Keys to a successful Road Trip.

By Dean Newman, Professionalcar.org

So you have made the big decision and decided that you want to drive your coach to a show out of town.  Good for you!  You are answering the call of the open road.  You are feeding your vintage vehicle wanderlust.  Easy enough.  You just need to pack your bags, load up and head out, right?

Not so fast sparky…

You are driving a vintage coach.  Not one of those modern, new fangled, electronic everything, comfort barges.  You have to do a little bit of planning and work to make sure you are ready.  You have to prepare and make sure you are equipped and ready for the journey.   But dont worry, most of the process is common sense.  A good bit of it is really easy, and almost all of it is going to be fun.

Unlike modern cars, our vintage coaches need a little extra TLC before a long trip.  You should either check yourself, or have a trusted mechanic take a look at all of the basics in advance of your trip.  DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE.  This should be done about 2 months BEFORE your trip is scheduled.  Here is the basic checklist of things that *I* inspect before every trip.

• Tires.  Make sure they are in good condition and properly inflated.
• Top up all of the fluids, including washer fluid if your car is so equipped.
• Double check your radiator to make sure its filled properly and contains the proper mix of water and coolant for your area.
• Make sure your wiper blades are decent and your wipers are working.
• Check all your belts and hoses.  Make sure they are not dry or starting to crack or craze.  Also make sure all the hose clamps are tight and the belts are adjusted properly.
• Check for leaks and drips under the car.  (Most old cars drip something, so a small drip isn’t always a huge issue.  You want to make sure the puddle isn’t larger than usual though as that may indicate a problem.)

If you haven’t taken your coach on any road trips recently, its also a good idea to have your mechanic check over the major mechanical parts of the car as well.

• Bushings and suspension parts to make sure they are still in good condition.
• Shocks and springs to make sure they are still working properly.
• Tune up the engine if it hasn’t been tuned in a while.  (Or at least have it checked to make sure its still where it needs to be.)  A coach may run fine for short in town trips, but not be tuned properly for long jaunts on the highway.
• While I’m under the car checking suspension parts, I always take a quick look along the length of the car.  I’m looking to make sure all the bolts look tight and making sure that there isn’t anything that’s come loose and is dangling where its not supposed to.  You can also check your exhaust and mufflers to make sure they are decent and not rusted.  (A hole in a muffler can be REALLY Annoying on a long highway trip.)

Ok.  So now we have an OK from the mechanic or we have checked the car over ourselves and we know that the coach is ready for a road trip.  So we are good right?  Not quite.  Patience Grasshopper.  There are a few more things to do before we are really ready to leave.  The next few things are easy and fun though.  And these should only take about an hour to do.

First we are going to make up a “Travel Kit” for the car with some basic supplies. (These are what I carry, your needs may be different.  Tailor this kit to YOUR coach.  And all of this fits into a small plastic tote box with a snap on lid.  My box with everything is the same size as a carry on suitcase.  And it fits easily in the back of the coach.)

• Fire Extinguisher (Make sure its somewhere you can get to it EASILY and QUICKLY)
• Fuses to match all the fuse values used in the car
• Extra wire, wire connectors, and some sort of crimping tool
• An extra relay to match any relays you may have in the car
• An extra fuse holder.  (In case I need to replace one already in the car)
• Spare belts or hoses that are unusual or hard to find
• Spare parts that are unusual and hard to find for your coach
• Some bailing wire
• Duct tape and Zip ties
• Gloves.  (I carry both nitrile disposable gloves and heavier mechanics gloves)
• A couple of plastic garbage bags.  (can be used for lots of things including holding dirty parts to keep your interior clean, Of you can lay one on the ground to get under the car to check something
• A pair of plastic safety glasses.  (Just in case.)
• One quart of oil
• One quart of Transmission fluid
• One bottle of power steering fluid (If needed for your coach.)
• A flashlight with GOOD Batteries and a spare set of batteries
• A gallon jug of drinking water.  (Which can be used in the radiator if needed.)
• Rags or shop towels or paper towels
• Spare hose clamps in assorted sizes
• Traffic cones/safety triangle/flares/some sort of warning lights
• 2 cans of “Fix a Flat“  (If I had a spare tire in the car, I’d scale back to 1 can of this.)
• Auto First Aid Kit
• If you have custom wheels and you carry a regular spare tire, make sure your lug nuts will work on BOTH the custom wheels and the spare.  Some custom wheels have special lug nuts that wont work with a spare.  If that’s the case, bring spare lugnuts for your spare.

I also carry a basic toolbox so I can actually use the stuff listed above if I need to.

• Pliers:  needle nose and standard
• Crecent wrench
• Vise grips
• Wire strippers/crimpers
• Hammer
• Screwdrivers:  Phillips and standard. (Depending on your car, you may only need one type)
• Medium sized prybar.  (Better than a screwdriver when you need to “adjust” something.  And it fits under the seat and I never even see it.)
• I found a small “automotive” socket set in a plastic molded case and I toss that down in the bottom of one of the compartments in the back of the ambulance when I travel.

I have a couple of optional things that I take with me depending on the trip.

• Tire iron.  (It never hurts to check your lug nuts before EVERY trip.  And at the midpoint of your trip, just in case.)
• Small rolling floor jack.  If I’m taking a long, multi day drive, I take a jack in case I need to get under the car.  Sometimes the extra height provided by the jack makes all the difference in the world.
• Two way radios.  If you are traveling in a group with other cars, its handy to have some of the inexpensive FRS radios for car to car communications.  They are short range license-free radios, and on the road its sometimes easier to push one button and call on the radio when you need to alert the other cars in your group.
• Portable GPS Navigation unit.  This will allow you to map your route, check your speed via satellite, track travel time, and navigate in unfamiliar areas.  Some units will also have the ability to locate gas and food and other points of interest, which can be handy in a city you are not familiar with.  If you are going to use a GPS, make sure you either have enough batteries for the trip, or an appropriate power cord that will work in your coach.

So now we know the coach is ready.  We have parts and supplies and tools.  So we can leave now, right?

Sort of.  Now we get out and drive.  We take a couple of shorter weekend shakedown cruises out of town to see how she rides on the highway and make sure everything is good.  Load up your travel kit and your toolbox and make sure you have a cell phone and some sort of roadside service plan, just in case.  (I use AAA Plus and have had NO problems with them.  I’ve been told that some plans try to classify our coaches as “commercial vehicles” and they claim that they do not cover commercial vehicles.  As long as your coach is registered to you as a collector vehicle, you should be covered as its no longer commercially used.  Be sure to check with your provider to make sure.  And make sure you are clear that the car is privately owned and a collector vehicle.)

I usually try to start with a short drive of 30-45 minutes.  Backroads are Ok for this one, and if you can get a friend to tag along in a regular car, they can watch your coach from behind and make sure everything looks good, make sure the car is tracking right, and you can even check your speedo against the other car to see how accurate it is .  The first trip is really just going out and back to get everything up to temperature and make sure the coach feels Ok.  If all goes well the first time out, on the second trip I will try to go somewhere that’s an Hour to an hour and a half away from home. (One way) And this trip needs to be on the same type of roads as your big trip is going to be.  Usually this means Actual 65-75mph highway time.  I’ll leave mid-morning and stop for lunch somewhere out of town.  Have a quiet lunch, let the car sit during lunch and then jump back in and head for home before its totally cooled down.  We want to see how the car is going to react to running when its already warmed up.  Pretty much anywhere you can get to is good as long as you get some real road time in.  You want to be on the road for 2-3 hours to make sure that everything is working fine under real loads.   Here you are seeing how the car feels at speed and how it does over time and distance.  You want to keep an eye on temperatures and oil pressure and the vitals of the car.   If its fine for an hour and then starts to overheat, that indicates a problem you need to look into before your big trip.   Be aware of how the car sounds and feels.  It should be obvious when the car feels “right”.   This is also a good chance to figure out what kind of mileage you get on the highway.   Figuring out approximate highway mileage lets you plan your gas and food stops on your big trip so you dont end up miles from anywhere on fumes.   This also lets you get used to how the coach handles on the freeway and lets you figure out what speeds the car is most comfortable at.  Some coaches will do 75 on the freeway with no problems.  Others run better at 65 or 70 and just dont “feel” right at certain speeds.  Part of this trip is figuring out the sweet spot for your particular coach.   These cars all drive differently then our “regular” cars.  And you need to get a feel for them so you know when things are going well, or just aren’t quite right.  You want to develop that feel on your shakedown trips so when you are on the road, you can stop when you notice something feels odd, before it becomes a huge issue.

NOW you should be ready to go.  You have the parts you may need.  You have the tools to fix whatever you may come across.  You have checked out the coach mechanically, and you’ve put in some road miles so you KNOW that it runs fine and is capable of the trip.  Now you should be ready to go.  And if you have put in the time ahead of your trip, it should be pretty smooth and uneventful.   Most of the road trips that I’ve taken end up completely uneventful.  Occasionally I run into a glitch here and there, but so far, almost everything has been able to be fixed on the side of the road or at a rest stop.  And nothing so far has prevented me from arriving at my destination.

I’ve also discovered that I look forward to the drive almost as much as the trip.  The people I meet and the enjoyment of driving my coach is every bit as cool as the actual destination.

So get out there, do your homework, and drive those coaches!  The more you drive them, the better they usually run, and the less time you have to spend preparing for future trips.  If you keep your coach maintained and drive it regularly, then its much easier to get it ready for a road trip when you want to go the next time.  Sitting unused is harder on vintage coaches than taking them out and enjoying them.  So get out there and enjoy!

Comment on this article in our forums HERE.

Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. Reproduction or modification is prohibited without written permission.

The classic car hobby seems to be divided into two very distinct groups of people. And while this is a fairly sweeping generalization. Take a look around at the next car show and see for yourself.

We have Trailer people and the Non-Trailer people.

You can tell just by looking at the vehicles there. Trailer people have cars that are beyond perfect. The 20 miles a year sorts of cars whose only real use is a micro trip from the garage to a local show and back. And never in bad weather. The non-trailer people have cars that are not quite perfect. Still very nice looking vehicles, but not quite possessing the better than new perfection of the pampered vehicles. I’m a Non-trailer kind of person and my coach was restored to be a driver, but I do understand where the trailer folks are coming from. Some collector vehicles really are too valuable to drive. That being said, I’m not sure that any of our vintage coaches fall into that category. We aren’t talking about Million Dollar Hemi Cuda’s or Multi-Million dollar Duesenbergs. I firmly believe that when you get a vehicle that becomes that valuable, it’s no longer really a vehicle. It’s more a piece of art, or an investment. But it’s really not a car anymore as you just can’t really drive and enjoy it as it was designed to be. That being said, we drive old ambulances and hearses and limousines. These were working vehicles when they were new. They were used when they were needed. These vehicles saw rain and horrible roads, and long drives and in some cases a good deal of abuse. And while most were well cared for because they needed to be reliable and dependable, they were not really pampered showpieces when they were new.

Anyone that has restored one of these old coaches can tell you that the fit and finish on these coaches was not always the best. The paintwork was reflective of the era in which it was built, and was usually far from perfect. And at their very core, these vehicles were just transportation. Specialized transportation to be sure, but at their core they are all just working vehicles. And before folks get upset with that, please know that I say that with a great deal of love for these cars. These coaches were built to do a very specific task. Move the injured or deceased or the wealthy. (In the case of Limousines.) These vehicles were built to do a job. They often made a statement about the owner in the process, but they were built for their utility.

Fast forward to the present day. We have collectors that love and admire these vehicles, and sometimes I wonder if, as a hobby, we are not assigning too much importance to the perceived value of these vehicles. We look at low production numbers as a sign of high value, when in fact, those two items are not always directly linked. Low production numbers do not always make a vehicle valuable. It’s the “eBay effect”. if you browse eBay, you will notice that a large number of listings use the word “RARE” in the title or the description. People think that if an item is “rare” then it will bring top dollar, so almost everything is listed as being rare these days. We have somehow been led to believe that Rare=Valuable, and that is just not always the case. Sometimes rare just means that not a lot were made. The lack of perfection that our cars were built with is a tailor made excuse to get out there and drive them and enjoy them. They were not perfect when they were new, so are we really preserving them if we are restoring them to better than new and not actually driving them? How can we say that we really appreciate these cars if all we do is display them in a static setting?

I drive my collector cars. ALL of them. I don’t even own a trailer capable of holding any of my coaches. So if I want to enjoy them and share them, I have to drive them. If I want to do an event outside my home city, I drive my coach there. Shortly after finishing the new paint job on my 1960 Ambulance, we loaded all of our stuff in the back and drove 650 miles to Denver Colorado for a show. Was it a perfect trip? Absolutely not. Less than 60 miles from home, the A/C in the ambulance stopped working. So what did we do? We rolled the windows down and kept going. This trip happened in the middle of the summer and we started in Arizona. The temperature was over 100 degrees when we left. And with the windows down at 75mph on the freeway, it wasn’t as bad as everyone thought it would be. That was an interesting trip to say the least. We encountered bad road surfaces, blowing dust, torrential rain, horrible drivers, and some pretty frightening roads in general. And we also met some of the friendliest and nicest people along the way. We realized that getting there was MORE than half of the fun. Gas stops always provided an opportunity to talk to someone about the car, and what it was and what it represented and why we collected them. To see the smiles and the wonderment as we passed folks on the freeway was just amazing. It’s an experience that I think a lot of folks in our hobby are missing out on by tucking their coaches away in trailers and hiding them on the trip there.

Of course it comes at a price. You have to learn how to fix little things that go wrong out on the road. You may have to take some parts and tools with you when you travel. You may have to suffer without your leather seats and A/C and your cup-holders and your satellite radios for a few days. You have to stop worrying about everything on the car being flawless because roads are dirty places. You can’t worry about some bug splatters on the car, or some small rock chips, or even weather. You have to be ready to be an ambassador for the hobby because you will be attracting a huge amount of attention. And you have to be willing to talk to people, because you will get questions. (And you will get the same sorts of questions at every gas stop.) But in return, I can almost guarantee that you will meet amazing people along the way. You will get a new appreciation for these vehicles and their capabilities. And most of the time, you will have a hard time wiping the smile off of your face when you arrive. These things are actually fun to drive. And isn’t that why we collect them to begin with? Isn’t the enjoyment and the fun the whole reason we collect these coaches?

Click here to discuss this in our forums.

The Ugly Duckling.  A restoration adventure.

By Dean Newman

It all started in September of 2004.  I was browsing eBay and looking through the vehicles listed for sale.   I wasn’t actually looking for anything new, I just enjoy surfing the listings.  I had a small fleet of ’59 Cadillac’s in the garage already in varying states of restoration and I really had no specific need for another coach.  I figured I was doing fairly well, I had gone through a hearse search and a limo search, and even managed to breeze through a ’59 Cadillac search without finding anything that I couldn’t live without.  I figured I’d finish up my searching with an ambulance search and then move on to other projects.  That last search started me on a journey that I’m still enjoying.  And it all started with a teeny little photo.  Tucked down at the very end of the search page on eBay motors there was a listing for an ambulance.  It was listed only as a “1960 Chevrolet Station Wagon.”  And the listing had just gone up as it had 10 days left to go.  From the tiny photo that was next to the listing, it was tough to tell what the car really looked like, so I clicked into the listing.  The description in the listing had the car listed as a “Chevy Ambulance, NOT impala or Bel Air.”  The top of the description stated that the car would make a great “old school custom car, hot rod, or rat rod”  It went on to list the basics of the car, which at a first glance looked promising.  51,000 miles, 350 motor, new tires, stretcher included, owner’s manual included, currently licensed and registered.  And best of all it was listed as a great road car.  The seller claimed that it had been driven several hundred miles and it was “Great at 70+” and assured everyone that it had been serviced and could be driven home.  And the little notation that I found most interesting was they mentioned it was built by “Cotner-Bevington” of Blytheville, Ark.

The seller also listed some of the “minor” issues that the car had that would need to be attended to as well:

• Radio didn’t work.
• brakes pulsed when you used them
• “some” rust in the drivers floor pan
• Cracked windshield
• Cracked right rear door glass
• Carb had a flat spot off idle
• Transmission dripped when left sitting.

All in all none of those issues were that major in my opinion, so I scrolled down to get a better look at this car.  My first thought was that based on the photos in the listing, the car was pretty homely looking.    Now the photos were not the greatest, and they weren’t very big.  But the car didn’t look too horrible.  The body looked fairly straight, if not a little ungainly.  The roof line was definitely modified, and the transition where the coach work met the factory body work was interesting to say the least.  From the front ¾ view the car was not too bad looking if you squinted a little.  From the rear ¾ view the roof and the rear door was huge and just didn’t seem proportioned correctly.  The whole car just didn’t seem to flow together well.  It looked very much like a Frankenstein sort of vehicle.  You could see that it was not a backyard project, it did have professional coachwork.  But it was also apparently that it was not really a regular production coach built car.  It just didn’t have the polish and the lines of the major coaches of the era.  The paint it was wearing didn’t help show it off much either, it was an oxidized and faded fire engine red with an equally crusty refrigerator white roof.  The color split down the side of the car was horrible and didn’t work well on the car; it was jarring and threw your eye off, making the car look top heavy and not balanced well.  It also had about 6 different shades of primer on it, and someone had painted big white iron crosses on the doors and then apparently sanded them partly off again.  It seemed as if someone was already working on turning it into a rat rod of sorts.  Overall the effect was a bit on the ugly side.  I remember calling my wife in to show her a “homely” looking ambulance.  My comment at the time was that I wanted to show her the photos as I figured the odds of finding another ambulance that was this homely looking were fairly slim.  Having had a good laugh about the car, I closed my browser and went on with my day.

And I just could not get that car out of my head.  It haunted me.

Over the next several days I found myself going back to the auction listing and staring at the photos.  By day 5 of the auction, I had it on my watch list and was keeping tabs on the bidding.  By day 7 I had decided that I wanted to bring her home.  I told my wife at dinner that night that I was going to bid on the Chevy Ambulance on eBay.  She asked if it was the ugly one I’d shown her earlier in the week.  I told her it was.  To her credit, she did not laugh.  She did not look at me like I was insane.  And she did not run out of the room in a panic.  She told me that if I wanted it, then bid on it.  She also pointed out that if it was in fact a Cotner-Bevingtion, it would probably be a pretty rare car.  And she mentioned that being a Chevy might make it easier to get parts for. By the end of dinner, we were in agreement that I was going to win that car and bring it home.

I watched that auction like a hawk.  I jumped into the bidding and kept it low to not give away my plan.  And I planned on waiting until the last minute to submit my final bid.  And then real life interfered.  I was called into work to cover a shift that would pull me away from the computer when the auction ended.  By this point, I wanted the car so badly I could taste it.  I just had to hope that things worked out for me.  I entered a fairly aggressive bid right before I left for work and headed out for one exceptionally long and stressful day at work.  Returning home, the first stop was to check the computer.  And there is was.  “Sorry, you were outbid”.  Another bidder had won it for $100 more than my max bid.  I was crushed.  In a last ditch “hail mary” play, I sent a note to the winner congratulating them on the win, and letting them know that if they ever wanted to sell it in the future, to please keep me in mind.  I mentioned that I was an ambulance collection, and I had been hoping to restore the car if I had won it.  I congratulated them again on the win, and sent the note off into the wilds.  I figured it was over.  I tried to put it out of my mind.  I tried to let it go.

Several weeks passed, and I figured that the car was long gone, and it was just not meant to be.  And then out of the blue, I received a response from the winner.  I stared at that mail in my box, afraid to open it for fear the winner would be gloating or worse telling me about cutting it up and turning it into a hot rod or a rat rod.  When I finally mustered the nerve to actually read the mail, I was stunned.  The mail was short and polite and it was an offer to sell me the car if I was still interested in it.  I crafted my response as carefully as I could so as not to appear too eager.  I was concerned that if the winner figured out how much I wanted the car, the price would go way up.  Amazingly it did not.  His asking price was exceptionally fair, and when he offered to deliver the car to me, the asking price ended up being almost exactly what it would have cost me if I had won the car to begin with.

I overnighted him the deposit, and started counting the days until it was scheduled to arrive.

Delivery day was the 1^st of October, and he arrived with the car shortly after dark.  It looked pretty decent on the trailer.  It was a little rough in spots, but the body looked to be solid and straight for the most part.  So we unloaded her and rolled her into the garage for the night.  The following morning I was able to get a really good look at what I had just added to the collection.

• The body was pretty solid and straight. No major damage or rust issues there which was a plus.
• There were small dings and dents here and there, but nothing really serious in terms of body damage.
• The rust in the floor pans was slightly more than “some”. It looked like we’d need to replace both front floor pans and the driver’s side rear floor pan, but those were available so no major issue there. On the bright side, there was enough of an opening in the floor to be able to drop and anchor through for supplemental braking power.
• The windshield and the side windows glass were indeed broken. But those pieces are available as well. No major issue there.
• The brakes did more than pulse. They chattered and bucked, and did a bunch of other unnerving things. They also leaked. What they did not do is stop the car properly.
• The transmission was a little less pristine than suggested as well. Aside from the “small leak” it also had a major clunk, and some grinding when the car was moving. And after a quick spin around the block, I was doubtful that it would do 70 easily on the freeway.
• The flat spot in the carb was present off idle. There was also a flat spot in the carb when the car was revving as well. On the bright side, it was a consistent issue, and I was fairly confident we could fix that easily.

Even with the additional issues that I noticed the first day, I still felt that I got a pretty nice coach.  It was just going to take a little more work than I had initially planned.  So instead of having a “driver” that I could play with, I’d just do a little work on it, and then drive it for a while.  As these projects tend to do, it ended up growing beyond the initial plans.   We have gone through and rebuilt, replaced, or updated almost every piece of the car.  Along the way we have learned a lot about how coachbuilt cars were actually built in the early ’60s.  We have found some cool artifacts from the cars history, and we have had a ton of fun doing it.  From new floor pans, to paint to what seemed like miles of wiring; it’s been a learning process every step of the way.  A process that I’d like to share in words and pictures over the next few issues.  Since we purchased this coach, it’s been to Denver, Colorado.  Los Angeles, California.  And we have driven it around and through most of Arizona.  It’s a fantastic road car.   It’s a great way to start a conversation about professional cars, and it’s a ton of fun to drive.  We built the car to be a driver, and we’ve learned a ton along the way.  We have also made a pile of friends on the highways and rest stops of the west coast.  Nothing attracts new friends like an old ambulance.  It’s something I recommend to everyone.  If you aren’t driving them, you are missing half of the fun!

In the next installment of our restoration journey, I’ll delve into welding for dummies, what not to do with POR 15 rust inhibitor, and how to wire a car up without setting yourself on fire or melting anything.

]]> http://www.professionalcar.org/duckling1-544/feed 0 http://www.professionalcar.org/vintagemed-513 http://www.professionalcar.org/vintagemed-513#comments Fri, 29 May 2009 15:00:46 +0000 admin http://www.professionalcar.org/?p=513

Did Those Old Medical Devices Really Work?
by
Louis Farah

Many years ago I attended a Los Angeles County paramedic update class. These are a part of my yearly continuing education that introduces new medical procedures for field use and/or any changes to county protocols.
Sitting with a bunch of old salts like myself that have been playing the paramedic game since the 1970′s, we marveled at the number of changes we’ve seen in medical care throughout the years.

At one time my paramedic unit carried five different pain medications, each used for something different; Demerol for muscle pain, Morphine for chest pain, Valium and Phenobarbital for seizures and Talwin for fractures.
We carried five different IV solutions and a variety of drugs used for drips. Paramedic units in Los Angeles County were stocked with virtually everything found in an emergency room because our paramedic program was still considered a “pilot program” that allowed emergency room physicians the latitude to order any medical procedure they felt was necessary to save a patient’s life.

The Wedworth-Townsend Act opened the door for paramedic programs throughout California. Unfortunately there were no standardized protocols for treatment. Each county had the ability to design and develop their own programs, and as a result, paramedic field treatment was as varied as the number of counties with paramedics.

However, one aspect of paramedic care was constant: The equipment we used.

Long before the advent of paramedics, ambulance services were using virtually the same emergency equipment made by a handful of manufacturers.

Early Resuscitators

Perhaps the most advanced piece of equipment in the early days of EMS was the use and delivery of supplemental oxygen via the resuscitator. Vintage equipment such as the old Emerson units used large and heavy tanks to power a device that forced air into the lungs of a patient. The standard procedure for anyone having breathing difficulties was the practice of putting a mask on their face with a tight seal to inflate the lungs.
Unfortunately, few of these people survived because the underlying cause of the medical emergency wasn’t alleviated by simply forcing oxygen into the lungs. However, for drowning victims and those overcome by smoke, the benefits far outweighed the negatives, so these units found a home on ambulances across the nation.

These resuscitators definitely had their limitations: They were big, heavy and bulky; It took two strong men to transport the unit from the ambulance to the patient; and they “cycled”.

Cycling was a design built into the system. To prevent damage to the lungs from over-inflation, once the resuscitator reached 40 pounds per-square-inch in pressure, the unit stopped pumping oxygen.
For those that suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 40 pounds of pressure wasn’t enough to fill the lungs with air. As a result, for those patients with any type of obstructive lung disease, the Emerson resuscitator did more harm than good.

By the 1950′s, the theory of rescue breathing was making huge advancements. Although CPR had yet to be applied in a field setting, the medical community was starting to embrace the practice by numerous methods of rescue breathing including the use of the old arm-lift method, and eventually mouth-to-mouth rescue breathing.

With the evolution of the manual resuscitator, one of the most famous and well-known pieces of oxygen equipment came into vogue:
The green-cased E&J “Lifeport” oxygen resuscitator.

The good old E&J became the standard of the industry. Both the Los Angeles City and County Fire Departments used it as standard equipment on all of their apparatus, as did most other fire departments across the country. It too operated much like the Emerson unit, but it was much smaller and utilized lightweight “D” sized oxygen cylinders.

Both the Emerson and E&J resuscitators depended on the patient’s ability to breath in the oxygen in order to be beneficial. With the limitation of the cycling feature, those needing rescue breathing benefited little from the devices.

Perhaps the greatest advancement in the delivery of oxygen was the demand valve. At the press of a button, high-flow oxygen could be forced into the lungs without the worry of the device cycling, and thus, discontinuing the flow of oxygen into the lungs.

For rescue breathing on the go, the formidable ambu-bag was introduced in the 1960′s to ventilate a patient in distress. With the advent of cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, two rescuers could perform chest compressions and provide adequate oxygenation to a person with reasonable success.
The ambu-bag is used today as the primary mode of delivering rescue breathing to a patient outside of the hospital emergency room. The most widely used in-house device remains the ventilator, which can deliver a variety of oxygen concentrations and ventilation pressures and settings. The 1980′s saw the discontinuance of the demand valve resuscitator because of concerns associated with possible over-inflation of the lungs. Without a “pop-off” valve to prevent inflation pressure of above 40 pounds per-square-inch, the medical community seems to be more at ease with the ambu-bag that has that capability.

Even with the advancements of airway control with such devices as the endotracheal tube, the ambu-bag has undergone design changes to improve the delivery of oxygen into the lungs. Today’s ambu-bags have long connecting reservoir tubes to ensure 100% oxygen concentrations in the bag prior to deflation; New snap-on filters have color indicators to confirm the exchange of inhaled oxygen and exhaled carbon dioxide.

Although the old Emerson and E&J resuscitators are a huge part of EMS history and are standard props in our professional vehicles, their usefulness in today’s modern world of medicine has fallen by the wayside. However, before the advancement of emergency medical care, they were the standard of the industry.

Suction Devices

Just as important as delivering oxygen to a patient’s lungs was the establishment of a clear airway to facilitate the delivery of the oxygen to a patient’s lungs.

Perhaps the earliest device for clearing an airway was the simple bulb syringe. In fact, the bulb syringe is used today to clear the airway of an infant during delivery and a larger syringe can be used to clear fluids from the mouth and throat from most adults. However, when a larger volume of debris needs to be removed, the mighty Rico suction unit has become standard equipment in nearly all ambulances operating in this country.

The Rico suction unit gained popularity in the 1960′s because of the pressure generated by the suction unit and the large canister used to collect the secretions provided a much improved way of clearing a patient’s airway in an emergency. Whether the obstruction was blood or vomit, the Rico unit had the power and the capacity to handle the job.

There have been two units used in the field. The first was powered by manual suction created from the engine manifold of the ambulance being used. A hose was connected to the intake manifold and routed to the suction unit itself. Using the suction power of the engine, debris could be suctioned up into the catch canister. The power of the suction depended on the amount of suction generated by the ambulance’s intake manifold, which varied from ambulance to ambulance.

However, the cost of the suction unit was relatively cheap because early models did not have an independent motor that powered the unit. The mechanics were simple: Hook one end of the suction hose to the ambulance’s engine, hook the other end of the hose to the suction unit, and you were in business.

The modern Rico suction unit did away with the use of the engine’s manifold as the main source of suction in favor of a new unit that featured it’s own suction motor. The pressure generated by the motor was more consistent and could be regulated to meet the needs of individual patient requirements. Today, a suction unit is standard equipment in every ambulance manufactured in America.

As time went on, other companies entered the market with lighter and more compact devices. The Laedal Company produced a fine line of portable suction units that were powered by rechargeable batteries. Soon they became a standard as well. With the vast acceptance of the Laedal units, Rico soon concentrated their efforts on vehicle-based suction units while Laedal took over the portable market.

Entering the Modern Age of Paramedics

Basic life support devices such as oxygen tanks, resuscitators, ambu-bags and suction units have changed little prior to 1969. Yes, some improvements were made to make them more efficient. But the most significant evolution in the field of emergency medical services was the development of the paramedic.

No longer would citizens have to depend on a fast ride at break-neck speed to the nearest hospital to receive comprehensive emergency medical care. That advanced level of medical care would be brought to the scene of an emergency and the same high tech equipment used in the hospital would be used as well.

Perhaps the two most important tools were the portable heart monitor/defibrillator developed by the Datascope Corporation and the portable radio designed by Biocom.

Together, these two pieces of equipment brought those who had died back to life, or prevented one from dying.

Those experiencing cardiac arrest outside of an emergency room were doomed to a virtual death sentence. Without quick defibrillation, they would pass from “clinical death” to “biological death” with no possible chance for survival.

The use of the Datascope heart monitor/defibrillator, coupled with the proper cardiac drugs and the delivery of a counter-shock in a timely manner could convert a fatal heart rhythm into a normal heartbeat and save countless lives.

The use of the heart monitor/defibrillator with the patient’s electrocardiogram being transmitted to the hospital via the Biocom radio put a paramedic in direct contact with an emergency room physician. The physician could see the heart rhythm the paramedic was seeing in the field, and timely treatment was initiated to prevent a potentially-fatal heart rhythms from occurring.

The impact was immediate.

Prior to the introduction of paramedics, nearly 90% of all cardiac cases never made it to the hospital alive. A heart attack outside of a hospital meant certain death. Today, over 90% of all heart related patients not only make it to the hospital alive, but they survive and go on to live productive lives.

Most cardiac monitor/defibrillators today are standard tools in treating a variety of cardiac emergencies. Developments during the last thirty years include the use of twelve leads to view the entire heart from front to back, and heart pacing capabilities for those patients in acute heart failure. Some units, such as the Life Pack 12, even record voice conversation at the scene of the emergency for documentation at a later time.

Perhaps the most important piece of equipment was (and still is) the radio used by the paramedic base station hospital that receives the assessment and report from the paramedics and relays back medical treatment to the paramedics in the field.

The base station radio not only receives voice transmissions from paramedic crews, but receives the patient’s EKG rhythm as well. Advanced life support treatment is much more sophisticated than ever before and current protocols require much more documentation of medical conditions before and after treating the patient.

At the time of their use, these medical devices were considered state-of-the-art and were widely used. Just as the ambulance has improved in performance, style and convenience, medical devices have steadily improved to meet the new protocols of emergency medical care in a pre-hospital setting.

For those of us that have been involved in the field of emergency medical services since the 1970′s, the changes have been astonishing. We are doing medical procedures and using equipment that is even more advanced than ever before.

As to the question of did these devices actually work?

Yes, indeed they did!

Louis Farah is a professional car collector and historian as well as being an active Paramedic in the Los Angeles area.

Federal’s ‘Director’ and ‘Interceptor’ Electronic Sirens

By: Leslie Erlich

So you found a 1970 Superior/Cadillac 54′ high headroom ambulance that is rusting away and you want to restore it to the way it was when it was new.   The beacon and siren are long gone but you have a idea of what type of warning equipment it had when it was first put into service.   Beacons are fairly easy to find – either a Federal 17 series or 184 series will do.  But what about the siren?  Should you go mechanical or electronic?  According to the 1970 Superior catalogue, there were three mechanical siren options: A Federal Q, a Federal C6, or a B&M Super Chief.   As far as electronic sirens go, only the siren speakers are illustrated in the catalogue: a Federal CP25, CJ24, SA24, and CJ184 speaker/light. But if the speakers were Federal, chances are the siren would have been a Federal Director or Interceptor.

If you choose to go with an electronic siren, the Director and Interceptor models are by far the most recognizable among the old Federal electronics, particularly the ‘brown face’ Director and the ‘blue face’ Interceptor.  The brown face and blue face versions were in production for about twenty years, and on the surface they look pretty much the same regardless of when they were made.   To the uneducated observer, a siren is a siren is a siren.  But I will argue that surface appearance alone is not a valid indicator of period correctness.  The Director and Interceptor sirens underwent several design changes throughout the course of production, and in my research I have found that the sound of the siren is the best indicator of period correctness.

PA5 and PA10

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The very first Director and Interceptor sirens were the PA5 and PA10, and they only vaguely resembled their brown and blue faced cousins.  The Director was intended to be the ‘economy’ model while the Interceptor would be the ‘deluxe’ model.   The most significant features about both sirens are that the Director has a wired-in microphone and screw terminals for power/speaker/radio connection, while the Interceptor has an optional detachable microphone and multi-pin plug connectors for the radio, speakers, and power supply.   The PA5 (Director) and PA10 (Interceptor) had black control panels and grey plastic knobs, and they were both capable of producing the standard wail and yelp tones that are still featured on electronic sirens today.  But the one thing that really set the PA5 and PA10 apart from later Federal electronic sirens is that these models were designed to simulate the sound of a mechanical siren.  I’ve heard a PA5, and the ‘wail’ tone sounds much like a Q2b mechanical siren.   The PA5 and PA10 were in production from about 1960 to 1962, and either one in working condition would be a rare find.

PA5 sound sample: pa5

PA15 and PA20

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The brown face / blue face era began with the PA15 and PA20 around 1962.  What sets these sirens apart from later versions of the Director and Interceptor is that both models have wail, yelp, and ‘alert’ tones.  The ‘alert’ tone is just a steady tone that plays at constant pitch – it doesn’t rise or fall.   Federal abandoned the simulated mechanical tone in favor of a more rounded synthesizer-like tone when the PA15 and PA20 were introduced. The sound of these sirens is much deeper and lower-pitched than what we are accustomed to hearing nowadays.  I’ve never heard a PA15 or PA20 in use on a ‘real life’ emergency vehicle, but I have heard the PA15/PA20 sounds on many TV shows and movies that were produced from the late 1960s right on up to the early 1980s.   For example, the siren sounds that were dubbed in for Squad 51 of Emergency and the patrol car on Adam-12 were a recording of a PA15 or PA20 running in ‘manual’ mode.  Or the dual siren tones of the police cars on Hawaii Five-O were overdubs of  PA15 / PA20 wails and yelps.  Over the course of production the PA15 and PA20 underwent several minor internal design changes, but the circuit board layout remained roughly the same until the end of production.  Letters at the end of the serial numbers indicated revisions to the circuitry, such a F1, E1, F1A, E1A, F1B, E1B, etc.  PA15 serial numbers began with ‘F’ and PA20 serial numbers began with ‘E’. Production of the PA15 and PA20 ended in 1966.

PA15 / PA20 sound sample: pa15pa20

Early PA15A and PA20A

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The PA15 and PA20 were replaced by the PA15A and PA20A in 1967.  The PA15A has wail and yelp tones only while the PA20A has wail, yelp, and hi-lo tones.  The hi-lo tone is an electronic simulation of the hi-lo horn sirens that were used on European ambulances.  With the change in the control panel layout came a complete change in the design of the siren oscillator circuits. The early PA15A and PA20A models also had deep low-pitched tones, but the wail and yelp tones rose and fell a little differently than those of the PA15 and PA20.   The wail tone rose more slowly, and the yelp had a distinctive throaty ‘wah-yu wah-yu wah-yu’ sound, almost like a human voice.   PA15A serial numbers began with the number ’1′, while the PA20A serial numbers began with the number ’2′. The first number was followed by a letter – A, B, C, or D, and the letter indicated that there were changes to the circuitry.  I’ve never seen an A series unit, so I’m assuming that it was either a prototype or demonstrator that never made it to full scale production.  There are service manuals for the B, C, and D series however.  The early PA15A and PA20A sirens were in production from 1967 to about 1970, although there seems to be a lot more 1D and 2D series units around than the earlier versions.

Early PA15 / PA20A sound sample: early15a20a

PA15A series 1E and PA20A series 2E

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The Director and Interceptor siren oscillator circuits would undergo one last major change in the early 1970s. These units have the letter ‘E’ in their serial numbers. The circuit boards in the E series units are completely different from the earlier PA15A and PA20A units. The new models, PA15A series 1E and PA20A series 2E, would have high-pitched wail and yelp tones much like the electronic sirens we hear nowadays. Sometimes I have to listen closely to tell the difference between a Federal PA15A 1E or PA20A 2E and a Carson/SVP SA450! One possible reason for going to the higher pitched sounds was that more compact speakers were coming into use, and smaller speakers reproduce higher frequency sounds better than low frequency sounds.  Federal’s TS100 speaker, the same speaker that is used in the TwinSonic light bar, is one such example.    I first heard the high-pitched E series PA15A/PA20A sounds around 1973, although someone told me that the circuit was introduced in 1970.   In any case, the PA15A series 1E and PA20A series 2E were in production throughout most of the 1970s and ended in the early 1980s. The 1E and 2E use 2N2925 transistors in the siren oscillator circuit, and the 2N2925 circuit was also used in the PA150, PA200, and PA1000 sirens. Besides the high-pitched wails and yelps, the other thing that makes the 2N2925 circuit unique is that goofy ‘in-between tones’ can be heard simply by turning the selector knob between wail and yelp or yelp and hi-lo.  The E series are by far the most common version of the Director and Interceptor, but remember that they are 1970s models and were in production when many ambulance companies were switching to van-based units.

PA15A 1E / PA20A 2E sound sample: highpitch

Chassis covers

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In terms of outward appearance, the chassis cover is the most distinguishable feature when comparing the PA15 / PA20, early PA15A / PA20A, and PA15A 1E / PA20A 2E.  The PA15 and PA20 have a short chassis cover, the early PA15A and PA20A have a long chassis cover with small ‘grille’ at the back, and the PA15A 1E and PA20A 2E typically have rows of holes on the back half of the chassis cover for ventilation.  The latter two chassis covers are interchangeable, so a cover is not a reliable indicator of period correctness.  I have a PA20A 2D with a 2E chassis cover, and on the surface it does look like a 1970s PA20A.

Circuits

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The circuit board is the most important part of the siren.  This is where the wails and yelps com from, and the sounds of the sirens changed along with the circuitry.  I have the three basic variations of the blue face Interceptor siren: a PA20, an early PA20A, and a PA20A series 2E.  The circuit boards of all three sirens are entirely different, and they sound different too! The PA20 circuit board is brown, the early PA20A circuit board is a cream colour with a set of wires running over top, and the PA20A 2E board has all wires running underneath.

Identification labels

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The serial number is stamped into a metal plate on the bottom of the PA15 and PA20, while the PA15A and PA20A have a silver-grey label on the bottom.  There are at least nine different versions of the PA15 and PA20 and five different versions of the PA15A and PA20A.   So for example if you have a PA20A with the serial number E1C, then you need to get a PA20 series E1C owner’s manual with the component location and schematic diagrams.  Or if you have a PA15A series 1B, you need a PA15A 1B manual.  A 1E manual won’t help because the board layout and components of a 1E are entirely different compared to the 1B.

So, returning to that 1970 Superior 54” high-top ambulance restoration – which siren to install?  Either a PA15A series 1D or a PA20A series 2D.   A 1B or 1C or a 2B or 2C would also be period correct.  All of these variations have the deep low-pitched slow rising wail and yelp tones.   Even a PA15 or PA20 would work, although they are much older sirens.   And if you can’t find any of the above, a mechanical siren will do.

Leslie Ehrlich

Leslie Ehrlich is a self proclaimed  ‘armchair pro-car ambulance enthusiast and a siren fanatic’.  We would like to thank him for sharing his extensive knowledge of the history of electronic sirens and warning equipment.

Electronic Sirens on Emergency Vehicles
ANOTHER “FAILED EXPERIMENT” FROM THE SIXTIES?
By
Kevin O’Connell

Are you still wearing corduroy bell bottoms? Nehru jackets? Beatle boots? Shag haircuts? Paisley shirts? Ben Franklin sunglasses?

Do you still refer to a raincoat and wading boots as turnouts? Do people still ride your tailboards with impunity?

Listening to “Boss Hits” on your 4 track? Driving a “really groovy” VW bus with tie-dyed curtains?

Hopefully your answers to these questions are all emphatically negative. Thankfully many of you are too young to remember the embarrassing things people did twenty five to thirty years ago (as if you could care – you’re too busy tattooing and piercing yourselves so you’ll have something to be embarrassed about in the future).

Why then, do many agencies still cling to another bad idea from the sixties; the electronic siren? After all, they seem to do a better job of instilling false confidence than actually warning other drivers. The answers and excuses I’ve heard over the years are numerous and nearly always rooted in myth or ignorance. In the interest of brevity, let’s just debunk the three most common notions:

Myth #1 – Electro-Mechanical sirens are too loud.

Probably the most illogical and emotionally-charged claim offered by opponents of real sirens. People who make this claim usually have to depend very heavily on their air horns to break intersections. They base their stance on the notion that real sirens are the primary cause of hearing loss among firefighters.

FACT: The biggest threat to your hearing comes from simply riding on your apparatus. For nearly fifty years the fire service has embraced cab-forward designed apparatus in which the entire crew becomes intimate with a large, high-powered noise generator; the engine. This is especially true of the poor slobs who ride in the jump seats. Why? Because this is a continuous noise. Unless you’re staged at a large campaign fire, chances are you’ll be exposed to this hazard most of the time in the apparatus.

Here’s how it works: Large engines with their heavy rotating and reciprocating masses set-up a low frequency harmonic effect of substantial amplitude. This type of noise doesn’t need your ears. It is conducted through the bone around your ears. Instead of the eardrum gently working the malleus (hammer) in your middle ear, all of the middle ear is overwhelmed. It’s not hard to imagine the devastating effect that long-term exposure could have. As a staunch advocate of communications headsets, it pains me to admit that headsets and hearing protectors do precious little to protect against low frequency harmonic effect, and in some cases, can actually exacerbate it. Some protection can be provided by a thorough application of sound barrier insulation. On the bright side, the fire service has finally accepted tilt-cab designed apparatus, which significantly reduces engine noise by eliminating the need for an engine cover with large openings. Considering the many significant advantages of tilt-cab apparatus, it’s disgraceful that it took something like axle weight laws to strike a blow for progress.

By the way; headsets and hearing protectors provide excellent protection against the sound generated by sirens. Some people are so anal about siren noise that they take things to ludicrous extremes.

I once had a fairly well-respected battalion chief tell me that he had succeeded in eliminating real sirens from his department’s front-line units. He went on to brag about how he had reduced electronic siren noise in his cabs by building insulated plywood boxes around the speakers. I was astonished. This guy didn’t have a clue! His department had locked into one brand of apparatus and let the salesman spec the warning devices.

The manufacturer had mounted light bar speakers with a horn opening of 5″ x 8″ behind the bumpers with openings of 3″ x 4″. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that this arrangement forced a great deal of speaker output to be deflected back under the cab, making almost as much noise in the cab as in front of the vehicle.

More importantly, actual sound output to the front of the vehicle was compromised to the point of being nearly ineffective. When I diplomatically explained these things to the chief, his response was tantamount to “Don’t confuse me with logic, reason and facts. My mind is made-up!”

Electro-mechanical sirens don’t continuously operate at full volume. Electronic sirens do. Comparisons of time-weighted average (or TWA, a favorite OSHA term) noise levels during emergency responses usually come-out fairly even, with real sirens faring better, especially on long runs.

Myth #2 – Electro-Mechanical sirens use too much current.

Like the arguments used against electric driveline retarders, this claim is based on the gristle-brained notion that simply bolting a real siren on your rig will automatically add a continuous 100 amp load to your electrical system, killing the batteries and wreaking havoc with sensitive electronics and communications equipment.

FACT: Real sirens only draw current during wind-up and full wail. Electronic sirens draw current continuously while activated, albeit at a lower rate. That lower rate is misleading; It has been estimated that six to eight electronic sirens would be needed to do the work of one real siren.

The real battery killer is the operator who leaves his vehicle idling for extended periods of time while lit-up like the Las Vegas Strip. Every 50 watt halogen lamp you put on your vehicle adds about 4.2 amps of load while lighted. The continuous siren load myth is often invoked by people trying to justify the use of large alternators and/or battery arrangements. While I advocate using six-pack battery arrangements and large alternators, I cannot condone misleading people about imaginary electrical burdens.

A few years ago, while touring the repair facility of a large fire department on the southern coast of California, I noticed a lot of holes on apparatus where real sirens had obviously once been mounted. When queried, the shop foreman (a good friend) told me that his department had decided to remove their real sirens to reduce battery failures. I asked, Truthfully now, have you noticed any difference?” He sheepishly grinned and said “No, not really”. Within a year real sirens began to mysteriously reappear on the rigs.

When it comes to load-induced battery failures, it is important to remember this: 1) Alternators are intended to sustain loads. They are not battery chargers. 2) No matter how large, alternators do not produce full current capacity at idle.

Incidentally, load managers are becoming increasingly popular on fire apparatus. These devices are a great innovation. They sequentially switch lighting loads on and off minimizing voltage spikes. When battery voltage begins to drop, loads are sequentially shed until voltage stabilizes. Additionally, some private ambulance operators are enjoying success with isolated siren battery circuits.

The most popular real siren draws 105-125 amps at full wail, a momentary load imposed only a fraction of the time during a response. A Los Angeles manufacturer guarantees their real sirens will draw 70 amps or less at full wail, which is less than the continuous load of many emergency warning light systems.

A very heavy 25% cycle during a response would average 17 1/2 amps continuous load. (Kind of makes your 55 amp air conditioner seem pretty decadent, doesn’t it?)

Moderate in-rush current of a flashbulb’s duration seems to be an electrical evil spirit to intellectually-challenged critics, who consistently fail to realize that there is an equally brief voltage spike (more dangerous than voltage drop) upon de-energizing. These are traits common to electrical loads. If a real siren is a villain, then your vehicle’s starter is a mass murderer!

Myth #3 – They cost too much!

A real siren will typically add $1,500 to $2,000 to the cost of a new fire apparatus. This is offset several times over the life of the rig by never having to listen to an airhead, finger in nose, saying “I never heard the siren! I’m suing!” (My personal favorite – “Why do you have flashing white lights on your roof? What do they mean?” The correct answer – “They don’t mean anything. The salesman told me to buy them”.)

Actually, it doesn’t take an airhead. Nearly everyone has a personal horror story about a near disaster involving an anemic peanut whistle. My wife came close to being creamed on several occasions in the city where she works. Another agency that bought what the salesman told them to. Their “Chevy Corvair” pumpers (rear engine, insufficient front axle weight) were equipped with siren speakers which weren’t even approved for use in our state! If those twits had hurt my wife, I’d own that city today.

Let’s face it – most traffic collisions involving emergency responses bring-out litigious land sharks. And they usually have a case.

My own chief chastised me a few years ago for outfitting a new rescue squad with a real siren. I backed it up with a dual amplified electronic, each amp driving a 200 watt speaker.

The siren and two speakers were mounted out front on a push bumper for maximum effect. “That thing has too much siren!” the chief complained. “Take all of that crap off. It looks too aggressive. We didn’t do it that way in (his former agency)”.

It was all I could do to keep a straight face. At that moment his former employer had two engines out of service for “I never heard the siren” collision repairs! That chief is long gone, “all that crap” is still there, and the vehicle in question has never been involved in a response-related accident.

The seemingly high initial cost of a real siren is misleading. Unless you specify a siren, most manufacturers will use a cheap throw-away box. As many people have reminded me, the life expectancy of an electronic siren is a fraction of that of a real siren.

Besides the cost of numerous replacement boxes and speakers over the life of the vehicle, the hidden cost of downtime and equipment changeovers to a reserve rig is substantial. That little peanut whistle wasn’t such a bargain after all, was it?

If all these arguments haven’t penetrated that cartilage between your cars, please consider this: Electronic sirens are directional, especially when used with unconventional speakers. Real sirens are omni-directional.

Electromechanical sirens work as well to the sides of the vehicle as they do to the front. While it can certainly be argued that vehicles ahead of you present a risk, they are more of an annoyance compared with an even greater hazard: Those vehicles you can’t see – and those vehicles that can’t see (or hear) you!

(Kevin O’Connell is an emergency equipment specialist and President and CEO of B&M Siren Company. His articles have appeared in many prestigious national fire engineering publications, and we think him for offering this article for publication..)