SUBMARINEMUSEUMS.ORG Forum
General Boards => Museum Submarine Discussion => Topic started by: Mark Sarsfield on July 08, 2008, 05:05:25 PM
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I was wondering if any of the museum boats got their horn working. We still have our horn installed and I noticed a control valve connected to the air line to operate it, but I'm not sure where it is controlled from. I realize that it needs the air system to be charged to operate it, too.
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torsk's works just fine, we "test" it all the time. Sorry folks too much crapola going on right now to do a school of the boat tonight :tickedoff:
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Where is the operating lever located? I don't recall seeing one on our bridge.
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It is in the bridge, on Torsk due to the sail layout it is next to the CO's "chair" right at shin level close to the side of the sail out of the way, your handle may have been removed and put in storage years ago and you may have seen it wondering what in the hell it is.. On the Honolulu ours stayed in a locked up position and when we surfaced and opened the horn access door we would blow the water out of the line by "testing" the horn, the OOD would litteraly step down on the handle to actuate the horn.. The pressure for that comes off of the 225PSI air (ships service air) is what supplies it, right now on Torsk we are running a little over 100PSI on it and it is just as loud. It has been known to scare more then a few tourist's and those in the aquarium when it has been "tested" and while most of us get a good laugh at it we have been known to make a few mad at us :o
Darrin
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LOL ;D
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COD's horn was broken (in two!) but we found a Navy spare in a gun stowage locker and mounted it. At the time we only had a bit of air so it just farted... but now with lots of air for the engine starting, we may need to test it again!!!
PF
SILVERSIDES fired hers in the recent past (yea, it's friggen LOUD!!!)....
PF
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We kept a spare for Honolulu in the fwd aux tank, everytime we had to paint down there we had to empty the tank out and we always bitched at the A-Gang to take their crap and store it where it belongs in THEIR spaces :knuppel2: only to have the Supply Officer tell us that it belonged there, we thought he was a quack and disregarded his suggestion a few times only to have the MMC bring it back with a stern warning not to do that again.. He used to get pissed at us for it but laughed when he walked away after chewing our collective arses over and over about it, the final time he brought the COB with him and we grudglingly left it there and as far as I know it is still there against the bulkhead and the ladder reasonably strapped in place, even though her bow is now on the USS San Francisco (SSN 711)
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Torsk's horn was again tested the evening of the 4th of July. As always, it was a big hit with the folks gathered on the pier to see the fireworks here in Baltimore. A couple of the boats in the harbor tried to out do us, but were greatly outblasted.
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Little boy blue, come blow your horn.
I think this would be a great project to get working. The port authority may find some humor in a fog horn here. :angel:
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Yeah. It probably wouldn't be too difficult to get an air compressor hooked up to the air system. For the record, I'm not signing up for this. :)
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Our aircompressor IS tied into our airbanks so we have a huge amount of volume for tools and other projects that need 100PSI, with most of our airbanks online and the banks topped off we have an incredible amount of air that is available for all tasks requiring compressed air, One day we will get a BIGGER compressor onboard and actually fire up a Fairbanks once more, but who's counting it has only been 37 years this year since one fired and ran on her own power.
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OK, for the record, one ship's horn louder than a subs... the William G. Mather, a 618-foot ore carrier turned museum ship next door in Cleveland's inner harbor.
Twin horns, fired simultaneously, actually wakes the dead!!! Noooo Kidding!
:idiot2:
PF
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YOU CAN FIND A KLAXON FOR A MUSEUM BOAT ON E-BAY ALL THE TIME,ONE ON NOW.THEY SAY IN WORKING ORDER.
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What is the item number?
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I CHECKED E-BAY TO GET THE KLAXON NUMBER BUT IT'S GONE.SAW IT ON SUNDAY MORNING BUT I DON'T REMEMBER HOW MUCH TIME WAS LEFT TO BID.
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search auctions ended to see if it did finish and see the price.
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One ended on July 12 for $310, another ended on the 11th for about $390, and a third one ended on July 6 for about $370.
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SUBMARINE KLAXON ON E-BAY NOW.ITEM #330259414425
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It's strange - boats did not have 120 volt systems. How is this one working on 120v AC?
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The Navy has used Klaxons for a number of things besides the dive alarm. Nucs had 120 VAC Klaxons and so did surface ships like tenders. On surface ships (targets) they were used for security breach alarms and for engine room alarms of some kind. We have found many klaxons in the engine rooms of old tenders we have been aboard. We also fond them on the after helo deck. Actually, the 1MC onboard Torsk was modified some time back to use 120 VAC to power the klaxons.
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The Batfish I.C. circuit panel has a lot of items that run on 120 VAC, including the 1MC/7MC, radios (receivers), radar, and the lighting.
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SO THIS COULD BE FROM A NUC SUB OR SOMETHING ELSE LIKE AN OLD TENDER?ANYWAY IT IS UP TO $200+ AND THE RESERVE HAS NOT BEEN REACHED.THE ONLY TIME I WOULD TRUST AN ITEM LIKE THIS IS IF I PULLED IT OF THE BOAT MYSELF.
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It will sell for $300+ when it's over.
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Here is the typical description for a klaxon horn:
These klaxons were produced for the US Navy in the 1940's. Usually employed in fleet submarines for dive and as cease fire alarms on other Navy ships. These klaxons were made by Federal Electric Chicago Illinois. They are 20 VDC 3.5 amp and produce the distinctive Ah-Ooh-Ga sound. When first produced in 1940, the early versions of theses horns were cast in bronze and Federal switched to cast iron later in the war to preserve bronze for other wartime uses. The horn projector, top plate and electrical plug(s) are steel in all cases.
While it is possible that some were made for 120v AC - typically fleet subs used the 20 VDC versions. The picture on Ebay looks as if the electrical cord comes directly out of the horn with no modifications - so this one probably is 120v AC. It is also possible that later sub conversions switch to use 120v AC for many different things in the boat including the horns.
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IS THERE A WAY TO TRACE A BOATS HORN BACK TO THE ORIGINAL SUB?
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You'd have to have access to the builder's records, then the supply and requition records. May not even exist now.
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All of the Batfish klaxons are missing. So, I can't verify if the horns were 20VDC or 120VAC. However, I do know that the input power into the 1MC/7MC stack is 120VAC. More than likely, the voltages are rectified and stepped down for the horns, just like they are for the speakers. Most electronics run on DC voltage. AC voltage is good for power transmission, but it's necessary to convert to DC to run your home computer and TV, for example.
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I'm going to switch this conversation back to the original topic of the boat's horn. I found the lever assembly loosley laying under the metal deck supports of the bridge - we currently lack wood up there. The assembly is still connetced to the air system and the horn. I was wondering if the boats that still have a WWII bridge would mind posting a few pictures of how the lever is mounted to the bridge. It looks like it was welded to something at some point . I'm guessing tha the lever sticks up through the deck and can be operated by one's foot, but this is just a guess. While we still have the wood removed, it will be feasible to weld it back into place. The more pictures, the better. Thanks.
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Glad that you found your lever, didn't think that it had strayed too far away from it's home ;) Sadly I can't help you with the pic of the WWII configured bridge, ours was converted to a step sail and I don't think that it would help much.
Darrin
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Anyone else? We still only have the metal support structures up there and if we can figure out how to mount the lever, I think Rick is warmed up to the idea to mount it properly before we continue with putting the planks down.
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Mark,
I forgot to look at the one on Torsk to see how it is mounted while I was up there last weekend, sorry.
What you need to look for is the piping for the ships horn and then you will see a bracket where the ships horn handle goes, you will probably have to get a nut and bolt for it to work, the piping should have a valve on top with IF I remember correctly it is a poppet valve actuator (valve body should have a nipple for the actuator to press on to actuate it) and the handle was stowed in the close proximity if not still on the valve just in the locked up position or locked to keep it from being in advertantly actuated
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I located all of that stuff a while ago, but the bracket is no longer welded to the bridge and I couldn't find where it used to be welded. So, I was hoping for a picture of where it's mounted so that we can weld it back on in its proper place.