This is a 1952 ad for the engine-driven BN52 model Mobil Directo air raid siren, which used a 25HP Wisconsin air-cooled engine to drive both the chopper (the noisemaker) and two belt-driven pulleys to spin the siren around. Later BN44E models would switch the engine to an electric motor. It was one of the first rotational sirens, and would later redeveloped into the “Allertor” and “Penetrator” electric sirens.

  • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppetEnglish
    6•27 days ago

    Who is the target demographic for this ad? This is the sort of equipment that would be implemented at the government level, but it seems aimed at consumers. Would this be for the preppers of the era? The people building fallout shelters in their backyards?

    • @[email protected]
      7•27 days ago

      From the copy it’s “civil defense directors”. So presumably, those were local officials in at least a quasi-governmental capacity with a budget to buy stuff like this.

    • ArxCyberwolfOP
      4•27 days ago

      Civil Defense contractors who work with municipalities to install systems of sirens to their desired spec. There are still companies that do this today such as W.S. Darley and Edwards. City civil defense officials would also look at these ads when deciding which company to go with for a siren system.

    • BoscoBear
      2•27 days ago

      There are many magazines that had ads for bomb racks, targeting systems, mortors that were the same way. They look like ads for a blender.

  • Transporter Room 3
    4•27 days ago

    “REMEMBER The large casualties in Japan from the Atom Bomb resulted from failure to provide adequate air raid warning.”

    Uhhhh I think that might have been due to the Atom Bomb, but maybe I’m wrong

    • @[email protected]English
      3•26 days ago

      They attempted the duck and cover, but were a few seconds late. If only they had adequate warning!

      • Transporter Room 3
        2•26 days ago

        But the videos they showed us in school told us that when we see the flash, we should get under our desks, and those will save us from the blast and radiation!

        Surely those videos are factual and realistic, and therefore everyone should have had ample time to get under their desks?

        Ah but maybe they didn’t have a wooden school desk to hide under. That was the real issue.

        So yeah, I guess if they had adequate warning, they could sprint to the nearest school and try to cram under the nearest desk