Copyright 2007-2009 C-Tek Systems, Inc.
Faraday Antique Fire Alarm Products
For a larger picture click on an image.
This page is dedicated to antique fire alarm equipment manufactured under the Faraday brand name. Some of these pieces come from the personal collection of John Scruggs.
Faraday Fire alarm history is not particularly easy to find. Through documents and parts we have learned the following:
- Faraday, was founded in 1875 and is now one of the leading manufacturers of Notification Appliances, Fire Alarm Control Panels, and Clock Systems in the United States. (Statement in 2002)
- In the early 1900's Faraday was in Brooklyn, New York City at 150 Varick Avenue.
- The familiar old elliptical logo was already in use.
- Stanley & Patterson, an electrical supplies conglomerate, seems to have either owned or controlled Faraday from about 1919 to about 1936. Other brands used by Stanley & Patterson include Deveau (Telephones) and PR (small bells and buzzers).
- The Exact start and end dates are somewhat unclear, but, from about 1937 until 1965 faraday was owned or controlled by the Catholic Archdioses of Cincinatti investment firm or group called IDT (Institutum Divi Thomae). During this era, Faraday's exact business identity became unclear, as the sperti-faraday name was placed on items and operations interchangably with other sperti companies. The actual Sperti-Faraday factory, at least the one that made fire alarm equipment, seems to have been located in Adrian, Michigan. Many products carrying the Sperti-Faraday name use Cincinatti, Ohio as the reference location. The Sperti-Faraday Name also shows up in documents pertaining to a factory in Hoboken, New Jersey that manufactured mercury vapor and flourescent lamps. Also in the Hoboken location the name Cooper-Hewitt Electric Company name shows up during this same time frame. In 1997 the hoboken location at 720 and 722 to 732 Grand Street was found to have unacceptable levels of mercury by the Environmental Protection Agency. The sperti era of the faraday history has several references of scandal attached to it. George Speri Sperti, the namesake of the hyphenated brand was an inventor who mostly worked in the sciences. Preperation H, Aspercreme, Irradiation of Milk to raise Vitamin D content, and the method of obtaining frozen orange juice concentrate are all inventions credited to him. IDT, toward the end of the SpertiFaraday era was having significant financial difficulty and many of the units of business were sold off, including Faraday. Lack of specific direction for business units as well as mismanagement are blamed for the financial problems.
- In the 1940s Documents have been located with the name Schwarze-Faraday at 130 Church Street Adrian Michigan showing the company pressing into signaling equipment for industrial applications including factories , ships, and airplanes.
- In 1978 Faraday bought Standard Electric Time from Johnson Service Company. In 1981 Standard was moved from Springfield, Massachussetts to Faraday's Tecumseh, Michigan location.
- Faraday was located in Tecumseh, Michigan in the 70's, 80's and 90's.
- Faraday was bought by Cerberus Pyrotronics in the mid 90's.
- Cerberus Pyrotronics was bought by Siemens Building Technologies in the late 90's.
- The Faraday factory in Tecumseh was closed and all operations were moved to Siemens' Florham Park facility in 2003.
- Signal production, which has been the single constant in the faraday story, was discontinued in July of 2007. Wheelock, Inc. presently manufactures signals carrying the Faraday brand name.
- Today the Faraday name is used as part of the Siemens Building Technologies family of products for small to medium sized fire alarm systems deployments to complement the siemens line of equipment.
We are absolutely interested in any and all Faraday history. Please send any information or inquiries to faraday@cteksys.net