“Old School” IBM Fire Alarm System
Posted on May 14th, 2010 by admin
This is literally an “Old School” fire alarm system. It is the original fire alarm system that was installed when the school was built in 1955. This thing is a workhorse.
This is an IBM 4201-4 fire alarm panel. It operates only when a pull station is activated, and the system will continue to run until the station is reset. Through the relays and the coded wheel, the system clacks out pulses to the single stroke bells.
The system has a Simplex 4004 panel tied to it that operates pull stations and horns in a modular. You will hear the 4004 go into alarm first which then trips the IBM system. Notice the wheel at the bottom that turns and fires the bell circuits (watch closely and you’ll see some tiny sparks). Once the pull station is reset, it continues to do 4 more rounds until it times out.
IBM sold it’s fire alarm line to Simplex in 1958.
The system is up for replacement next summer with a Simplex 4100U.
Duration : 0:1:6
[youtube SNI_BfpdCks]
May 14th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
We set off the …
We set off the smoke detector above the 4004 panel; I think the guy with me ack’d it right away and reset it (obviously I wasn’t watching what he was doing.) The IBM system runs four rounds. If the alarm is still present after the last round, it goes another four rounds and will continue until the initiating alarm is reset (it’s a latching system.)
May 14th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
How is the 4004 …
How is the 4004 setup to operate? I only hear it beep twice, and it only activates long enough to make the IBM panel do 4 rounds of code. Are you guys resetting the 4004 as soon as it alarms, or is it programmed to do that?
May 14th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
that looks so …
that looks so over-egineered, even for 1955.
May 14th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
It’d be neat if the …
It’d be neat if the new system were bell/strobes, and the bells were single-stroke and the NACs the bells are on would be coded to march time. It’d be pretty similiar to this system here…
May 14th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
why was some of the …
why was some of the realys doing nothing and what are the two long tublar things by the mechanical timer.
May 14th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
It would be …
It would be interesting if a modern horn was used with that…
May 14th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
Ding Dinging
Ding Dinging
May 14th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
My ES had IBM bells …
My ES had IBM bells (6″ and 8″, but only the 6″ ones worked) and it did 4-4 as well, but it was at a slower pace than this. I miss not hearing that…
May 14th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
No, you are looking …
No, you are looking at the panel.
May 14th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
What horns! I hear …
What horns! I hear bells.
May 14th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
I’ve never heard …
I’ve never heard one like that. In my old junior high, they had a Standard system with the bi-directional rounded horns that sounded a 4-4 code. In a newer part of the building, there was a Simplex system that also sounded a 4-4 code, but at a faster tempo. I miss those old, low pitch alarms!
May 14th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
Where were the …
Where were the inner workings of this system? Behind a wall panel?
May 14th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
My high school was …
My high school was built in 1955 and the fire alarm sounds just like this!
May 14th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
Were the horns made …
Were the horns made by IBM?
May 14th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
white plains high …
white plains high school had the same kind of system
May 14th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
Very cool video! …
Very cool video! When the alarm is first triggered (before the bell starts), the rest of the relays are chugging away as well. Any clue what they are for? Old telegraph coder maybe?
May 14th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
That’s what I …
) and replacing them with wheelock horn/strobes.
That’s what I thought. A middle school I went to had 8″ bells (Both IBMs and Simplexes) and one 9838 horn-only unit. They decided to remove some of the old bells (and possibly the 9838; if so, I want it
May 14th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
Wow! I never knew …
Wow! I never knew how an old fire alarm worked! This is very interesting and informative!
May 14th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
All of them are …
All of them are Simplex 4251 pull stations
May 14th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
It was by an exit …
It was by an exit door about 15 feet away
May 14th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
Dinging Bells!
Woo …
Dinging Bells!
Woo hoo!
May 14th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
Hey Tech What pull …
Hey Tech What pull stations are connected to this bad boy IBM PANEL.
May 14th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
SOUNDS NICE
SOUNDS NICE
May 14th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
Where was the …
Where was the nearest bell? It sounds like it was right above the panel…
May 14th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
reminds of the fire …
reminds of the fire houses with telegraph and the station gongs