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Batman
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Need Help Identifying Horns

Tue Nov 19, 2013 3:38 pm

Hello everyone. Okay, so several fire departments in my county use air horns instead of sirens. Now, I've gotten pretty darn good at identifying sirens thanks to all the time I've spent lurking around here, but I'm kind of lost when it comes to horns. It'd be great if some of you who are more knowledgeable about them could help me identify what models these horns are.

I'm pretty sure that these three are Gamewell Diaphones, am I right?
Image

Image

Image

However I have no idea about these next ones:

This one looks similar to a Gamewell Diaphone, but there are differences.
Image

I'm not sure if this one is the same kind as the one above or not; it looks a little different.
Image

Finally we have this array here. These horns are all a lot shorter than the ones above. It looks like two of them are the same kind, but one is smaller. I have more pictures from different angles (unfortunately none of them turned out well for some reason...) if it's hard to tell from this one.
Image

Any help will be appreciated.
Proud owner of a spontaneously-purchased 1940 Federal Electric Type A
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Josh R
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Re: Need Help Identifying Horns

Tue Nov 19, 2013 4:48 pm

The first three are definitely Diaphones, but the last three I'm not sure about.
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3t22
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Re: Need Help Identifying Horns

Tue Nov 19, 2013 10:46 pm

indeed the 1st 3 are Type B Gamewell Diaphones. The 4th is a Leslie tyfon A-200, the 5th could be another A-200, if you have a side pic of that horn I could tell better, and the 6th are Cunningham/Federal horns.

hope this helps
Proud owner of a 2T, 5, M-5, 1000 Head, 7T, 3T22, and a single toned 2

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CrazyCalvinWilliams
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Re: Need Help Identifying Horns

Tue Nov 19, 2013 11:21 pm

How... how do you know this? You're amazing. :wtf:

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Daniel
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Re: Need Help Identifying Horns

Wed Nov 20, 2013 3:59 am

Diaphones always have a conical horn like most klaxon horns. Diaphragm "Tyfon" horns have flared horns and smaller rear chambers.
Lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi.

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3t22
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Re: Need Help Identifying Horns

Wed Nov 20, 2013 7:32 am

FS-Thunderbolt-Man wrote:How... how do you know this? You're amazing. :wtf:
Most volunteer fire departments around here use some sort of audible signal to call in firefighters in addition to pagers which is slowly becoming a dying tradition do to belly achers complaining :evil: . In addition to sirens some departments use various horns, ranging from Leslie tyfons and Supertyphons, Clark Coopers, Cunningham/federals, to most commonly Diaphones so just like sirens you get good at IDing most horns just by sight. If your wondering just what these sound like: NOTE: not my videos

type B Diaphone:

brass piston with single toned Screamer S-10, Farmingdale LI,NY:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuQFasTuTLY

aluminum piston: Wearhouse Point Station 1 East Windsor CT (local horns for me) note one horn is higher pitch creating a very unique sound.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7wc747eggU

Leslie A-200:

on top of a locomotive which was their original intended purpose
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RA84ExPMeLg

Cunningman/Federal horns:

same combo seen in the last pic. video belongs to Daniel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e52yZii7obA
Proud owner of a 2T, 5, M-5, 1000 Head, 7T, 3T22, and a single toned 2

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Batman
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Re: Need Help Identifying Horns

Wed Nov 20, 2013 6:33 pm

Thank you sir! Unfortunately I cannot get a side shot of the horn in the 5th picture; the angle I took it from is the only way you can see it from the ground. Either way, it does look similar to the 4th one, but the flaring on the end looks wider.

Do the Federal/Cunningham horns have particular model names? It definitely looks like there are two different types in the array (one small one and two large ones). I like to be as specific as possible. :p
Proud owner of a spontaneously-purchased 1940 Federal Electric Type A
Ulster County NY Map | Broome County NY Map | Union County NC Map

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slant-40
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Re: Need Help Identifying Horns

Sat Jan 11, 2014 7:51 am

What county/state are those diaphones located in? I don't quite recognize them from any of my travels.
thanks in advance.
wayne

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Batman
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Re: Need Help Identifying Horns

Sat Jan 11, 2014 8:31 pm

Ulster County in New York State.
Proud owner of a spontaneously-purchased 1940 Federal Electric Type A
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