Alerting Communicators of America

Alerting Communicators of America, commonly referred to as ACA for short, was a siren manufacturer preceded by Biersach & Niedermeyer Co., and succeeded by American Signal Corporation, which still manufactures sirens today.

Background

Early Models

Following 1967, Biersach & Niedermeyer Co. changed over to full time siren manufacturing, and became Alerting Communicators of America, selling the following sirens, with their given port ratio: Allertor 125 (9/12, 8/12, 10/12, 8), Banshee (8, 9/12), Screamer (8, 9, 9/12), Cyclone 125 (8/12), Sentry 95 (5/5), and Hurricane 130 (8/10). Some of these, namely the Sentry 95, the 10/12, 8/12, and 8 port Allertor, and Hurricanes in general are very rare to find, as they were produced in little numbers, or purchased in small numbers. Also, some sirens, such as the 10/10 and 10/12 port Hurricane and the 12 port Allertor are rumored to have existed, but have yet to be found.

Later Models

In the late 1970s and the early 1980s, the Allertor and Hurricane sirens mentioned above were stopped from production. However, a new lineup, known as the Pebetrator series, was put on the market. This series consisted of three sirens, all denoting their horsepower in their name: P-10, P-15, and P-50. The P-10 and P-15 had the port configuration of 8 or 9/12, but the P-10 mostly came in 9/12, due the the load of the 8 port rotor burning up the motor. The P-50, on the other hand, shared a rotor and stator assembly with the Cyclone, and was only available in 8/12 port. Also made during this time was ACA's first Electronic sirens. The Alertronic 4000 was an omnidirectional siren, the 5000 was a short lived rotational siren, and the 6000 was the replacement of the 5000, coming in either 4 or 8 driver options.

Final Years

The 1990s saw the end of many of the remaining sirens from ACA. From 1990-1994, the Banshee, Screamer, Alertronics, and Cyclone were all taken out of production. However, ACA made the PN20, considered to be part of the Penetrator series. It came in a 9 port configuration, and were made in 1992. Also around this time was a battery backup version of the P-15: the Preformance + Penetrator siren. These also came in 9 port and were sold only to Dane County, Wisconsin. Unfortunately, ACA went bankrupt around this time, and were bought by Hörrman, a German siren manufacturer. From there, ACA was once again bought by Dale Moeller, who created American Signal Corporation, still manufacturing sirens to this day.