Steam Sirens

[racerfrank]

Well they go ON a boiler so I thought I would put this here.
I thought I would share a few photos of building sirens but I don't want to give away any secrets. (this post is intended to be a bit funny) So here are the siren building photos.





So who wants a siren???

Frank

[Bob Cleek]

Not that I have a steamboat to put one on, but I sure do LOVE seam sirens!

[barts]

One of these would definitely be fun to have on a boat... Whoop Whoop Whooop.

- Bart

[racerfrank]

One of these would definitely be fun to have on a boat... Whoop Whoop Whooop.

- Bart

Well, I do have 5 available

Frank

[cyberbadger]

Wish the steam siren I got "new" that looks similar to these - but is not the same actually worked.

Sadly I can't spare the cash for one of these puppies, but they look great...

-CB

[racerfrank]

Wish the steam siren I got "new" that looks similar to these - but is not the same actually worked.

Sadly I can't spare the cash for one of these puppies, but they look great...

-CB

Do you have a photo of your siren? What does it do/not do when you try and blow it. possibly it just needs a little "tweek" to make it work. I've done repair work on quite a few sirens (Starr Brass, Foster, Stevens and Sruthers)

Frank

[Edward]

Quite a common fault with home made sirens is that people tend to make them too precisely . The spool/rotor/whizzy-thing-inside-the-body should be a fairly loose fit .

My siren doesn't go whoop whoop whoop , it doesn't have a brake and was , I think , designed for a working pressure of 100-120 psi , certainly lower than my optimum pressure of 150-175 psi . Anyhow at my working pressure it screams like a banshee having its tail and one or two other parts of its anatomy twisted off.

Edward

[DetroiTug]

Edward,

Do they have some sort of bearing inside or does the rotor just spin suspended in a cavity?

-Ron

[racerfrank]

Edward,

Do they have some sort of bearing inside or does the rotor just spin suspended in a cavity?

-Ron

The sirens I build the rotor just spins in a cavity. The new sirens sold by Preston Services in the UK also just spin in a cavity
There is or was a maker, Old Time Tech---Jerry Blain, their sirens are a bit larger than mine but I believe on theirs, the rotor is on a shaft that runs in a bushing/bearing.

Naval sirens made by Starr Brass had bushings, Foster sirens had bushings, Stevens and Struthers from the UK was a rotor spinning in a cavity.

[racerfrank]

Quite a common fault with home made sirens is that people tend to make them too precisely . The spool/rotor/whizzy-thing-inside-the-body should be a fairly loose fit .

My siren doesn't go whoop whoop whoop , it doesn't have a brake and was , I think , designed for a working pressure of 100-120 psi , certainly lower than my optimum pressure of 150-175 psi . Anyhow at my working pressure it screams like a banshee having its tail and one or two other parts of its anatomy twisted off.

Edward

Several thing could be done to make it whoop whoop instead of scream like a banshee with it's tail on fire. the easiest may be to put a ball valve in the line and use it only for flow/volume adjustment. The other things that could be done involve making a new rotor that has more mass so it takes more time to come up to speed or a rotor with the same/more mass with slots that are sized and angled so it comes up to speed slower.

When I first started making these sirens I made 8 or 9 stator and rotor sets until I was satisfied with the design I use now.

Frank