The Acme Mystery Signal  

MFR:  Unknown
Make:  Unknown 
Years Made:  Unknown
Estimated Year:  1920's-1930's 

Lens Size:  8 3/8"
Orig City:  Unknown
Orig Color:  Cast Aluminum
Orig Configuration:  Pendant Hung? 
Orig Visors:  Cutaway
Orig Lenses: Holophane Clear with Colored inner lenses
Orig Reflectors: None, Direct-Bulb

Current Color:  Same
Current Configuration:  None
Current Visors:  Same, Missing 2
Current Lenses: Same, Missing 2
Current Reflectors: Same

Notes, Commentary: 
Sometimes the old found-it-in-a-barn stories are true.  Here is a signal that has to be at least 80 years old, with no discernable or traceable history.  It has the general shape of an Acme, so everyone calls it The Acme.  Problem is, no one has ever heard of, or found documentation for, an Acme that uses a single lens to show multiple colors.  Many companies put out these, possibly based on Railroad signaling methods of the time including Victory Methods "Mono-Lenz Traffic Control", Signal Automatic company, and the Ashville Ohio light.  None of them resemble this signal so far.

Artist Sketches: 
Here is a conceptual sketch of how it may have looked (one with and without those odd vertical rods). The city, as many of the era could have had high and tall gas lamps on decorative poles. It would only be a minor addition to add a simple pipe mast-arm, run a couple wires, and attach the signal with a pendant.
 

But what about those rods sticking up? Did they serve a purpose? Possibly they held signs, as many early signals did to familiarize motorists who hadn't been indoctrinated with the rules of the road since childbirth.
 

Or maybe just street signs?  Here it displays indicators for one of the major thoroughfares in town.


Now what if it was also offered in a post mount version?  What would it look like?  Anything close to an ACME signal?  Well how about you decide.


Animations: 
Coming Soon

Comparison:
As you can see from this comparison, here's why it is called an Acme.  The style is similar, but they are certainly not one and the same.  Although, this was the third and last ACME style, with two cruder counterparts having been prototyped in the earlier 20's, basically tall rectangular boxes with lenses. 


This is the Mono-Lenz signal from Victory Methods.  It operates on the same principle, but doesn't look at all like the mystery signal.  It looks like a steam-powered version of the Ashville "Jetsons" light.


While patents are often a poor tool for a historian - crude graphics, unreliable dates, and the like - there are a few patents out there that just may be the origins of this signal.  Most striking is the 1938 patent # 2,244,946 of J. J. Hammer.  This concept has all the main features of our mystery signal.  Four outer clear lenses, with inner pairs of red and green lenses illuminated from a central bulb.  A separate bulb yellow/amber indication that illuminates and rotates to indicate a signal change.  Lots of gears.  Lots of lenses.  True, the sketches show a post-mounted signal, and this is a hanging style, but that is of little meaning to the larger picture.  Of course, plenty of questions still remain.  Whom did JJH work for?  Did he sell this patent to someone else to produce?  Was this merely a pre-emptive patent created after witnessing the mystery signal in action? Below are several pages extracted thanks to Google's handy patent tool.
Patent Document (Right Click-Save Target As...)

Photographic Records: 
Here are two views of the light.  As you can see, one direction has a red light, while the other has a green (more an Aqua) light.  These are colored inner lenses being shone through a clear outer, Holophane lens. Below these two you can see the dark lens which resembles the "nighttime flash mode" of an ACME signal.


From the one conveniently missing side plate, lens and visor (a second side is only missing the lens and visor) we get a spectacular view of the inner workings.  Up top is the funnel, or chimney, that houses the lightbulb.  Glowing is the lens assembly, where you can see the green lens in the left/right directions and the red lens in/out of photo direction.  The second photo shows this lens assembly in closer detail.  The third photo shows an un-illuminated view of the side without a visor or clear outer lens.
   

Moving a bit lower, we see the shelf this first lens assembly sits on. Here to the left corner is a transformer, probably to step down and drive the gear motor responsible for turning the lights during a phase change.  
 

Now to the right side, there is a crude, early terminal block that takes power from the AC line and the partial gear stack, more centered in the frame.  Some of the gears had rusted away when this artifact was unearthed.


Below the first layer is the light with unknown purpose.  Following ACME wisdom, this is a night-flash mode, the upper colors would turn off and this section would turn on, performing a continuous wig-wag function.  Because of the way the lenses fade out from Green to Red and back, this is a possibility.  

A second theory has been proposed that this is actually a phase change warning.  Because it is only visible to one color (red or green, depending on alignment) it could serve as a phase change indicator, IE as the green lens is close to having rotated out and been replaced by the red, this light would illuminate showing that the light will be switching.  This too follows proven practices of the time, with overlaps of the amber light with red andor green to allow early motorists and manual transmission users to "get it in gear" and go.


Now that we've been to the bottom, we'll resume our examination from the top.  The bulb for the upper section, as previously described, hangs down through a funnel or chimney.  This is actually an unsecured cap that just sits on top of the signal.  Two crude banana plugs bring power to the bulb through sockets on the top of the signal.  This doesn't seem like a very safe or waterproof design.
   
   

Wiring this signal was about the only definitive portion.  Wiring came in through the top plate, in a separate conduit that had a large brass pipe with fittings. The fitting cover is marked with an A inside a triangle.  One of the few markings found anywhere "on" the signal.  Wiring came down around the chimney to teh cride terminal strip discussed prior.
 
   

Here is another view of the top.  How was it mounted?  Post mount?  Pendant Style?  And why the two features on the cap, both brass bolts and eyelets.  Was one used to chain-hang it and the other for a box sign?  Were the hooks added years later as a way of displaying it at the shop?  Again, this signal leaves more questions than answers.

Copyright © 2008 The Signal Saloon
All Rights Reserved

The Signal Saloon materials, including internet pages, documents and on-line graphics, audio and video, are protected by copyright law. Copyright of The Signal Saloon materials resides with the Author. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of the United States of America, no part may be reproduced or re-used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without prior written permission of the WebMaster. Trademarks, corporation names, etc. are used without license and do not imply an endorsement of product or service.

This page was last modified on 15 June 2008.