Q Sirens and Freezing Rain

S

Scott A. Anderson

A bit of freezing rain in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area last night and this morning. Freeways are OK, side streets and parking lots are like skating rinks. It also just so happend that I received my Q siren from Mr. Loftin yesterday. (Thanks Steve!) As I'm driving, I am thinking about the Q siren and about working back in the 70's and having to move from one posting location to another in similar weather.

In freezing rain, the Q would get iced up and the torque of the motor could not clear the ice. We carried a spary bottle of windshield solvent (Wipeout, Blue Juice) and would have to hang out the window and spray it up at the siren to cut the ice to get the siren to move. Once you got it going, you needed to keep it coasting to prevent the re-freeze. Electronic sirens lasted longer, but they could also reach the point of sounding like a trumpet with a mute stuck in the bell. Most of the time, you had to bring the car into the garage and go after an electronic siren speaker with a garden hose and water. At least with the Q, you could usually handle the ice with the spray bottle.

I probably shouldn't have been out driving this morning, but sometimes you are forced to defy common sense to get a decent cup of coffee.
 
nothing like

Scott,
I agree, there is nothing like that first cup in the morning.
Never thought about the 'good ol' days' when the weather would work against the vehicles and equipment and probably the personnel. Thanks for sharing the story with us.
Mike
 
Frozen sirens in Buffalo-Memorial Ambulance Service

At Memorial Ambulance Service in Buffalo New York most of our Q's were under hood. The odd time they would freeze we would grab a bottle of alcohol from the back of the ambulance and pour it on the siren. We would pick another bottle of alcohol up at the next hospital. The other option was to stick a screw driver in and give it a tweek. The screw driver trick would not work w/ the out side Q because of the grate or cover on the front.
 
The 1976 Criterion that is my current avatar was owned by Sauk Centre, MN Ambulance Service following its retirement from Murphy's in St. Cloud. In those days, my dad was the funeral director in Sauk Centre and also worked for the privately-owned ambulance service. Being a fan of the Q siren (used them at Brenny's Granite City Ambulance in St. Cloud when he worked there during college), dad was excited when the '76 arrived with one (in addition to the Federal Interceptor electronic.) The '74 Lifeliner that was traded for the Criterion only had an Interceptor. Everyone knew when dad was driving on an emergency call because he was the only crew member to use the Q exclusively, rather than the electronic. To this day, dad vows that the Federal Q was / is the best siren for clearing traffic.
 
the "Q" hardly ever quits

Of course the "Q" is the best! It has been improved on in the 60 odd years it has been in production! I always say, its not a "real" fire truck unless it has a "Q".............
 
My shop is full of those Chinese wheezers. They've undergone changes over the years, but I wouldn't call them improvements. Currently I'm out several thousand dollars because the clutches they send me fail. Their idea was to use an inexpensive, off-the-shelf Torrington drawn-cup roller clutch but they undersized it to get a better coast. Then they undersized their inner race. The steel sleeve that the clutch presses into is so soft that the clutch rollers leave dents in it. The only spare parts available for the motor are armatures, field coils and brushes because the motors are imported complete from China and Warfield, who supplies them to Federal, can't get any other parts.

Compare a Chinese wheezer with a Super Chief at a quarter mile. Anyone who raves about the wheezer after that will have no credibility.

Pick any part on a B&M product and I'll tell you the name of the American who made it. The only American now involved with Q's is the woman who assembles them (fom Chinese components) in University Park.
 
They must be able to be damaged by ice, that's something I never considered, slamming my foot on the Q pedal of our aerial ladder on cold winter mornings. Although, we have a Federal SD-10A, "whistle" at the fire hall. I don't remember the year, I believe I was still a "Junior" fireman, but it was after I became an EMT, so maybe 2000. We had an ice storm on New Year's day. First call was a Lumber Mill fire, mutual aid on a 3rd alarm. Whistle blew fine, later on, while hanging out in the hall one of the substations exploded. It was the most brilliant light show I've ever seen. The fire whistle, which is actually a dual tone, motorized siren; froze solid. So, instead of two freely wheeling rotors, it was just one big mass. After a few minutes, the ice was just skimming the encasement, not grinding the s**t out of it. But it's hair raising roar was replaced by an ear piercing whizzing sound, and it ended up ruining the motor starter and it never worked again. Still sits proudly on the poles, but it's dead weight for all intents and purposes.. I wouldn't want to see a $2600 mechanical siren on the front of a fire apparatus, et al., do something similar. It'd probably ruin the siren, paint job nearby and potentially kill someone.
 
Kinda figured...

I figured a (friendly) debate would result from this thread. Knowing Kevin O'Connell as I do, it's all good.

Robert Shepard and I have had a discussion - several times - about Federal Q vs. B&M Super Chief. Robert is a B&M guy and I am a Federal guy. We've concluded that this is due to our respective parts of the country. Out on the West Coast, Robert was exposed to B&M sirens, used them, and loved them. Here in the Upper Midwest, "all I knew was Federal Q."

The same goes for certain lighting arrangements, such as the amber and steady-burning setups in California. Robert has little interest in the M-M Ful-Vu lights, while I think they're great. Every M-M we used when I was younger had them.

One thing, however, I am glad never seemed to catch on around here was the mounting of a TwinSonic on a coach-style ambulance...!
 
Normally, in freezing wet weather, we would occasionally "bump" (slight spin) the Q to keep it free. If we bumped it and the car started to lose power, we knew we had waited too long (or forgotten) because the rotor had frozen!
 
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