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dcon6019 wrote:

techtiques wrote:The only neat Baltimore item I never was able to acquire was one of the "First Instructional Door" Gamewell Fire Alarm boxes, that were again, unique to Baltimore.

I have seen photos of these in online auction, ebay and the like. Is it the box and the wording that makes it specific to Baltimore? Is the key gaurd still considered a Cole key gaurd even though it is a slightly different shape? What was the timeline for boxes similar to this one? When were they manufactured? I know the internal movements were often updated and the originals abandoned for more current models. Did these carry the peerless movements as well?

The key guard is a Smith Key Guard. Smith's are less common than Cole (peaked roof style) guards. Gamewell was the largest supplier of alarm systems and boxes, they swallowed up many smaller companies. Usually the wording on doors was generic but if the order was big enough Gamewell could customize wording.

The Smith Key Guard was an earlier patent -- 1887 or 1888. The glass is contained in a door that opens left to right. The glass needed to be broken out -- the door remains shut -- and you needed to reach in with 2 fingers to turn the key to open the door.

The Cole Key Guard offered several improvements. It's designed so that you can grasp the sides of the door on the key guard that holds the piece of glass, and pull it forward to break the glass. Any shards of glass would slide harmlessly out. With the door hanging down, it was much easier to grab the key or T-Handle to open the box -- and no cut fingers, like were common with the Smith Guard.

Cole key guards were made in roofstyles other than just the common peaked version. A round arched version was used on some Gamewell oval industrial fire alarm boxes. Larger industrial boxes that were combination Fire Alarm Telegraph and Telephone boxes were shaped like elongated Police Call Boxes -- an oversized Cole Key Guard with a roofline that emulated the Police Call Box roofline was used over a large brass T-Handle in the upper center of the Fire Door. Turning this handle would trigger the Ideal mech enclosed. An oversized peaked roof version was used on Fire Alarm boxes in Newton, Mass for a time -- and was used up in Canada on a lot of their cast iron Northern Electric Gamewell boxes. They were the prototypes of the quick acting concept -- and were a reaction to what Harrington-Seaburg was doing, using one of their standard sized Cole Key Guard in that position on some of their early aluminum Fire alarm boxes.

What makes a Cole Key Guard a Cole is not the roofline -- it's the way the glass holding door opens --downward.

Most folks consider the 2nd -- or Improved Peerless -- to be the one that was housed in a red porcelainized stamped steel innner mech housing -- that appeared around 1922, concurrent with the release of the First Quick Acting Door. It had the run cycle you describeed, which was a first step toward the 3-Fold mechanism. 3-Fold mechs will attempt to send the signal first through both legs of the loop circuit -- then through the ground -- so an alarm could theoretically come in, even if the loop circuit was broken.

The Instructional Door was an improvement that was pioneered in Baltimore. That First Instructional door was only used in Baltimore -- and Gamewell adopted the concept. Yours is the 3rd instructional door -- the 2nd used the BREAK THE GLASS OPEN THE DOOR wording.

I have only seen the First Instructional Door used with the Smith Key Guard, which leads me to believe that it pre-dates the Cole.

All I know is I wanted one very badly -- but never was able to get one. I think most are up in Towson.

You wrote: internal movements were often updated and the originals abandoned for more current models


Actually, I have not found that to be true -- except for older interfering mechanisms -- and maybe the push button Gardiner mechs, that had very clear weeknesses. A lot of 1890's vintage mechs made it to the very end of a lot of Fire Alarm systems' timelines. I know of at least 2 major US cities that had mechanisms in service from the 1860's -- until the systems were pulled -- more than a hundred years later.

Very nice and I like the paper punch relay thingy

techtiques wrote: -- except for older interfering mechanisms --

These were what I was speaking of. I have also seen alot of boxes come up for sale that are a marriage of components from several salvaged pieces.

To your previous comment, why the Towson area for the earlier fireboxes? The area is has alot of local history. Did you mention it because of the fire museum?

vaughn wrote:Very nice and I like the paper punch relay thingy

I purchased this register from a collector in Mount Holly NJ. He told me it was from one of the fire systems that were in use in the area.

Dave

This is a great thread. I like the Fire boxes but know little about them. Is there a timeline that can be used to date the different style Gamewell boxes? When did they move from the arch top to the pointed top?

dcon6019 wrote:

techtiques wrote: -- except for older interfering mechanisms --

These were what I was speaking of. I have also seen alot of boxes come up for sale that are a marriage of components from several salvaged pieces.

To your previous comment, why the Towson area for the earlier fireboxes? The area is has alot of local history. Did you mention it because of the fire museum?

Particularly with the cast iron boxes that have cast iron mechanisms -- when removed from service, it was a common practice to have one pile of empty shells, and separate pile of inner mech boxes.

Try picking up and moving your fire alarm box when it's bolted together -- and figure out how often you want to handle something of that weight multiple times a day. It's a lot easier to handle them in separate pieces. Even in separate parts, they are still heavy -- but together -- my back hurts just thinking about it.

Because of this common practice, mismatched boxes are very common.

Towson is a hint to a very advanced Fire Alarm collector there, that has a strong gravitational pull (almost black hole strong) when it come to better Baltimore Fire Alarm items. If you can hookup with "John", he might be willing to help you with more common -- but still nice Baltimore Fire Alarm stuff. He had a ton of those pedestals at one time. He should be easy to find.

techtiques wrote:Towson is a hint to a very advanced Fire Alarm collector there, that has a strong gravitational pull (almost black hole strong) when it come to better Baltimore Fire Alarm items.

There are a few spots like that for traffic lights as well.

techtiques wrote: If you can hookup with "John", he might be willing to help you with more common -- but still nice Baltimore Fire stuff. He had a ton of those pedestals at one time. He should be easy to find.

I recently met the gentleman you are refering to about 6 months ago. I had had the fire box in the garage for some time waiting till I had the time to give it some attention. i didn't want to attempt connecting it to a power source untill I spoke with someone who knew what they were doing. A mutual friend put me in contact and "John" was gracious enough to come out and show me how to test all the key components as well as offer expert advice as to the pros and cons of whether it was from Baltimore. He is also the collector I spoke of that offered me the possible location of the box based on the running cards he has for the Baltimore area. Most of the information I have gathered about the call box came from him.