The Model M was an early electric siren first developed in 1918-1919 by the Inter-State Machine Products Company, who would later rebrand to the Sterling Siren Fire Alarm Company based out of Rochester, NY. The Model M was perhaps the most popular and widespread fire siren sold in North America, with units being sold across the US and Canada in great numbers. It is said that nearly every volunteer fire department in the eastern US had a Sterling Model M, or Sterling's other sirens such as the Model 5VX or Little Giant.

Unlike earlier electric sirens such as the Denver sirens I talked about in a previous post, the Model M was designed from the ground up to be weatherproof. Reliability in an emergency is everything, and its designer, Merton C. Armstrong, knew this. The choppers are covered with rounded "sounders" which also direct sound downwards, the motor is protected by a cover, and the air intakes on each side had protective wire mesh to keep debris out. By 1928, the siren would be improved with metal louvres on the intakes to further protect it. The Model M used motors between 3-10 horsepower, could be single or dual headed, and were rated to roughly 115 decibels @ 100 ft.

The Model M as previously mentioned saw incredible success. As shown by a friend of mine who made a map of every known Sterling siren, these sirens found their way everywhere. Unfortunately, by the early 1970s, competition became too great as Sterling's 50 year old design became obsolete. Sterling went out of business in 1972, but its designs were bought by a new company known as Sentry Siren who produced the Model M until 1986.

Sentry Siren is still in business today, and many of its sirens are directly based on the Model M's chopper design which is a testament to how good the Model M was. Many Model Ms remain in service today, including several units which are roughly 100 years old. Van Alstyne, TX's Model M is speculated to be the oldest surviving Model M, and is currently still in service.

Video of an early single tone Model M in Van Alstyne, TX, presumably the oldest known Model M

Video of a later dual tone Model M with louvred intakes in Columbus Grove, OH

For an album with such a long name, it has surprisingly few songs compared to most of Bomb the Music Industry!'s other albums. They definitely made up for it though, as its songs are all great with Slumlord and Struggler being my personal favourites. They're incredibly catchy and get stuck in my head constantly!

This album does not have an official album cover. Instead, when it was made available for download on Quote Unquote Records, there were 8 different covers depicting someone who appears in the album with the word ADULTS! and a colour filter over the image. The website would only show one of these covers at a time, which was chosen at random.

The image here is all eight of those individual covers, as well as a 9th cover made in the same style that was used for the album's vinyl release.

Behold, the loudest siren ever built! Built between 1942 and 1957, Chrysler and Bell Laboratories worked together to create a siren that could outdo everything else. Boasting a deafening sound output of 138 decibels at 100 feet, a single Chrysler could fill the role of tens or even hundreds of smaller sirens. Back in WW2 and the Cold War, expense was secondary to making sure everyone could hear the warning.

Powered by a 180 horsepower Chrysler Firepower HEMI V8 (units between 1942-52 used a 140 hp IND-9 inline-8) gas engine, the Chrysler was not only powerful, but also able to run entirely independently of grid power so that they could not be silenced by attack. The engine drove a gigantic slotted disc known as a chopper at 3400 RPM, through which pressurized air was forced through its openings by a two-stage compressor. The chopping of the pressurized air at a certain frequency is what creates the noise, with the Chrysler peaking at about 460 hz. The entire siren sat on a turnable, which pointed its six large horns in all directions as it rotated at 2 RPM.

Unfortunately, such a siren is not exactly the easiest to maintain or run. Older units required someone to sit atop the siren and run it manually, until remote start and run capabilities were developed in the early 50s. The engine is fuel-hungry and requires a lot of maintenance, which made them unpopular with those who had to keep them running. As a result, all of these sirens were decommissioned by the 1980s. Many were removed, others left to rot, and some thankfully survive in preservation. By 1957 engine-driven sirens fell completely out of favour, as powerful electric sirens such as the Thunderbolt, Super Sirex, and Mobil-Directo performed very well without requiring much maintenance.

One of my favourite albums, Jeff is an incredible songwriter and indie musician who was the founder of two awesome bands, The Arrogant Sons of Bitches and Bomb the Music Industry!. My favourite song from this album is definitely Scram!

As a bonus, this album has a ska punk version called SKA DREAM!