WhatIzIt ???

[Michael]

looks like a bell housing with a high frequency piezoelectric speaker. So I'm sticking with the 50's era, but no clue what it actually is.

[Adamphotoman]

Peter, You guessed it. It is a vintage smoke alarm. The writing says Do Not Paint.

[Don]

Yep, the "do not paint" was a giveaway.

[Michael]

How old is that? I thought smoke alarms only went back to the 70's.

[Adamphotoman]

I Don't actually know Michael,
The last owner was here for 51 years. That puts it in the 70's. I will phone him to see if it even works.

[Michael]

Never mind, I found it. Vanguard 50 foot heat detector. It is 1950's. Apparently it has some type of wind mechanism also, so if it goes off, it winds out/up, and is no good anymore. Pretty fascinating, actually. I didn't know that there was some sort of device for heat detection, or smoke, dating back to the turn of the last century.

[Adamphotoman]

I talked to the previous owner. It is a heat detector, but according to Tony the center melts when hot and it goes off.
Then you take it off the wall and wind it up with an allen wrench. The center dime sized [wax] needs to be replaced.
So the unit is a bell housing. Tony installed them [I have 2] 20 years ago. They cost him $450 at the time.

[Man From Ironbark]

I'd hate to have to wait until the heat was hot enough to melt the sensor. I would have already died from smoke inhalation. Thank goodness these have improved.

[Adamphotoman]

Peter,
Replacement Parts are available. The sensors come in 3 different heat ranges. They would not be my only detectors.

[Man From Ironbark]

The cheap Chinese ones go off if I burn the toast.