Alerting Communicators of America

Alerting Communicators of America
Established	1967
Defunct	1994
Preceded by	Biersach & Niedermeyer Co.
Succeeded by	American Signal Corporation (1994)

Alerting Communicators of America, commonly referred to as ACA for short, was a siren manufacturer in existence from 1967 to 1994, when the company was reorganized as American Signal Corporation.

History

1960s-1970s: Reorganization

In 1967, Biersach & Niedermeyer Co., faced with dwindling sales of their flagship Mobil Directo due to withering competition from a wide variety of Federal Electric models saturating the market, split off their siren business into a new division in a bid to regain a share of sales. This lead to the creation of Alerting Communicators of America, and over the next few years the new company introduced a variety of new models to challenge Federal's dominance, including the Allertor, Hurricane and Banshee.

1980s: The new generation

In the late 1970s and the early 1980s, the Allertor and Hurricane sirens were discontinued, succeeded by a new lineup, known as the Penetrator series. This series consisted of three models, each denoting the horsepower of their motor: P-10, P-15, and P-50. The P-10 and P-15 were sold in single tone 8 or dual tone 9/12 port configurations, but the P-10 was much more commonly dual tone, due to the load of the 8 port rotor tending to place undue stress on the motor, leading to burnout. The P-50, on the other hand, shared a rotor and stator assembly with the new large omnidirectional Cyclone, and was only available in an 8/12 port configuration. Also made during this time were ACA's first electronic sirens, the Alertronic series.

Decline & bankruptcy

By the late 1980s, ACA's golden age was at an end. With dwindling interest in electromechanical sirens, and skepticism over the then-new idea of electronic sirens, sales slowed. Over a five year period from 1989 to 1994, the Banshee, Screamer, Alertronic series, and Cyclone were all discontinued, while only three new models entered production: the PN-20, considered to be part of the Penetrator series, and battery backup versions of the P-15 and Banshee, known as Performance Plus. These were the last hurrah for ACA. Their parent company, Biersach & Niedermeyer Co., went bankrupt in November 1992, and was forced to sell ACA to Hörmann GmbH, who soon reorganized the company into American Signal Corporation.

Notable models

• Allertor (125)
• Allertronic series (4000, 5000, 6000, RE-1600)
• Banshee (110, Perf+)
• Cyclone (120, 125)
• Hurricane (Mk. I, Mk. II)
• Penetrator series (P-10, P-15, P-50, PN-20, Perf+)
• Screamer

References

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