tape was dependent upon which company maintained the alarm system.

These unit is of little use now although the wooden cabinets often made good toolboxes for us engineers whenever they were swapped out.

Rog
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Old 18th Oct 2022, 7:14 am   #8
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Default Re: Automated Fire Alarm help please?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Roger Ramjet View Post
....

The Fire & Police emergency services banned these types of units in the early 80's when other DIGITAL COMMUNICATORS became available that transmitted the alarm to a private monitoring centre who in turn notified the emergency services.

Tape machines with same features were also deployed at the time.....

Rog
I used to Sub Contract to an alarm company in the mid to late 1980’s and we were still fitting the 8 track cartridge auto diallers then!

We had to install and link them to the intruder alarm, then wait at least 14 days before the dialler was linked to the ‘phone line. Then we had to carry out an audible test by arranging a test call with the local Police Station. They always commented that the audio could be louder!


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Old 18th Oct 2022, 4:36 pm   #9
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Default Re: Automated Fire Alarm help please?

Rog
Quote:

I used to Sub Contract to an alarm company in the mid to late 1980’s .........we had to carry out an audible test by arranging a test call with the local Police Station. They always commented that the audio could be louder!
Way back (pre-Zoom!) when I was designing and installing teleconference systems for a major corporations, it was a constant frustration that the Post Office maximum allowable signal level spec which we could output to line was severely limited to (ISTR) 0dBm. That rule made any 'third-party' device connected to a PO circuit significantly quieter than most actual PO-supplied devices. Probably that constraint would have applied to an alarm device like this. I get the impression that today's DSL broadband signals now ride roughshod over those old rules.

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Old 18th Oct 2022, 7:15 pm   #10
Roger Ramjet
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Default Re: Automated Fire Alarm help please?

Simon / Martin,

Most of the grizzles I got from the police were when the endless loop tapes ran at the wrong speed. Another issue was dialect because they were sometimes recorded out of the county. The worst one I had was for an alarm in a village called Sileby [pronounced: Sile Bee] but was recorded as
Sillerby !

In the heyday I could be live testing five or more 999 units a day.

Nice to know Simon that there are some of us still around.. they were happy days.

Rog

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hartley118 View Post
Rog
Quote:

I used to Sub Contract to an alarm company in the mid to late 1980’s .........we had to carry out an audible test by arranging a test call with the local Police Station. They always commented that the audio could be louder!
Way back (pre-Zoom!) when I was designing and installing teleconference systems for a major corporations, it was a constant frustration that the Post Office maximum allowable signal level spec which we could output to line was severely limited to (ISTR) 0dBm. That rule made any 'third-party' device connected to a PO circuit significantly quieter than most actual PO-supplied devices. Probably that constraint would have applied to an alarm device like this. I get the impression that today's DSL broadband signals now ride roughshod over those old rules.

Martin
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Old 19th Oct 2022, 7:02 am   #11
thermionic
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Default Re: Automated Fire Alarm help please?

Rog, if I remember correctly the autodiallers we installed were Ademco units......I could well be wrong though.

Simon.
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Old 19th Oct 2022, 7:49 pm   #12
Roger Ramjet
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Default Re: Automated Fire Alarm help please?

Hi Simon,

The 999 dialler's I remember were AES (endless loop), Lowe, Munford & White (both 8 track cartridge)

I remember Ademco but only as a digicom.. early ones were unique in as much that the ARC receiver number was programmed by inserting screws onto a pcb matrix. Later ones had a pre programmed eprom.

Aah...You take me back to great days & even better career.

Rog
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