Gamewell Fire Alarm Box circa 1890

This fire box is a full shot of one pictured on August 1st. These used the telegraph system for notifying a station of a fire. When triggered, (by pulling an enclosed lever) a spring-loaded wheel spins, and taps out a signal onto the telegraph wire indicating the box number. The fire station can then match the number to the neighborhood. The alarm was often accompanied by a series of bells, whistles, and gongs miles apart, alerting firemen and citizens to the fire. The system was developed in 1852 by Dr. W. Channing and Moses Farmer, and the first one was installed in Boston in 1852. In 1859 John Gamewell of South Carolina purchased the patents and total rights, and after buying out a partnership in 1879, formed The Gamewell Fire Alam Telegraph Co. By 1890, over 500 cities had fire boxes ones just like this one. The boxes themselves weigh 85 pounds, and many are still maintained. Incredibly, the 15,000 Gamewell Fire Boxes in NYC were of great help during the 9/11 attacks. Power was knocked out all over the place, phone services were down, cell phone service to a large part of the city was knocked out, and internet communications (networks and protocols) were disrupted. Because these fire boxes run on a completely different power system, they were of invaluable help, as a reliable source of communication and notification. The company is STILL in operation as after merging with FCI (Fire Control Instruments) in 2005 and is known as: Gamewell-FCI.
(Note: I shot this in sepia, then roughed it up :D)

14th September 2012 14th Sep 12