Pétrier Tissot & Raybaud
Pétrier Tissot & Raybaud (L'Appareillage Électro-Industriel Pétrier, Tissot & Raybaud, or abbreviated as "PTR" for brevity) was a Lyon-based company that specialized in various electrical equipment, including but not limited to: Relays, switches, control cabinets, motor starters and outdoor warning sirens. PTR was founded approximately in 1909[1] and went defunct in 1956[2] as it merged with CEM (Compagnie Electro-Mécanique) to form Petercem. Their sirens remain a common sight throughout France.
| Pétrier Tissot & Raybaud | |
 PTR's last known logo, taken from a 1950 catalog (courtesy of cdanstesreves on eBay.fr) Pétrier Tissot Raybaud
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| Headquarters | Lyon 3ème Arrondissement, France |
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| Key people | TBD |
| Founded | 1909 (general partnership)
1918 (transition to "Société Anonyme"/Inc.)
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| Defunct | 1956 (merged with CEM) |
| Products | Outdoor warning sirens
Electric motors
Siren controllers
Electrical switchgear (contactors/relays, switches, breakers...)
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Brief History:
1909: Pétrier, Tissot & Raybaud was founded as a Société en Nom Collectif (closest english equivalent would be a "General Partnership company) before transitioning into a Société Anonyme around 1918, at this time, they made a variety of electrical equipment, from switches to electric motors, and possibly various other electrical equipment.
It is not exactly known when they started producing sirens, the earliest references to PTR sirens found are on old PTR catalogues from the 1930s (circa 1936, shortly before WWII broke out), and even there, only control cabinets were mentionned. It is however, known that the sirens were manufactured in their Villeurbane plant, where they manufactured their line of electric motors (called DELTA).
At some point between the mid-1930s and the early 1950s, PTR changed name to Pétrier Tissot Raybaud, dropping the comma and ampersand from the name of the company. Shortly after, in 1956 they eventually merged with CEM (Constructions Électro-Mécaniques) to form Petercem, which still exists to this day, albeit they only manufacture switchgear and have completly exited the siren manufacturing business.
1956: Merger with CEM, PTR officially ceases to exist. Creation of PETERCEM.
Siren Models (Currently W.I.P. as of 04/14/2025)
Delta (refered to as "Électro-Sirènes DELTA" in PTR brochures)
Delta sirens constitute PTR's originally general purpose and later Civil Defense siren range, the vast majority of which are 8 ports, at least one is known to be 10 ports, they remain a common sight throughout France and are relatively easy to spot thanks to their octogonal crown (only on some models) and the embossed PTR badge on the junction boxes.
Only one model number is known, others are as of April 2025 largely unknown, and will be refered to as "Type Delta" 2 through 6)
PTR Delta sirens, if fitted with horns all have an octogonal crown that sits either above or below (both configurations are known to exist) the horns and acts as a support rail for the horns, the "crown" also bolts to the base of the siren. Some PTR sirens (excluding the SC112) could be fitted with a motor-operated, normally-open damper (similar to some Fedelcode sirens), even though to date, no unit is known to have been recorded with an operating damper.
SC112
The SC112 constitutes the smallest siren known to have been made by PTR, at approximately 0.125HP (roughly 1/4 of a horsepower) or 0.09kW this siren was mostly relegated to factories and small towns that didn't need much coverage, unlike other PTRs the SC112 doesn't have provisions for projector horns but it does have a rain shield (which was standard on all PTR sirens). The SC112 isn't the most common of PTR sirens by far but it is one of, if not the smallest french 8 port sirens (to compare, Cicca's R3P uses a 1.5kW or ~2 HP three-phase motor). Very few remain in service and at least two are known to be in private possession. Estimated effective range of the SC112 is around 400-500 meters.
It is not known how many SC112s were made or sold, nor how many remains in service. Some SC112s appear to have "DELTA" stamped on the junction box instead of PTR.
At least one is still in service in Cires-lès-Mello, Oise, it is not known if it is active or not.
Delta 2 (unknown model)
One of PTR's most successful models, those sirens have a finned motor and could come with or without horns and the famous "PTR crown" that PTR sirens have if fitted with horns, most of the units known to exist have horns, can be seen in this advertisement.
A bevy of those sirens can be spotted all around France, some have tall motors (the unit pictured actually has a tall motor), and it is suspected that an early version of this model (refered below as "Delta 3") came with a large, smooth casing motor with two "bumps" on the sides of the base.
No coded finned motor units are known to exist.
Apparently, this model was offered with or without horns, a hornless-version is depicted in this advertisement dated from approximately 1950, it is very likely that the "finned motor" units were the last PTR sirens made before the PTR-CEM merger.
Information on those such as the effective range, horsepower/kW rating, model number and years of manufacturing are still unknown, but what is known is that they belong to the Delta lineup.
Delta 3 (unknown model)
Not much is known about this particular model but it appears to be an earlier variant of the model above. Those have a large flared pedestal stand and have a smooth motor with a small junction box. It appears that PTR offered a coded variant of this model as there are a few that have a motorized coding damper, no unit is known to have a functional damper.
For some reason, the non-coded PTR sirens have the crown usually sitting above the horns, whereas on the coded units the crown usually sits below the horns.
Delta 4 (unknown 10 port model, coded, hornless)
Only one unit has so far been mapped out in Alsace, it is 10 ports, has a coding damper but lacks the horns and PTR's signature "octogonal crown" that most PTR sirens have, very little to no information is known about this model other than it's extreme rarity.
Multidelta (refered to as "Électro-Sirènes MULTIDELTA" in PTR brochures)
At one point in its history, PTR made some sirens equipped with a dual-speed "Pole changing motor" (also known as a Dahlander pole-changing motor, after its inventor Robert Dahlander) which, depending on how the windings were coupled (using a set of bus bars, just like how a regular three-phase motor can be coupled in Wye/Star or Delta) could run at either 1500 RPM or 3000 RPM[3], thus making the Multidelta sirens stand out from the crowd. Multidelta sirens were generally touted as general purpose sirens supplanting the Delta range for non-Civil Defense purposes, however, it seems they were not a commercial success as only a few are known to exist. Those sirens usually came in 12 or 10 ports, with the 10 port models being considerably larger and having coding dampers.
Multidelta 10 ports
This model is the only known large scale Multidelta known to have been made,
At least two 10 port units are known to exist, the first and the most famous of which being installed near the Citadel of Nice, France, and a second one on the city hall of Bourg-en-Bresse, France. The Nice siren has the signature crown that all PTR sirens with horns have, but interestingly this one seems to have the crown held by steel wires attached to the intake rain shield. This particular siren is confirmed active.
The Bourg-en-Bresse Multidelta's status is not known at this time, it is suspected to be active
- Pictures of the Nice castle siren after it was refurbished, Pictures were taken by TheOfficialDorianelevator.
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Close up of the Nice castle siren after it was refurbished.
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Detail of the crown and horns.
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Wide shot of the Nice castle siren after its refurbishement.
Multidelta 12 ports
This is by far the most common of the Multideltas, three thus far are known to exist. This model usually* didn't come with horns, although one unit has horns attached to it. Not much info is known other than this model supposedly could run at 1500 RPM (if wired for low speed) or 3000 (high speed). The Digoin siren is a rare example of a noon whistle siren in France and goes off every day at noon.
The 12 port Multidelta sirens never came with horns but always had left-angled ports (whereas PTR sirens usually have ports that are angled to the right) and always had a conical rainshield.
Currently known Multidelta 12 port locations include, but are not limited to:
- Digoin (daily noon whistle, active, on top of the "Salles des fêtes")
- Doullens (inside city hall belfry, status unknown)
- Saint-Arnoult-en-Yvelines (Unknown status, located on a platform on the église Saint-Nicolas. Unit appears to be regularly maintained by Demay)
Author's note: this article is currently a work in progress...
External links
Video of the Parc du Château de Nice PTR going off for a test
Notes and references
- ↑ Hervé Joly. Le capitalisme familial dans les entreprises moyennes: un déclin réversible. Entreprises et Histoire, 2001, 28, pp.64-76. halshs-00536741 https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00536741/document
- ↑ https://www.petercem.cn/en/page-11571.html
- ↑ https://histoire.ec-lyon.fr/docannexe/file/1638/te1934_hs1.pdf page 19