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Hey guys, I have lots of questions about Econolite signals. Here are some of them:


1— When were long groove sections changed to short groove?

2— Does anyone know anything about the Bullseye-era 12" square pedestrian signal? It was their only non-roundbody 12" signal. All I've seen of it is a picture on the first page of the 8" ped catalog (with no other mention), and this picture from Steven. They appear to have some extra space between the lenses and visors.

3— Besides square incandescent 9" & 12" W/DW, round incandescent 8" Walk/Wait, and neon 16" W/DW & Walk/Wait, did they offer any more pedestrian signals? (Like incandescent 16" signals?) Also, were 12" round Walk/Wait signals offered by Econolite, or were the lenses a seperate job?

4— Did Bullseye & Grooveback signals stop being made / Buttonback signals start being made in 1982?

5— Where did the T-Con style signals come in? The history section on the Econolite website says: "In 1989, Econolite acquired Trafcon of Jacksonville, Florida, to serve as sales, service, and manufacturing headquarters for the Southeast." Does that mean those signals were only made/distributed in the Southeast Region of the US (replacing buttonback sales for that region only) ? And Buttonback signals were still supplied everywhere else in the US? That would explain their rarity.
If that is true, when was the Kentron design discontinued? After that, I assume the buttonback design was returned (throughout the entire US).

6— When exactly was the 12" aluminum Buttonback signal design changed to have the McCain style back? And was the 12" poly Buttonback design back changed too, or are they still the same? Also, was the poly design first introduced at the same time as the aluminum?
And has the 16" ped housing design changed?

7— Does anyone have, or know of, an aluminum Econolite arrow mask/shield like the one below?



Thanks! Sorry if some were confusing, I know many of these may not be answered.

EDIT: Could whoever has the Econolite catalog in the signal archive scan the rest of it? I'm curious to see the 12" and 16" signals.

1) In the late '50s... Probably around 1957-59. There was also the transitional shortgrooove with the "Econolite Corporation" logo that was produced through 1961.

2) They seemed to be fairly common in the 1970's in this area. Friend of mine who worked for WSDOT said they were nowhere as good as the vehicle heads, quality-wise. Tended to leak a lot,

3) 12" W/W lenses were made by Kopp and would fit in a standard 12" E-652 or E-752 door. Re: incandescent DW/W lenses in the 16" variety, I suspect they were made, but probably not for the E-8 housing, instead for the box-shaped buttonback era peds and the current ICC-style peds.

4) Officially, yes, but, I have seen some grooveback heads that were put up in the late '80s. First buttonback Econo heads I saw were installed during September 1989. Were put up by the city of Bellevue, WA to replace a King County Econolite SC35 square-door 12-8-8 install.

5) I've seen some T-con style Econolites here in the Seattle area. Redmond, WA has a few at one intersection that was erected in 1992.

6) Probably 2001-02. The poly design seems to be the Buttonback design. Peds were changed recently to an ICC/McCain rounded body clamshell design from the box-shaped Buttonback era body design, which also was a clamshell design.

7) Good question. Will let another chime in on that one.

-J

I'm pretty sure Steve P. (somuchtoseeanddo) has that arrow mask.

Kilted_Econolite_Nut wrote:1) In the late '50s... Probably around 1957-59. There was also the transitional shortgrooove with the "Econolite Corporation" logo that was produced through 1961.

I've got an 8" short-groove that I acquired from Tacoma Joe and it has the 'Econolite Corporation' logo on the back so does that mean it's pre-1961 in age?

Edit: My short-groove ped and vehicle signal both have E-951 stamped on the inside. I presume this is a model number.

1961 or older... In 1962, Econolite was bought by Tamar Electronics. At that time, the "Corporation" was dropped from the 8" heads. 12" heads continued with the "Corporation" until probably the late '70s, early '80s.

Yep, that's the part number for the section bodies. My old long-groove also had E-951 on it. Doors were E-952, and the reflector assemblies were E-953. Sockets, E-960.

-J

So... I discovered an Econolite signal I've never seen or heard of before. From the back, it looked sort of like a Durasig, but the thing sticking out on each section was rounded, like a half sphere (as opposed to the cone-ish thing on Durasigs). The "Econolite" logo is clearly visible above it.
Does anyone know about that type? I will post pictures once I have them all sorted and uploaded. For now, here is street view of 2.

Econolite poly. Dates from the 1970's and early-mid '80s. Was very common in Canada.

-J

signal-in-the-box wrote:So... I discovered an Econolite signal I've never seen or heard of before. From the back, it looked sort of like a Durasig, but the thing sticking out on each section was rounded, like a half sphere (as opposed to the cone-ish thing on Durasigs). The "Econolite" logo is clearly visible above it.
Does anyone know about that type? I will post pictures once I have them all sorted and uploaded. For now, here is street view of 2.

Those are still very common here in Canada. They are still produced and I know of a few intersections that went in about 3 weeks ago with these heads. I've got a few in my collection as well