Willis Lamm's
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| Eagle Signals |
| Eagle Signal appeared just before WW-II when Eagle took over the Harrington-Seaberg signal company. The first signals under the Eagle brand were called Eaglelux and the single face heads came with art deco end plates as an option. In the 1950s the signals were simply called Eagle. Eagle was eventually absorbed by Mark-IV Industries along with LFE-Automatic Signal. |
Signals in the Eagle "intersection" (foreground.)
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Eagle "Eaglelux" Pagoda 4-way Type 43E |
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| This particular Eaglelux Pagoda was owned by an individual who lived in a suburb of Ft. Worth, TX. The signal was believed to have originally been out of Ft. Worth or a nearby suburb. The signal had some slightly unusual characteristics which led us to suspect that it was possibly one of the earlier Pagodas, likely the first run following the cork lens gasket models. |
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These Lancaster glass mirror reflectors were identical to those used in Eaglelux single faced heads. The reflectors hinge on tension rods and have slam latches that snap against tension rods mounted in the signal frame on the opposite side from the hinge.
The tension rods allowed the reflector frames to rest tight against lens gaskets without breaking the lenses. |
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| This signal still has some original bakolite sockets with the old cloth coated wire, although many have been upgraded for safety reasons. |
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| Most Eagle signal door hinges have arms that straddle the arms on the signal frame. This particular signal had doors that dropped onto the frame hinge arms. The top hinge pin was longer and the door was kept from being removed by means of a crimp ring. Other than this anomaly, the doors were very much like earlier rodded Eagle flat back doors. |
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| Most Eagles used L-bolts to latch the doors. This Pagoda uses drop pins and eye bolts with wing nuts to secure the doors, the same design as was used in the early Eaglelux signals. |
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The Pagoda had an 8 inch 6-lug terminal strip mounted into the top plate of the signal.
Each side of the top plate had pre-drilled indentations for mounting terminal strips and related hardware. This particular signal did not have a neutral strip so for now the neutrals are connected via wire nuts. |
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Another unusual feature of this signal is that it came with a couple of old Kopp 27 lettered (command) lenses still intact. These were diamond pattern lenses and Kopp embossed the command text on the outside of the lens with a material that feels like bakolite or some kind of really hard enamel. The letters are embedded so the outside of the lens feels smooth. The lettering really held up well.
Unfortunately the diamond pattern of the Kopp 27 lenses was a bit busy so these commands were not as easy to read when lit as compared with smoother surfaced Corning Crouse-Hinds and Macbeth-Evans lettered (command) lenses. |
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