Hankoku Electric Co., Ltd.

Hankoku Electric Company, Limited
Names	Hankoku Electric Co., LTD. Hankoku Electric Manufacturing Co., LTD.
Headquarters	4-11 Sanshocho, Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan
Founded	1928
Products	Sirens

Hankoku Electric Company, Limited was founded in 1928 as an electric equipment manufacturer. They started making sirens as early as 1936 and have supplied Japan since then. These ranged from small industrial alarms to full sized outdoor warning sirens. They continue to supply the Japanese market today, and still sell sirens and other signalling devices.

Products

Motor sirens (1 ph)

Model AQ

WIP

Model AQN

WIP

Model AQNR-6W

WIP

Model AQNR-3W

WIP

Model RSA

WIP

Model RSA-2WU

WIP

Model RSA-P

WIP

Model AWN

WIP

Model HW

WIP

Model ASN

WIP

¼ hp siren

One of Hankoku's earliest electric sirens was a 6-port, ¼ hp directional industrial alarm, which begun production in 1936. The siren makes use of a 100/200 V 1/4 hp AC motor and a 6-port rotor and stator. 2 finger guards are placed around the stator to prevent injury, as the siren is small enough to be handheld. 2 rectangular mounting legs on each side of the siren's motor allow it to be bolted to a flat surface via 2 pegs on each side of the leg bases. Little to nothing else is known about this siren, and no units are known to exist today.

Turbo Siren

Most likely inspired by the contemporary Ibuki Kogyo compressor sirens, Hankoku introduced their own high performance siren. A notable thing about this siren is the single or two-stage turbo-supercharger powered by the bottom end of the siren's motor. The turbo forces air into the top of the chopper and amplifies the siren's sound. A damper was installed in the air duct, making it possible to create a more diverse variety of signals. The siren first entered production in 1939 as an air raid siren during the World War II, ending production shortly after 1945. Today only one two-stage unit from 1944-1945 survives at the old town hall of Beppu, Japan and another one in China with no active units are known to exist or been identified. Judging by the low number of photographs found of these sirens, it should be considered that this siren was probably produced in relatively low numbers.

An image on the Hankoku website hints that these sirens may have had 8 or 9 port choppers. Like many Japanese sirens, the Turbo Siren also had a damper. Later models had an unusual extra air duct that forced air to the suction side of the turbo-supercharger unit. There are no official documents explaining this, but it may have allowed an even distribution of air pressure in the system when the damper or shutter was closed, limiting the stress on the damper caused by high air pressure. The surviving unit at Beppu demonstrates that this siren was built mostly from cast aluminum and therefore it was probably a lot more expensive than the Ibuki sirens that were made out of thick sheet metal and cast iron. From some images it is possible to approximate that the siren is quite large at around 2.3 m (7.54 ft) tall and the projectors approximately 1.5 m (4.92 ft) long each. Additionally, the information sign in front of the Beppu siren reads that the siren was installed in 1945 and has a 15 horsepower motor.

SBGM

The SBGM series was a mechanical siren lineup released in 1978, it is one of the most common Japanese electromechanical sirens out there. A notable thing about these sirens is their horns that stick out the side. These are adjustable.

BQR

The BQR is a 6-port electromechanical siren commonly sold in Japan, it allegedly started production in 1940 and ended production in 1989. Supposedly, this siren is still sold only on special orders, however the validity of this claim is currently unknown. The BQR uses 3 horns to project the sound outwards. The siren also features a damper that covers the intake upon shutting off, however many examples of sirens that function like this have a non-functioning damper. This is a standard feature on many Japanese mechanical sirens.

Discontinued products

HHS

The HHS is an 8 port, single phase electromechanical siren sold in Japan, starting production around the early 2000s and ending around 2016. It is a somewhat basic design, being almost a direct ripoff of the Federal Signal General Alarm series. This goes with the shroud, the eyebolt holder, and even the port ratio. However, unlike all of Hankoku's other sirens, it does not have a damper and has a motor that spins faster than a regular siren.

BWF

The BWF is an obscure 6/8 port siren without dampers that was introduced around 2007 and disappeared from the main product line between 2009 and 2013, however the page for the product has been most recently archived in 2021, but the page has since disappeared from the website