The ACA Hurricane is an electro-mechanical and rotating-directional, 130 dB civil defense siren, manufactured by

Alerting Communicators of America American Signal Corporation (ASC) is an outdoor warning siren and mass notification company in the United States. ASC was founded in 1873 as Biersach and Niedermeyer (B&N). After performing poorly, the company reformed as Alerting Communicat ...

''(ACA)''. ACA began manufacturing the Hurricane 130 in 1968, and ended production in 1981. The Hurricane 130 is similar to the Thunderbolt siren by

Federal Signal Corporation Federal Signal Corporation is an American manufacturer headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois. Federal Signal manufactures street sweeper vehicles, public address systems, emergency vehicle equipment, and emergency vehicle lighting. The co ...

and was also popular with towns looking for a high output 130dB siren. Hurricane MKII

History

The Hurricane 130 was designed by James E. Biersach of

(ACA) and was presented at a

Civil Defense Civil defense or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from human-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency management: Risk management, prevention, mitigation, prepara ...

convention in November 1968. ACA had also manufactured sirens during this time and utilized new fiberglass casting techniques, which was never before used by any other manufacturers. The Hurricane 130 was a supercharged electro-mechanical siren utilizing an air compressor to produce a high output similar to the Thunderbolt siren. It was available in dual tone 8/10, 10/12, 8/12 port, or single tone 8, 10, or 12 port configurations; most models however came equipped with an 8/10 chopper port ratio ''(similar to a

Major Third In music theory, a third is a Interval (music), musical interval encompassing three staff positions (see Interval (music)#Number, Interval number for more details), and the major third () is a third spanning four Semitone, half steps or two ...

)''. It was meant to compete with Federal Signal's Thunderbolt siren series at the time. The Hurricane came off with a square horn (''similar to the design of the

Thunderbolt A thunderbolt or lightning bolt is a symbolic representation of lightning when accompanied by a loud thunderclap. In Indo-European mythology, the thunderbolt was identified with the 'Sky Father'; this association is also found in later Hel ...

'' ''siren''), with the exception of having two throats separately attached to the chopper enclosure. The original Hurricane 130 came with a unique all-in-one chopper and motor assembly with a direct-drive air compressor with a 25-horsepower motor. ACA later revised the design of the Hurricane 130 to differentiate it from the Thunderbolt siren and to also avoid any potential lawsuits over the two similar designs. ACA also corrected design flaws that were discovered in the original model. These changes to the design include a pole-mounted vertical compressor, with the controller removed from compressor assembly and housed in its own separate enclosure and a redesigned chopper assembly for easy maintenance. The horn was changed to a circular design and this was named the "''Hurricane 130 MKII"''. It also utilizes a belt-driven compressor assembly connected to a 30-horsepower motor, as opposed to the previous direct-drive compressor with a 25-horsepower motor . ACA continued production of the Hurricane siren until 1981, when it was replaced with the Penetrator P-50, a 50-horsepower, dual-tone siren producing 135dB at 100 feet. All versions of the ACA Hurricane are rare, with the early ''"square-horn"'' variant being the most rare out of all of them. Most of the units have been replaced by newer and modern sirens.

Technical information

Cities that had/use the Hurricane 130/MKII-130 Model

References

https://www.airraidsirens.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=27257
Civil Defense Museum-Warning Sirens-Alerting Communicators of America/American Signal Corp. SirensHurricane MK II - Rotating Directional Siren - Installation, Operation, Maintenance and Parts Manual
* http://www.civildefensemuseum.com/sirens/manuals/Hurricane_130_Manual.pdf https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fanyone-know-where-this-aca-hurricane-130-was-located-at-v0-de0h7crrr3ce1.png%3Fwidth%3D320%26crop%3Dsmart%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3Df861fbe8bb9b7f5f61c17658d3cf5fe9b1127a9a {{Civil defense sirens Sirens 1968 introductions