Daniel Edward Aykroyd is a Canadian-American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer.
A civil defense siren is a siren used to provide an emergency population warning to the general population of approaching danger. Initially designed to warn city dwellers of air raids during World War II, they were later used to warn of nuclear attack and natural disasters, such as tornadoes. The generalized nature of sirens led to many of them being replaced with more specific warnings, such as the broadcast-based Emergency Alert System and the Cell Broadcast-based Wireless Emergency Alerts and EU-Alert mobile technologies.
A long-range acoustic device (LRAD), acoustic hailing device (AHD) or sound cannon is a specialized loudspeaker that produces sound at high power for communicating at a distance. It has been used as a method of crowd control, which has caused permanent hearing damage, having an extremely high decibel capacity. Other uses have included for negotiations in siege situations; to deal with piracy at sea; for mass notification during natural disasters or other emergencies; and by defense forces, including several navies.
A siren is a loud noise-making device. There are two general types: mechanical and electronic. Civil defense sirens are mounted in fixed locations and used to warn of natural disasters or attacks. Sirens are used on emergency service vehicles such as ambulances, police cars, and fire engines.
Torsional vibration is the angular vibration of an object - commonly a shaft - along its axis of rotation. Torsional vibration is often a concern in power transmission systems using rotating shafts or couplings, where it can cause failures if not controlled. A second effect of torsional vibrations applies to passenger cars. Torsional vibrations can lead to seat vibrations or noise at certain speeds. Both reduce the comfort.
The tail rotor is a smaller rotor mounted vertically or near-vertically at the tail of a traditional single-rotor helicopter, where it rotates to generate a propeller-like horizontal thrust in the same direction as the main rotor's rotation. The tail rotor's position and distance from the helicopter's center of mass allow it to develop enough thrust leverage to counter the reactional torque exerted on the fuselage by the spinning of the main rotor. Without the tail rotor or other anti-torque mechanisms, the helicopter would be constantly spinning in the opposite direction of the main rotor when flying.
The Bluesmobile is a 1974 Dodge Monaco sedan that was prominently featured in the 1980 Universal Pictures film The Blues Brothers. The car is described as a decommissioned Mount Prospect police car, purchased by Elwood Blues at an auction after he had traded a previous car for a microphone. The Bluesmobile is equipped with a "440 Magnum" engine and squad car package, an option offered by Dodge for the Monaco in 1974. It bears an Illinois license plate reading "BDR 529", a tribute to the Black Diamond Riders motorcycle club of Toronto, Canada. Dan Aykroyd, co-writer of the film, stated that he chose the 440 Dodge Monaco because he considered it to be the hottest car used by police during the 1970s.
It's got a cop motor, a 440-cubic-inch plant. It's got cop tires, cop suspension, cop shocks. It's a model made before catalytic converters so it'll run good on regular gas.
Unconventional wind turbines are those that differ significantly from the most common types in use.
Federal Signal Corporation is an American manufacturer headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois. Federal Signal manufactures street sweeper vehicles, public address systems, emergency vehicle equipment, and emergency vehicle lighting.
The Whelen Engineering Company is an American corporation that designs and manufactures audio and visual warning equipment for automotive, aviation, and mass notification industries worldwide. Founded in a Deep River, Connecticut garage in 1952, Whelen has become a provider of warning lights, white illumination lighting, sirens, and controllers. Whelen products are designed, manufactured, and assembled in two facilities in Chester, Connecticut and Charlestown, New Hampshire.
SiraTone was a brand of electronic outdoor warning sirens produced by Federal Signal Corporation which began production in the early 1980s. These sirens were designed to broadcast high-intensity warning signals over a large area. SiraTone products are/were used for natural disaster notification, HAZMAT incident notification, fire call systems, and more. The SiraTone product line is no longer in production. The product line was succeeded by the Modulator and DSA electronic outdoor warning sirens.
American Signal Corporation (ASC) is an outdoor warning siren and mass notification company in the United States. ASC was founded in 1873 as Biersach and Niedermeyer (B&N). After performing poorly, the company reformed as Alerting Communicators of America (ACA) in 1968, and expanded the line of warning systems they produced. In 1992, ACA went bankrupt and was bought and reformed as the American Signal Corporation.
The ACA Hurricane is an electro-mechanical and rotating-directional, 130dB civil defense siren, created and produced by Alerting Communicators of America (ACA). ACA began manufacturing the Hurricane 130 in 1968, and ended production in 1981. The Hurricane 130 is very similar to the Federal Signal Thunderbolt series, being a supercharged siren.
In civil defense sirens, the ATI High-Power Speaker Station (HPSS) is an electronic outdoor warning siren manufactured by Acoustic Technology, Inc (ATI) that is used to alert citizens of air raids, and natural disasters.
The Public Warning System (PWS) is a network of civil defense sirens installed by the Singapore Civil Defence Force on over 2,000 strategic points in Singapore to warn Singaporeans of impending dangers, air raids and atomic bomb blasts. Thus far, the siren network has only been used for occasional public awareness drills, monthly noon chimes and for commemorating the island's Total Defence (February 15) and Civil Defence Days (September 15). It was also used to mark a minute's silence nationwide for the passing of former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew on the evening of 23 March 2015 and on 1 and 9 August 2020 to mark the first National Day at home.
The Federal Signal Model 2 is an omnidirectional outdoor warning siren produced by Federal Signal Corporation.
The ACA Cyclone is an electro-mechanical, omnidirectional, dual-tone outdoor warning siren produced from 1968 to 2007 by Alerting Communicators of America (ACA). Originally intended for civil defense purposes, early versions of the Cyclone are rated at 120dB from 100ft, and later models are rated at 125dB.
The Federal Signal 3T22 and 2T22 are dual-tone, mechanical outdoor warning sirens made by Federal Signal Corporation from 1952 through the early 1990s. Both have a very recognizable design, with a ten-port rotor (chopper) on the bottom with ten cones (horns) and a 12-port one on top with twelve cones.
A vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) is a type of wind turbine where the main rotor shaft is set transverse to the wind while the main components are located at the base of the turbine. This arrangement allows the generator and gearbox to be located close to the ground, facilitating service and repair. VAWTs do not need to be pointed into the wind, which removes the need for wind-sensing and orientation mechanisms. Major drawbacks for the early designs included the significant torque ripple during each revolution and the large bending moments on the blades. Later designs addressed the torque ripple by sweeping the blades helically. Savonius vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWT) are not widespread, but their simplicity and better performance in disturbed flow-fields, compared to small horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWT) make them a good alternative for distributed generation devices in an urban environment.
The Thunderbolt is a mechanical outdoor warning siren that was manufactured by Federal Signal Corporation from 1951 until its production ended in 1991. It is a unidirectional, rotating siren with a large square-shaped horn, and can come in various colors, usually yellow, by request.
