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British Racing Motors

British Racing Motors (BRM) was a British Formula One motor racing team. Founded in 1945 and based in the market town of Bourne in Lincolnshire, it participated from 1951 to 1977, competing in 197 grands prix and winning seventeen. BRM won the constructors' title in 1962 when its driver Graham Hill became world champion. In 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1971, BRM came second in the constructors' competition.

History
BRM was founded just after the Second World War by Raymond Mays, who had built several hillclimb and road racing cars under the ERA brand before the war, and Peter Berthon, a long-time associate. Mays' pre-war successes (and access to pre-war Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union design documents) inspired him to build an all-British grand prix car for the post-war era as a national prestige project, with financial and industrial backing from the British motor industry and its suppliers channelled through a trust fund.

This proved to be an unwieldy way of organising and financing the project, and as some of the backers withdrew, disappointed with the team's slow progress and early results, it fell to one of the partners in the trust, Alfred Owen of the Rubery Owen group of companies. Owen, whose group primarily manufactured car parts, took over the team in its entirety. Between 1954 and 1970 the team entered its works F1 cars under the official name of the Owen Racing Organisation. Berthon and Mays continued to run the team on Rubery Owen's behalf into the 1960s, before it was handed over to Louis Stanley, the husband of Sir Alfred's sister Jean Owen.

A factory was set up in Spalding Road, Bourne, Lincolnshire, behind Eastgate House, Mays' family home, in a building called 'The Maltings' (the adjacent former ERA works, vacated in 1939). Several people involved with ERA returned to the firm to work for BRM, including Harry Mundy and Eric Richter. The team also had access to a test facility at Folkingham aerodrome.

BRM V16
The first post-war rules for the top level of motor racing allowed 1.5-litre supercharged or 4.5-litre normally aspirated engines. BRM's first engine design was an extremely ambitious 1.5-litre supercharged V16. Rolls-Royce was contracted to produce centrifugal superchargers, rather than the more commonly used Roots type. The design concept of the V16 had not been used extensively on automobiles before so that design problems were many and the engine did not fire for the first time until June 1949. It proved to be outstandingly powerful but its output was produced over a very limited range of engine speed, coming on suddenly if the throttle was applied carelessly, resulting in wheelspin as the narrow tyres proved unable to transfer the power to the road. This made the car very touchy to drive. Engineer Tony Rudd was seconded to BRM from Rolls-Royce to develop the supercharging system and remained involved with BRM for nearly twenty years. The Type 15, which was the designation for the V16 car, won the first two races it actually started, the Formula Libre and Formula One events at Goodwood in September 1950, driven by Reg Parnell. However, it was never to be so successful again. The engine proved unreliable and difficult to develop, and the team were not up to the task of improving the situation. A string of failures caused much embarrassment, and the problems were still unsolved when the Commission Sportive Internationale announced in 1952 that for 1954, a new engine formula of 2.5 litres naturally aspirated or 750 cc supercharged would take effect.

Meanwhile, the organisers of all the grands prix counting for the world championship elected to run their races for Formula Two for the next two years, as Alfa Romeo had pulled out of racing and BRM were unable to present raceworthy cars, leaving no credible opposition to Ferrari other than outdated Lago-Talbots and the odd O.S.C.A. The V16s continued to race in minor Formula One races and in British Formula Libre events until the mid fifties, battles with Tony Vandervell's Thin Wall Special Ferrari 375 being a particular highlight of the British scene.

Crisis
The Type 25 was BRM's next car. It used an extremely oversquare (4.05 x 2.95 in, 102.87 x 74.93 mm) 2.5 L atmospheric four-cylinder engine designed by Stewart Tresilian and (as became typical with BRM) it arrived late and took a lot of development; it was so late that the Owen Organisation started the 2.5 L formula with a Maserati 250F. The P25 was initially unsuccessful, not winning a race until a victory at the Dutch Grand Prix in 1959. Colin Chapman helped to improve the car in 1956. Stirling Moss believed that the BRM engine was superior to the Coventry-Climax unit used in his Cooper, and a P25 was briefly run in 1959 by the British Racing Partnership, for Moss (and also Hans Herrmann), and Rob Walker also backed the construction of a Cooper-BRM to gain access to the engine.

The P25 was becoming highly competitive just as the rear-engined Cooper started to become dominant; the P48 was a quick reaction to this, using major components from the P25 but in rear-engined format. The P48 was revised for the 1.5 L rules in 1961, but once again BRM's own engine was not ready and the cars had to run with a Coventry-Climax four-cylinder unit in adapted P48 chassis, achieving very little in terms of results.

The firm moved to a purpose-built workshop on an adjoining site in the spring of 1960, but when the 1.5-litre atmospheric Formula One regulation was introduced in 1961, Alfred Owen was threatening to pull the plug unless race victories were achieved very soon.

Champions
By the end of the season BRM had managed to build an engine designed by Peter Berthon and Aubrey Woods (BRM P56 V8) (2.6975 x 2.0 in, 68.5 x 50.8 mm) which was on a par with the Dino V6 used by Ferrari and the Coventry Climax V8 used by other British teams. However, the real change was the promotion by Owen of an engineer who had been with the team since 1950 (originally on secondment from Rolls-Royce to look after the supercharging on the V16), Tony Rudd, to the position of chief development engineer. Rudd was the first professional engineer to exercise full technical control over the team, and basic engineering and reliability problems which had plagued the team for years began to vanish. He was given greater responsibility in 1960 after two of the drivers, Graham Hill and Dan Gurney, went on strike and told Alfred Owen they would not drive again, and in early 1962 full executive authority was given to Tony Rudd. Raymond Mays and Peter Berthon were sidelined. The team had designed their first mid-engined car for 1960, matching the other teams, and won the World Drivers' Championship with Graham Hill as driver, in with the P57. (During 1962, BRM also ran Lucas electronic ignition.) During 1965, 210 bhp at 11,000 rpm was the rated power. However at the high-speed 1965 Italian GP (Monza) an uprated version was raced with 220 bhp at 11,750 rpm for short bursts. A planned 4-valve-per-cylinder version in cooperation with Weslake Engineering never materialised.

As part of Owen's attempt to make BRM pay its way, the V8 engine was sold to privateers and appeared in a number of other chassis during the 1.5 L formula, particularly in private Lotus chassis and in smaller marques such as BRP.

A number of privateers acquired 1961 and 1962 BRMs during this period, including Maurice Trintignant and Scuderia Centro Sud; these cars continued to race for many years.

The monocoque BRM P261 V8 car was soon developed and these ran on through the 1.5-litre formula and performed useful service in the early races of the subsequent 3.0-litre formula. In 1965 Jackie Stewart was signed to partner Hill; he took his first grand prix win at Monza in his debut season, and won the first world championship race of the new three-litre formula with a car fitted with a Tasman two-litre V8; once again BRM were not ready for the start of a new formula and the old cars continued to be used, even on occasion after the H16 was ready.

BRM H16
For, the engine regulations changed to permit three-litre atmospheric (or 1.5-litre supercharged) engines. BRM refused Peter Berthon and Aubrey Woods's proposal to build a V12, and instead built an ingenious but very complicated engine, designed by Tony Rudd and Geoff Johnson, the H16 (BRM P75), which essentially used two flat-eight engines (derived from their 1.5L V8) one above the other, with the crankshafts geared together.

BRM found the H16 (2.75 x 1.925 in, 69.85 x 48.895 mm) attractive because it was initially planned to share design elements and components with the successful 1.5-litre V8. While the engine was powerful, it was also heavy and unreliable - Rudd claimed that his drawings were not followed accurately and many of the castings were much thicker and heavier than he had specified (when Lotus took delivery of their first H16 it took six men to carry it from the van to the workshop). At that time, BRM earned the nickname of "British Racing Misery". BRM, Lotus, and various privateers had been using enlarged versions of the BRM 1.5 V8 of up to 2.1 litres in 1966, as competitive three-litre engines were in short supply in the first year of the new regulations. Lotus also took up the H16 as an interim measure until the Cosworth DFV was ready, building the Lotus 43 to house it, and Jim Clark managed to win the US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen with this combination. It was the only victory for this engine in a world championship race. Lotus built the similar Lotus 42 designed for Indianapolis with a 4.2-litre version of the H16 (2.9375 x 2.36 in, 74.61 x 59.94 mm) but this was never raceworthy; the cars were raced with Ford V8s instead. The H16 engine was redesigned with a narrow-angle four-valve head and magnesium main castings to reduce weight and increase power, but was never raced (it was intended for the 1967 BRM P115) as BRM decided to use the V12 unit which was being sold to other F1 and sports car teams with encouraging results.

BRM V12
The H16 was replaced by a V12 (2.9375 x 2.25 in, 74.61 x 57.15 mm) designed by Geoff Johnson. It had been intended for sports car use, but was first used in F1 by the McLaren M5A. Back at the works, the early V12 years were lean ones. In the two-valve layout gave about 360 bhp at 9,000 rpm. In 1968 this had increased to 390 bhp at 9,750 rpm. Geoff Johnson updated the design by adding a four-valve head, based on the H16 485 bhp 4-valve layout; this improved the V12's power output to 452 bhp at 10,500 rpm and eventually to a claimed 465 bhp during 1969. In 1973, Louis Stanley claimed 490 bhp at 11,750 rpm. The design and building of the first V-12 chassis, the P126 was contracted to former Lotus and Eagle designer Len Terry's Transatlantic Automotive Consultants. The cars first appeared during the 1968 Tasman Championship, powered by 2.5 litre versions of the engine, temporary team driver Bruce McLaren winning the fourth round of the series at Teretonga but being generally unimpressed with the car. BRM themselves built further examples of the Terry design, which were designated P133 and 1968 team drivers Mike Spence and Pedro Rodríguez appeared competitive in early season non championship races at Brands Hatch and Silverstone, but then Spence was killed driving the Lotus 56 turbine during qualifying at Indianapolis. Spence's replacement, Richard Attwood, finished a good second to Graham Hill's Lotus at Monaco, but after this results went downhill and the season petered out ignominiously. For 1969 the four valve per cylinder engine was developed and a new slimline car, the P139 was built. John Surtees joined as the team's lead driver backed up by Jack Oliver. Rodríguez was shunted into the semi-works Parnell team. Surtees' time at BRM was not a happy one and, despite the fact that a ground effect "wing car" was designed, this was never constructed and the team's performances were lacklustre. Surtees left after a single season (1969), along with Tony Rudd who went to Lotus (initially on the road-car side), and Geoff Johnson who departed for Austin Morris.

The team regrouped with Tony Southgate as designer and Rodríguez brought back into the fold to partner Oliver, and gained its first V12 victory when Rodríguez won the 1970 Belgian Grand Prix in a P153, with further victories for Jo Siffert and Peter Gethin in 1971 in the P160. The team had reached one of its intermittent peaks of success. Both Siffert and Rodríguez were killed before the 1972 season and the team had to regroup completely again. Their last World Championship victory came when Jean-Pierre Beltoise drove a stunning race to win the rain-affected 1972 Monaco Grand Prix with the P160. He also won the non-championship 1972 World Championship Victory Race later in the year. The campaign was generally chaotic: having acquired major sponsorship (of Marlboro cigarettes, being the first team in the category to be sponsored by the brand), Louis Stanley originally planned to field up to six cars (three for established drivers, three for paying journeymen and young drivers) of varying designs including P153s, P160s and P180s and actually ran up to five for a mix of paying and paid drivers until it became obvious that it was completely overstretched and the team's sponsors insisted that the team should cut back to a more reasonable level and only three cars were run in 1973 for Beltoise, Lauda, and Regazzoni. At the end of the year, Marlboro would transfer its sponsorship to McLaren from 1974 (staying with the team until 1996).

Decline and fall
The last notable performance was Beltoise's second-place finish in the 1974 South African Grand Prix with the Mike Pilbeam-designed P201, a car with a pyramidal monocoque, very different from the curvy "Coke-bottle" Southgate cars. The Owen Organisation ended its support of the team and it was run on a lower-key basis by Louis Stanley and some of the Bourne personnel as Stanley-BRM until 1977. Old P201s were initially used, with the team hoping for a revival with the bulky and vaguely Ferrari-like P207 - which failed entirely.

Cereal millionaire and amateur racer John Jordan purchased some of the team's assets when the team finally folded, and backed the building of a pair of P230 cars by CTG, with the aim of competing in the national-level Aurora AFX Formula One Championship. Teddy Pilette raced a P207 during 1978 with modest success, finishing fourth at Oulton Park and fifth at Brands Hatch. One chassis also apparently raced in the revived Can-Am series.

Side projects
The team became involved with Rover's gas-turbine project, with the Rover-BRM gas turbine car running at Le Mans in 1963 and 1965; it was damaged in testing and missed the 1964 race. BRM were also involved with Donald Campbell's gas-turbine Bluebird-Proteus CN7 project. In later years they also built an unsuccessful Can-Am car, and dabbled with larger versions of the H16 engine for the Indianapolis 500. As a part of the Owen Organisation, BRM also worked on tuned road-car engines for Ford, Chrysler and others. The BRM-tuned version of the 1557 cc Lotus-Ford Twin Cam engine was particularly popular as the Special Equipment option on the Lotus Elan. This improved version of the Lotus-Ford engine was used by Tony Rudd when he left BRM for Lotus to form the basis of the Lotus produced "Sprint" version of the engine used in the Elan Sprint, Elan Plus2S-130, Europa JPS and Caterham Seven.

BRM were contracted by Chrysler (UK) Competition Department to develop a sixteen-valve cylinder head for the Hillman Avenger engine. It proved unreliable, underpowered, and unable to compete with the Ford rally team's proven Cosworth BDB-powered RS1600 Escorts.

BRM engine sales
The Owen Organisation expected BRM to turn a profit through sales of racing engines; the four-cylinder appeared briefly in a Cooper-BRM special for Stirling Moss but found no other customers. The V8 powered many 1.5-litre cars, including various private Lotuses and Brabhams as well as the BRP works team. Enlarged Tasman Series V8s of between 1.9 and 2.1 L were popular in 1966 as a stopgap before full three-litre engines were widely available. These units were also sold to Matra to power its early sports-prototypes.

A one-litre Formula Two engine was also made available, based on half of the F1 V8. This was not successful, in a formula dominated by Cosworth-Ford and eventually Honda engines.

Team Lotus used the ill-fated H16 engine, scoring its only win.

V12s were sold to other constructors of which the most notable were Cooper, John Wyer and McLaren. Matra entered into a contract with BRM to collaborate in the design of their own V12 engine, but when this became public knowledge the French constructor was forced to drop the involvement with BRM and restart development with a French partner, as its government funding was threatened, but there were still close resemblances between the finished Matra engine and the BRM.

Sponsorship and colours
The first BRM cars entered by the BRM works team were a pale duck-egg green (any shade of green represented the British racing green, the national racing colour of Great Britain), but this was later replaced for aesthetic reasons by a very dark metallic shade of grey-green. During the team's Owen-owned years the cars bore simple "Owen Racing Organisation" signage. The BRP-entered BRM for Moss and Herrmann was a non-metallic duck-egg green. However, BRM cars entered by non-British privateer teams wore their respective national racing colours, e.g. the Italian Scuderia Centro Sud team ran their cars in Italian red and cars entered by Maurice Trintignant's privateer team were in French blue.

At one point in the 1960s Alfred Owen's brother Ernest wanted the team to paint their cars orange with black trim, orange being the Owen Organisation's corporate colour, used for a band around the nose of the cars and for the mechanics' overalls; Rudd (who didn't like the idea of orange BRMs) pointed out that orange was the Dutch racing colour, when such things were still honoured; through most of the 1960s the cars ran with Owen orange bands round the nose.

The team acquired significant commercial sponsorship from Yardley for the season, running in white with black, gold and ochre stripes in a stylised "Y" wrapping around the car's bodywork, losing this deal to McLaren for the  season and replacing it by Marlboro's familiar white and red (a flat shade, not dayglo) colours. The BRM team became the first F1 team sponsored by Marlboro and at the 1972 Monaco Grand Prix the team achieved their last win which was also the first win for a Marlboro-sponsored F1 car. Ironically this deal was also lost to McLaren for the season, to be replaced briefly by Motul in a pale green and silver colour scheme. As Stanley-BRM the cars initially ran in red, white and blue with no major sponsorship; for the team's swansong it was sponsored by Rotary Watches and ran in pale blue and white. The Jordan-BRM P230 was black and gold.

Later use of BRM name
BRM raced again as part of a project by John Mangoletsi for a Group C sports car known as the P351 with the backing of the Owen family to use the BRM name. Unfortunately the car was short lived and unsuccessful. In 1997 Keith Wiggins and Pacific Racing would resurrect the car as the BRM P301, using the BRM name only because it was technically a BRM built chassis but had no other connection to British Racing Motors. Heavily modified into an open cockpit sportscar, the car was equally unsuccessful.

A special edition Rover 200 was produced to commemorate the Rover-BRM gas-turbine car; this was finished in Brooklands Green (however not the very dark metallic gunmetal BRM shade) with an orange lower, front grill and silver details.

In October 2008, a press release announced that Bee Automobiles Ltd 'BRM Bee Four ERV' would compete in the British Speed Hill Climb championships:
 * "The 'BRM Bee Four ERV', code named the 'Watt 4', is an all-electric AWD (all-wheel-drive) vehicle capable of producing 700 hp or 520 kW. The ERV uses motor technology developed at Oxford University. The car is theoretically capable of reaching speeds of up to 250 mph. Participants in the project include Rubery Owen, Oxford University, Oxford Brookes and MIRA Ltd - Motor Industry Research Association. Paul Owen, Grandson of Sir Alfred and Managing Director of Rubery Owen's Environmental Technology Subsidiary Rozone Limited, commented: "Rubery Owen is very pleased to see the BRM name once again being used to drive forward an innovative development to take motorsport to new levels'"

As of 2011, the car had yet to leave the drawing board.

In 2012, Bobbie Neate, granddaughter of Alfred Ernest Owen (who created Rubery Owen) and daughter of Jean Stanley (née Owen) wrote of her memories of BRM racing in the 1950s and 60s in her book Conspiracy of Secrets.

Grand Prix winners
The BRM team won seventeen Formula One Grands Prix as follows:

Exhibition
There is a small exhibition about Raymond Mays, including his interest in BRM, together with the trophies won by BRM while it was owned by the Owen Organisation, at Bourne Civic Society's Heritage Centre.

Computer simulation
A driveable, detailed virtual recreation of the BRM H16-powered P83/P115 and the BRM P261 was made available in the PC simulation Grand Prix Legends that is based on the 1967 Formula One season. An unlicensed recreation of the 1968 BRM P126 can be found in rFactor 2.

Reawakening
In celebration of BRM's 70th anniversary, John Owen, the 81-year-old son of BRM's original owner, the renowned industrialist, Sir Alfred Owen, has commissioned the build of three authentic 'new' 1950s V16 race cars. BRM's technical partners, Hall and Hall, used the original 'engine number two' a V16 power unit dating back to the 1950s, to help engineers overcome the technical challenges presented by one of the most complex Formula 1 engines of its day – each with more than 36,000 precision-engineered parts.

The re-built engine itself was cautiously tested at Hall and Hall's dynamometer at RAF Folkingham, Lincolnshire, where the original BRM Formula 1 engineering team worked during the 1950s. This particular engine has not been run since one of the original BRM team drivers, José Froilán González, then 77 years old, accidentally over-revved it during the at BRM's 50th anniversary celebration at Silverstone in 1999. It was comprehensively 'lunched', according to Hall and Hall technicians and has remained in storage ever since.

The three 'new' P15 V16 BRMs have been made possible by the discovery of three unused chassis numbers which were originally allocated to the racing programme, but never built due to a change in the Formula 1 technical regulations at the time.

The first car commissioned by John Owen is expected to be delivered and presented in public in 2021.

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Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation

Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation (previously known as Alex's Lemonade Stand and currently abbreviated as ALSF) is an American pediatric cancer charity founded by Alexandra "Alex" Scott (January 18, 1996 – August 1, 2004), who lived in Connecticut before moving to Pennsylvania. Scott suffered from neuroblastoma.

History
This foundation was started in 2005 by Alex's parents.

In November 2019, Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation was named Non-Profit Organization of the Year by The Chamber of Commerce For Greater Philadelphia.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation


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John McDougal

John McDougal (c. 1818 – March 30, 1866) was an American politician who served as the second Governor of California from January 9, 1851, until January 8, 1852. Prior to this, he served from 1849 to 1851 as the first Lieutenant Governor of California.

Born to a political family in Ohio, McDougal would immigrate to California in 1849 aboard the S.S. California after serving in the Mexican–American War. After participating in the California Gold Rush, McDougal would enter early California politics a year later as an attendee of the 1849 constitutional convention in Monterey. Entering the lieutenant governorship in 1849, he would succeed to the governorship following the early resignation of Peter Hardeman Burnett.

As Governor, McDougal presided over the creation of the Mariposa Battalion, a state militia unit that killed over 40 indigenous native Californians during the California Indian Wars. McDougal signed legislation to move the state capital from San Jose to Vallejo in modern-day Solano County. After failing to secure the nomination of the California Democratic Party in the 1852 election, McDougal left office and never served in a political capacity for the rest of his life.

Biography
McDougal was born in Union, Ohio ca. 1818 to John McDougall, an Ohio state representative from 1813 to 1815, and Margaret Stockton. The family produced four other sons: William Creighton McDougall, married to abolitionist Frances Harriet Whipple Green McDougall; Dr. Charles McDougall, also known as Charles Dougall, surgeon in the U.S. Army; Admiral David McDougal, commander of USS Wyoming (1859) during the Battle of Shimonoseki; and George P. McDougal, California and Colorado pioneer. The family later moved to Indianapolis.

In 1846 McDougal joined the Indiana Volunteer Infantry as a lieutenant in the 1st Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment and served in the Mexican–American War. He was soon elected as captain of Company H. He later re-enlisted in the 5th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

In 1848, after the Mexican–American War, McDougal moved to California, arriving in 1849 aboard S.S. California with his wife Jane and their daughter Sue. He worked as a miner and then a merchant during the gold rush. Shortly after his arrival, he entered into the new territory's politics, attending the first constitutional convention in Monterey in 1849. McDougal was one of the original signers of the Constitution of California. During the convention, McDougal was nominated for lieutenant governor, whereupon he remarked, "I reckon I'll take that. I don't believe anyone else will have it." After defeating five other contenders for the office, McDougal was sworn in as the state's first lieutenant governor in December 1849, along with Peter Burnett as the state's first governor.

Governorship
Due to widespread discontent with his administration by the California State Legislature and press, Burnett resigned from the governorship in early January 1851. McDougal assumed the post on January 9. He was relatively inexperienced with any political office. In one of his first acts, McDougal signed legislation sponsored by state senator and former Mexican general Mariano Vallejo on February 4 to remove the capitol from its cramped quarters in San Jose forty miles north to Vallejo.

In the first weeks of his governorship, McDougal was pressured by miners and residents in Mariposa County to intervene in a growing conflict later known as the Mariposa War, with the local Miwok, Chowchilla, and Yokuts tribes opposing encroachment on their land. In late January, he authorized the creation of the 200-man Mariposa Battalion, a state militia unit, to tackle natives he believed were in open rebellion against the state government. In the ensuing conflict, which left over forty dead, the Mariposa Battalion became the first Whites to see Yosemite, while the local tribes ceased violent reprisals on the miner and trader population.

While McDougal continued with the earlier policies of the Burnett administration in taking violent action against California Native Americans and supporting exclusion laws prohibiting African-Americans from entering California, he favored Chinese immigration to meet the state's labor shortage and settle undeveloped lands, declaring in his address to the State Legislature on January 7, 1852, that the Chinese "were one of the most worthy classes of our newly adopted citizens, to whom the climate and the character of California were peculiarly suited."

McDougal's popularity peaked in the early days of his administration. Known for his earthy personality, McDougal's demeanor connected well with Sierra Nevada miners and Mexican–American War veterans. However, recurring drinking, gambling with assembly and senate members, and frequent quarrels over minor bureaucratic matters hurt his political career. McDougal's political mannerisms were also a source of popular amusement. McDougal issued so many proclamations beginning, "I, John McDougal," that the Governor was soon known throughout the state as "I John".

Towards the end of 1851, McDougal quarreled with the growing vigilante movement in San Francisco. In a gubernatorial proclamation, he openly condemned the movement's lynching of two criminals that year, citing its complete disregard of the city's municipal authorities. State law enforcement was still in its infancy, however, and his proclamation was ignored. Bureaucratic frustration with San Francisco's vigilante movement would return again during the administration of Governor J. Neely Johnson five years later.

During the 1851 state general elections, the Democratic Party refused to renominate McDougal as the party's choice for governor. Instead, state Democrats nominated Assembly Speaker John Bigler as their party's nominee.

Post-political career
McDougal left office on January 8, 1852, after completing the single two-year term left vacant by previous Governor Burnett. At the time, California governors served two-year terms, a limit that would not change until the governorship of Leland Stanford in the early 1860s. Just four days after leaving the state's highest office, McDougal was involved in a pistol duel with A.C. Russell, editor of The San Francisco Picayune. Russell's hand was injured in the duel. After attempting to start yet another duel with another individual who had insulted the ex-governor, McDougal was arrested by the San Francisco police. As governor, McDougal had opposed state legislation that would have outlawed dueling, remarking duelers were not fit to live and would eventually kill each other off.

Never taken as a serious political candidate again, McDougal fell out of public view after 1852. The former governor increasingly turned to alcohol as he sank into deep depression. According to some accounts, McDougal attempted suicide on several occasions. McDougal died in San Francisco on March 30, 1866, at the age of 48. Along with J. Neely Johnson, McDougal is one of the youngest governors to die after leaving office. He was buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery in San Francisco, sharing a plot with his brother David McDougal. When this cemetery was removed from San Francisco, his remains were moved to the Laurel Hill Mound of Cypress Lawn Memorial Park in Colma, California.

John Eldredge was cast as Governor McDougal in "The Blonde King," a 1959 episode of the syndicated anthology series Death Valley Days, hosted by Stanley Andrews. In the storyline, James D. Savage (Lane Bradford) has made many friends among Indians of the Yosemite region. When John Trask (Brad Johnson) threatens to disrupt the peace, Savage must stop him. Robert Brubaker played Major Warren.

title: John McDougal


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John Bigler

John Bigler (January 8, 1805 – November 29, 1871) was an American lawyer, politician and diplomat. A Democrat, he served as the third governor of California from 1852 to 1856 and was the first California governor to complete an entire term in office, as well as the first to win re-election. His younger brother, William Bigler, was elected governor of Pennsylvania during the same period. Bigler was also appointed by President James Buchanan as the U.S. Minister to Chile from 1857 to 1861.

Biography
Bigler was born in early 1805 in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Beginning work in the printing trade at an early age, Bigler, as well as his younger brother, William, never received a formal education, yet Bigler took it upon himself to educate his younger brother. In 1831, both brothers moved to Bellefonte in Centre County to buy the local Andrew Jackson-affiliated Centre Democrat newspaper, where older John assumed editorial duties. Bigler worked as editor until 1835, when he sold the publication to study law.

When news of the California gold rush reached the East Coast in mid-1848, Bigler, now a middle-aged lawyer, decided to leave for the West Coast to join a law practice. Travelling overland with an ox train, Bigler reached Sacramento in 1849, only to quickly discover that there were no open positions in law. Bigler began to work at a series of odd jobs, including becoming an auctioneer, a wood chopper, and a freight unloader at the town's docks along the Sacramento River. Upon hearing of the territory's first general election in the same year, Bigler decided to turn to politics, and entered the California State Assembly as a Democrat, one of nine members representing the Sacramento district.

Political career
Upon being elected to the first session of the California State Legislature in 1849, Bigler enjoyed a rapid rise to power in the Assembly. Within a year, Bigler was voted by the heavily Democratic majority in the body as the Speaker of the Assembly in February 1850. Now one of the most powerful legislators in the state, Bigler enjoyed widespread name recognition. During the Sacramento cholera epidemic of October 1850, Bigler contracted cholera as a direct result of his remaining in the city and assisting doctors and undertakers.

In May 1851, Bigler was nominated by the Democratic Party convention in Benicia as the party's choice for governor in California's first general election after achieving statehood. Bigler's challenger, the Whig Party's Pierson B. Reading, derided Bigler as an unpolished, gruff Yankee Northerner, while Reading articulated himself as an educated pioneering gentleman of the South.

Bigler ran on an explicitly anti-Chinese platform. He won the election by little more than a thousand votes over Reading, which remains today as the closest gubernatorial election in California history.

Governorship
Upon assuming the governorship on January 8, 1852, Bigler established his priorities to protect the state's highly profitable mining interests from leasing or outside monopolies, declaring in his first inaugural address that these mining interests should be "left as free as the air we breathe." Bigler also prioritized the industrialization of California, encouraging industrial investment on behalf of the state government.

Actions against Native Americans and the Chinese
On March 31, 1854, Bigler approved issuance of a bond entitled "Bond of the State of California for War Indebtedness", used to pay expenses for "expeditions against the Indians." It was signed by Bigler, State Comptroller Samuel Bell and State Treasurer Selden A. McMeans. This bond is exhibited in the Oakland Museum of California.

Bigler also enacted a policy to prevent Chinese "coolie" immigrants from entering California. Bigler claimed that the Chinese refused to and could never assimilate into American society, and he also used the immigrants' willingness to work for little pay as a way to urge Californians to "check this tide of Asiatic immigration." While the previous administration of Governor John McDougall somewhat supported the Chinese presence in the state, Bigler advocated the revival of the 1850 Foreign Miners Tax, originally signed by anti-foreigner Governor Peter Burnett. Whereas the original 1850 law placed a US$20 per month tax on all miners of foreign origin, the Bigler-supported 1852 version of the law placed a US$3 per month tax exclusively for Chinese laborers. Over the course of his two terms in office, taxes for Chinese immigrants steadily increased, with ever harsher bills passing the Legislature and signed into law by Governor Bigler. One law passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor created a US$50 tax per head (to be paid within three days) for Chinese entering Californian ports. The California Supreme Court later ruled the law unconstitutional.

As Sierra Nevada gold mine output slowed to a trickle by the early 1850s, followed by local financial panic caused by the discovery of gold in Australia, anger towards hard-working and labor-cheap Chinese grew, especially among economically pressured miners, who desperately sought alternative work in California's cities and ports. While Bigler aligned himself with popular anti-immigrant and anti-Chinese sentiment, these constituents would later split from the Democrats and spill over into the anti-immigrant American Know-Nothing Party.

Opposition to the constriction of Chinese immigration was voiced by Norman Asing, a leader in San Francisco's Chinese community, in an open letter published in 1852. He argued that "...we are not the degraded race you would make us" and that "...when your nation was a wilderness, and the nation from which you sprung barbarous, we exercised most of the arts and virtues of civilized life;" therefore, the Chinese should be free to contribute productively to the US.

Free Soil period
Pressure was also mounting on the Democratic Party itself in California in regards to slavery. By the 1853 general election campaign, large majorities of pro-slavery Democrats from Southern California, calling themselves the Chivalry (later branded as Lecompton Democrats), threatened to divide the state in half should the state not accept slavery. Bigler, along with former State Senator and Lieutenant Governor David C. Broderick from the previous McDougal administration, formed the Free Soil Democratic faction, modeled after the federal Free Soil Party that argued against the spread of slavery. The Democrats effectively split into two camps, with both the Chivalry and Free Soilers nominating their own candidates for the 1853 election. Despite the party split, Bigler was able to overcome Whig Party challenger William Waldo and became the first California governor to win a second term in office. No other governor of the state would win a second term until Hiram Johnson in 1914.

Moving the capital
During Bigler's tenure, the state government struggled to find a permanent location for a capital or a capitol building. State Senator Mariano Vallejo's promises of Vallejo as being an ideal capital city failed to materialize. For one miserable week in early 1852, the California State Legislature met in the township, quickly discovering the lack of facilities, supplies and furniture. With the suggestion of Bigler and support from city government leaders, the Legislature would temporarily relocate to his adopted city of Sacramento, while Vallejo would remain the permanent capital. However, after flooding problems in Sacramento, and dire weather conditions in Vallejo, the Legislature and Bigler agreed to relocate the capital to nearby Benicia. Conditions in Benicia also proved poor for state bureaucrats. Sacramento offered its services again as a capital, and on February 25, 1854, Governor Bigler signed a law making Sacramento the capital of California. With the exception of a temporary move to San Francisco in 1862 while Sacramento was again flooded, the capital has stayed there since.

Bigler's popularity peaked around 1854 to 1855. For the 1855 general election, the Democratic Party renominated Bigler in his bid to gain a third term of office. However, his monopoly on anti-immigrant sentiment began to lose ground. Growing economic troubles due to the slow collapse of gold mining in the Sierras and other gold discoveries in Australia, as well as failures to solve growing state financial debt led to popular discontent with infrastructure and fiscal management within his administration. Bigler's administration had attained a general perception of fiscal extravagance among the public. Bigler urged adoption of measures to secure for San Francisco the benefits of the whale trade of the Pacific. The anti-immigrant and Nativist American Know-Nothing Party, led by its nominee, former Whig J. Neely Johnson, defeated Bigler by a moderate margin during the 1855 election. Bigler was the first California governor to be defeated in a general election.

Post governorship career
Following his defeat in the 1855 election, Bigler's career turned to diplomacy. In 1857, at the insistence of his brother, Pennsylvania Governor William Bigler, President James Buchanan appointed Bigler as U.S. Minister to Chile. Following the completion of his foreign assignment, Bigler re-entered politics, this time on the federal level. Bigler ran as a Southern-friendly Independent for Congress in the 1863 elections, yet failed to win. In 1866, President Andrew Johnson nominated Bigler as the Internal Revenue Service's Federal Assessor for the Sacramento district, but due to open animosity between Congress and President Johnson at the time, the U.S. Senate never confirmed the nomination, and thus Bigler never took the position.

In 1867, Bigler was appointed railroad commissioner for the Central Pacific Railroad. In 1868, he founded the State Capitol Reporter and served as its editor until his death in Sacramento on November 29, 1871, at the age of 66. He is interred in the Sacramento Historic City Cemetery.

Lake Tahoe/Lake Bigler
At the height of his popularity in 1854, the Democratic majority State Legislature named modern-day Lake Tahoe "Lake Bigler" in honor of California's third Governor, who was then beginning his second term. For nearly ten years, the name of the lake had been in dispute. John C. Fremont, one of the lake's first White discoverers in 1844, named it "Lake Bonpland" after Aimé Jacques Alexandre Bonpland, a French botanist who had accompanied Prussian explorer Alexander von Humboldt in his exploration of Mexico, Colombia and the Amazon River. Lake Bonpland's usage never became popular, with the lake's name changing from "Mountain Lake" to "Fremont's Lake“ several years after. By 1853, the name "Lake Bigler" began to be applied to maps of the lake after the then-popular California governor. The state legislature officially changed the name the following year."

Lake Bigler's usage never became universal. In just a year, different maps referred to the lake not only as Bigler, but also as "Mountain Lake" to "Maheon Lake." By 1861, at the start of the American Civil War, former Governor Bigler, once a Free Soil Democrat, had become an ardent Confederate sympathizer. Unionists and Republicans alike derided the former governor's name on the lake on official state maps. Pro-Union papers called for a "change from this Secesh appellation" and "no Copperhead names on our landmarks for us." Several Unionist members in the Legislature suggested changing the name to the fanciful sounding "Tula Tulia." The Sacramento Union jokingly suggested the name "Largo Bergler" for Bigler's widely perceived financial incompetency in his final term and contemporary Southern sympathies.

The debate took a new direction when William Henry Knight, mapmaker for the federal U.S. Department of the Interior, and colleague Dr. Henry DeGroot of the Sacramento Union joined the political argument in 1862. As Knight completed a new map of the lake, the mapmaker asked DeGroot for a new name of the lake. DeGroot suggested "Tahoe," a local tribal name he believed meant "water in a high place." Knight agreed, and telegraphed to the Land Office in Washington, D.C., to officially change all federal maps to now read "Lake Tahoe." Knight later explained his desire for a name change, writing, "I remarked (to many) that people had expressed dissatisfaction with the name "Bigler", bestowed in honor of a man who had not distinguished himself by any single achievement, and I thought now would be a good time to select an appropriate name and fix it forever on that beautiful sheet of water."

"Lake Tahoe," also like "Lake Bigler," did not gain universal acceptance. Mark Twain, a critic of the new name, called it an "unmusical cognomen." In an 1864 editorial regarding the name in the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, Twain cited Bigler as being "the legitimate name of the Lake, and it will be retained until some name less flat, insipid and spooney than "Tahoe" is invented for it." In Twain's 1869 novel Innocents Abroad, Twain continued to deride the name in his foreign travels. "People say that Tahoe means 'Silver Lake' - 'Limpid Water' - 'Falling Leaf.' Bosh! It means grasshopper soup, the favorite dish of the digger tribe - and of the Paiutes as well." The Placerville Mountain Democrat began a notorious rumor that "Tahoe" was actually an Indian renegade who plundered upon White settlers. To counter the federal government, the California State Legislature reaffirmed in 1870 that the lake was indeed called "Lake Bigler."

By the end of the 19th century, usage of "Lake Bigler" had nearly completely fallen out of popular vocabulary in favor of "Tahoe." The California State Legislature officially reversed its previous decision in 1945, officially changing the name to Lake Tahoe.

title: John Bigler


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Peter Pawlowski

 * Vanity Page. JimD 22:15, 2004 Aug 2 (UTC)

Google search reveals some broken home pages and references to various other (apparently unrelated) persons named Peter Pawlowski.

[[foobar2000] is similarly non-significant; just a bit of free software for Windows (BDSish license) that would be appropriate for http://www.tucows.com (The Ultimate Collection of Windows Software) but not for an encyclopedia.
 * comment: above comments from JimD.

 * Delete, vanity. --Ianb 22:38, 2 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete, vanity. ✈ James C. 23:04, 2004 Aug 2 (UTC)
 * Delete - vanity - Tεx  τ  urε  17:37, 3 Aug 2004 (UTC)


text:
Golden Boy (manga)

Golden Boy (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese sex comedy manga series written and illustrated by Tatsuya Egawa. It was serialized in Shueisha's seinen manga magazine Super Jump from 1992 to 1997, with its chapters collected in ten tankōbon volumes. It tells the story of Kintaro Oe, a 25-year-old freeter "travelling student", who despite having met the requirements for a law degree, left Tokyo University without graduating. Kintaro is living freely, roaming Japan from town to town, job to job. During his travels, Kintaro meets several women whose lives he dramatically changes, despite poor first impressions. He constantly observes and studies the people and events around him, recording his findings in a notebook he carries on his belt.

Parts of the manga were adapted into a six-episode original video animation (OVA) series produced by Shueisha and KSS in 1995. In North America, it was first licensed by ADV Films in 1996. ADV's license to the series expired in 2007 and was later acquired by Media Blasters. Media Blasters lost the license in 2012 and it was later acquired by Discotek Media. A sequel to the manga, Golden Boy II, was serialized in Business Jump from September 2010 to May 2011.

Plot
Kintaro is a freeter, and has done various jobs as he quests around Japan in pursuit of knowledge. His ventures include computer programming, housekeeping, teaching, the culinary arts, and most of all, studying. Kintaro is also often seen demonstrating the skills he has learned in previous chapters to overcome challenges faced in the current one. He is also adept in martial arts, but does not fight unless he is angered, and ordinarily just takes a beating. Much of the humor derives from situational elements, such as encounters between Kintaro and the women gone awry, and interactions between Kintaro's libido and imagination. Recurring gags include Kintaro's fetish for toilets (especially those recently used by beautiful women), his exaggerated facial expressions, and comical entries in his notebook. The notebook entries include explicit drawings of the women he encounters and bits of wisdom such as "'C' base is not sex", and "The human head cannot turn 360 degrees." Regarding the series, Tatsuya Egawa writes: "Before leaving kindergarten, I wrote these words in my notebook: 'I really like to study.' Often I wonder when it was that our schools forgot the true meaning of 'study', something which is now so often misunderstood by teachers and parents. Learning ought to be both stimulating and entertaining".

Characters

 * Kintaro Oe (大江 錦太郎)
 * Madame President (女社長)
 * Naoko Katsuda (勝田 奈緒子)
 * Noriko (紀子)
 * Ayuko Hayami (速水 鮎子)
 * Reiko Terayama (寺山 麗子)
 * Chie (知絵)
 * Noriko (紀子)
 * Ayuko Hayami (速水 鮎子)
 * Reiko Terayama (寺山 麗子)
 * Chie (知絵)
 * Ayuko Hayami (速水 鮎子)
 * Reiko Terayama (寺山 麗子)
 * Chie (知絵)
 * Reiko Terayama (寺山 麗子)
 * Chie (知絵)
 * Chie (知絵)
 * Chie (知絵)
 * Chie (知絵)

Manga
Written and illustrated by Tatsuya Egawa, Golden Boy was serialized in Shueisha's seinen manga magazine Super Jump from 1992 to 1997. Shueisha collected its chapters in ten tankōbon volumes, released from June 4, 1993, to January 9, 1998.

A sequel to the manga, Golden Boy II – Sasurai no O-Benkyō Yarō: Geinō-kai Ōabare-hen (GOLDEN BOY II 〜さすらいのお勉強野郎 芸能界大暴れ編〜), was serialized in Business Jump from September 15, 2010, to May 18, 2011. Shueisha collected its chapters in two tankōbon volumes, released on February 18 and July 19, 2011.

Original video animation
Adapted by Shueisha and KSS into an original video animation (OVA) series, Golden Boy was first released in Japan on VHS and later on laserdisc. The closing theme is "Study A Go! Go!" by Golden Girls. The series was licensed in North America by ADV Films, and was released on VHS, in both subtitled and dubbed editions, later releasing two DVD volumes on April 23 and June 18, 2002, and a complete series release on May 25, 2004. The license was later transferred to Media Blasters for a DVD release on November 6, 2007, and then Discotek Media for a DVD release on November 6, 2012.

Reception
The Golden Boy OVA was generally well received by English-language reviewers. It is widely known for its mature content: while the OVA is not strictly a hentai animation, it does feature instances of partial female nudity, orgasms, and female masturbation. In contrast, the manga becomes almost pornographic starting in the second volume. Jeff Ulmer of DigitallyObsessed calls it "hilarious", and Luis Cruz of AnimeOnDVD says it is "surprisingly well-written for an erotic comedy," and that it "easily deserves the 'Essential' moniker bestowed upon it" by ADV. Cruz goes on to say that the series' jokes "feel like a natural extension of both the characters and the plot...". Mike Toole of AnimeJump says “the mixture of realistic storytelling with Kintaro's deranged personality is always a hoot to watch.” Of Kintaro himself, Toole says he "has a simple everyman appeal", and Cruz contends that Kintaro's "charming character" is what makes the anime coherent. Toole says that Golden Boy "is worthwhile for the final episode alone...", and Ulmer feels that it "took the cake". Golden Boy popularized anime in Russia after being a huge success on its MTV Russia.

title: Golden Boy (manga)


text:
Siren (alarm)

A siren is a loud noise-making device. Civil defense sirens are mounted in fixed locations and used to warn of natural disasters or attacks. Sirens are used on emergency service vehicles such as ambulances, police cars, and fire engines. There are two general types: mechanical and electronic.

Many fire sirens (used for summoning volunteer firefighters) serve double duty as tornado or civil defense sirens, alerting an entire community of impending danger. Most fire sirens are either mounted on the roof of a fire station or on a pole next to the fire station. Fire sirens can also be mounted on or near government buildings, on tall structures such as water towers, as well as in systems where several sirens are distributed around a town for better sound coverage. Most fire sirens are single tone and mechanically driven by electric motors with a rotor attached to the shaft. Some newer sirens are electronically driven speakers.

Fire sirens are often called fire whistles, fire alarms, or fire horns. Although there is no standard signaling of fire sirens, some utilize codes to inform firefighters of the location of the fire. Civil defense sirens also used as fire sirens often can produce an alternating "hi-lo" signal (similar to emergency vehicles in many European countries) as the fire signal, or attack (slow wail), typically 3x, as to not confuse the public with the standard civil defense signals of alert (steady tone) and fast wail (fast wavering tone). Fire sirens are often tested once a day at noon and are also called noon sirens or noon whistles.

The first emergency vehicles relied on a bell. In the 1970s, they switched to a duotone airhorn, which was itself overtaken in the 1980s by an electronic wail.

History
Some time before 1799, the siren was invented by the Scottish natural philosopher John Robison. Robison's sirens were used as musical instruments; specifically, they powered some of the pipes in an organ. Robison's siren consisted of a stopcock that opened and closed a pneumatic tube. The stopcock was apparently driven by the rotation of a wheel.

In 1819, an improved siren was developed and named by Baron Charles Cagniard de la Tour. De la Tour's siren consisted of two perforated disks that were mounted coaxially at the outlet of a pneumatic tube. One disk was stationary, while the other disk rotated. The rotating disk periodically interrupted the flow of air through the fixed disk, producing a tone. De la Tour's siren could produce sound under water, suggesting a link with the sirens of Greek mythology; hence the name he gave to the instrument.

Instead of disks, most modern mechanical sirens use two concentric cylinders, which have slots parallel to their length. The inner cylinder rotates while the outer one remains stationary. As air under pressure flows out of the slots of the inner cylinder and then escapes through the slots of the outer cylinder, the flow is periodically interrupted, creating a tone. The earliest such sirens were developed during 1877–1880 by James Douglass and George Slight (1859–1934) of Trinity House; the final version was first installed in 1887 at the Ailsa Craig lighthouse in Scotland's Firth of Clyde. When commercial electric power became available, sirens were no longer driven by external sources of compressed air, but by electric motors, which generated the necessary flow of air via a simple centrifugal fan, which was incorporated into the siren's inner cylinder.

To direct a siren's sound and to maximize its power output, a siren is often fitted with a horn, which transforms the high-pressure sound waves in the siren to lower-pressure sound waves in the open air.

The earliest way of summoning volunteer firemen to a fire was by ringing of a bell, either mounted atop the fire station, or in the belfry of a local church. As electricity became available, the first fire sirens were manufactured. In 1886 French electrical engineer Gustave Trouvé developed a siren to announce the silent arrival of his electric boats. Two early fire siren manufacturers were William A. Box Iron Works, who made the "Denver" sirens as early as 1905, and the Inter-State Machine Company (later the Sterling Siren Fire Alarm Company) who made the ubiquitous Model "M" electric siren, which was the first dual tone siren. The popularity of fire sirens took off by the 1920s, with many manufacturers including the Federal Electric Company and Decot Machine Works creating their own sirens. Since the 1970s, many communities have since deactivated their fire sirens as pagers became available for fire department use. Some sirens still remain as a backup to pager systems.

During the Second World War, the British civil defence used a network of sirens to alert the general population to the imminence of an air raid. A single tone denoted an "all clear". A series of tones denoted an air raid.

Pneumatic
The pneumatic siren, which is a free aerophone, consists of a rotating disk with holes in it (called a chopper, siren disk or rotor), such that the material between the holes interrupts a flow of air from fixed holes on the outside of the unit (called a stator). As the holes in the rotating disk alternately prevent and allow air to flow it results in alternating compressed and rarefied air pressure, i.e. sound. Such sirens can consume large amounts of energy. To reduce the energy consumption without losing sound volume, some designs of pneumatic sirens are boosted by forcing compressed air from a tank that can be refilled by a low powered compressor through the siren disk.

In United States English language usage, vehicular pneumatic sirens are sometimes referred to as mechanical or coaster sirens, to differentiate them from electronic devices. Mechanical sirens driven by an electric motor are often called "electromechanical". One example is the Q2B siren sold by Federal Signal Corporation. Because of its high current draw (100 amps when power is applied) its application is normally limited to fire apparatus, though it has seen increasing use on type IV ambulances and rescue-squad vehicles. Its distinct tone of urgency, high sound pressure level (123 dB at 10 feet) and square sound waves account for its effectiveness.

In Germany and some other European countries, the pneumatic two-tone (hi-lo) siren consists of two sets of air horns, one high pitched and the other low pitched. An air compressor blows the air into one set of horns, and then it automatically switches to the other set. As this back and forth switching occurs, the sound changes tones. Its sound power varies, but could get as high as approximately 125 dB, depending on the compressor and the horns. Comparing with the mechanical sirens, it uses much less electricity but needs more maintenance.

In a pneumatic siren, the stator is the part which cuts off and reopens air as rotating blades of a chopper move past the port holes of the stator, generating sound. The pitch of the siren's sound is a function of the speed of the rotor and the number of holes in the stator. A siren with only one row of ports is called a single tone siren. A siren with two rows of ports is known as a dual tone siren. By placing a second stator over the main stator and attaching a solenoid to it, one can repeatedly close and open all of the stator ports thus creating a tone called a pulse. If this is done while the siren is wailing (rather than sounding a steady tone) then it is called a pulse wail. By doing this separately over each row of ports on a dual tone siren, one can alternately sound each of the two tones back and forth, creating a tone known as Hi/Lo. If this is done while the siren is wailing, it is called a Hi/Lo wail. This equipment can also do pulse or pulse wail. The ports can be opened and closed to send Morse code. A siren which can do both pulse and Morse code is known as a code siren.

Electronic
Electronic sirens incorporate circuits such as oscillators, modulators, and amplifiers to synthesize a selected siren tone (wail, yelp, pierce/priority/phaser, hi-lo, scan, airhorn, manual, and a few more) which is played through external speakers. It is not unusual, especially in the case of modern fire engines, to see an emergency vehicle equipped with both types of sirens. Often, police sirens also use the interval of a tritone to help draw attention. The first electronic siren that mimicked the sound of a mechanical siren was invented in 1965 by Motorola employees Ronald H. Chapman and Charles W. Stephens.

Other types
Steam whistles were also used as a warning device if a supply of steam was present, such as a sawmill or factory. These were common before fire sirens became widely available, particularly in the former Soviet Union. Fire horns, large compressed air horns, also were and still are used as an alternative to a fire siren. Many fire horn systems were wired to fire pull boxes that were located around a town, and this would "blast out" a code in respect to that box's location. For example, pull box number 233, when pulled, would trigger the fire horn to sound two blasts, followed by a pause, followed by three blasts, followed by a pause, followed by three more blasts. In the days before telephones, this was the only way firefighters would know the location of a fire. The coded blasts were usually repeated several times. This technology was also applied to many steam whistles as well. Some fire sirens are fitted with brakes and dampers, enabling them to sound out codes as well. These units tended to be unreliable, and are now uncommon.

Physics of the sound
Mechanical sirens blow air through a slotted disk or rotor. The cyclic waves of air pressure are the physical form of sound. In many sirens, a centrifugal blower and rotor are integrated into a single piece of material, spun by an electric motor.

Electronic sirens are high efficiency loudspeakers, with specialized amplifiers and tone generation. They usually imitate the sounds of mechanical sirens in order to be recognizable as sirens.

To improve the efficiency of the siren, it uses a relatively low frequency, usually several hundred hertz. Lower frequency sound waves go around corners and through holes better.

Sirens often use horns to aim the pressure waves. This uses the siren's energy more efficiently by aiming it. Exponential horns achieve similar efficiencies with less material.

The frequency, i.e. the cycles per second of the sound of a mechanical siren is controlled by the speed of its rotor, and the number of openings. The wailing of a mechanical siren occurs as the rotor speeds and slows. Wailing usually identifies an attack or urgent emergency.

The characteristic timbre or musical quality of a mechanical siren is caused because it is a triangle wave, when graphed as pressure over time. As the openings widen, the emitted pressure increases. As they close, it decreases. So, the characteristic frequency distribution of the sound has harmonics at odd (1, 3, 5...) multiples of the fundamental. The power of the harmonics roll off in an inverse square to their frequency. Distant sirens sound more "mellow" or "warmer" because their harsh high frequencies are absorbed by nearby objects.

Two tone sirens are often designed to emit a minor third, musically considered a "sad" sound. To do this, they have two rotors with different numbers of openings. The upper tone is produced by a rotor with a count of openings divisible by six. The lower tone's rotor has a count of openings divisible by five. Unlike an organ, a mechanical siren's minor third is almost always physical, not tempered. To achieve tempered ratios in a mechanical siren, the rotors must either be geared, run by different motors, or have very large numbers of openings. Electronic sirens can easily produce a tempered minor third.

A mechanical siren that can alternate between its tones uses solenoids to move rotary shutters that cut off the air supply to one rotor, then the other. This is often used to identify a fire warning.

When testing, a frightening sound is not desirable. So, electronic sirens then usually emit musical tones: Westminster chimes is common. Mechanical sirens sometimes self-test by "growling", i.e. operating at low speeds.

In music
Sirens are also used as musical instruments. They have been prominently featured in works by avant-garde and contemporary classical composers. Examples include Edgard Varèse's compositions Amériques (1918–21, rev. 1927), Hyperprism (1924), and Ionisation (1931); Arseny Avraamov's Symphony of Factory Sirens (1922); George Antheil's Ballet Mécanique (1926); Dimitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 2 (1927), and Henry Fillmore's "The Klaxon: March of the Automobiles" (1929), which features a klaxophone.

In popular music, sirens have been used in The Chemical Brothers' "Song to the Siren" (1992) and in a CBS News 60 Minutes segment played by percussionist Evelyn Glennie. A variation of a siren, played on a keyboard, are the opening notes of the REO Speedwagon song "Ridin' the Storm Out". Some heavy metal bands also use air raid type siren intros at the beginning of their shows. The opening measure of Money City Maniacs 1998 by Canadian band Sloan uses multiple sirens overlapped.

Approvals or certifications
Governments may have standards for vehicle-mounted sirens. For example, in California, sirens are designated Class A or Class B. A Class A siren is loud enough that it can be mounted nearly anywhere on a vehicle. Class B sirens are not as loud and must be mounted on a plane parallel to the level roadway and parallel to the direction the vehicle travels when driving in a straight line.

Sirens must also be approved by local agencies, in some cases. For example, the California Highway Patrol approves specific models for use on emergency vehicles in the state. The approval is important because it ensures the devices perform adequately. Moreover, using unapproved devices could be a factor in determining fault if a collision occurs.

The SAE International Emergency Warning Lights and Devices committee oversees the SAE emergency vehicle lighting practices and the siren practice, J1849. This practice was updated through cooperation between the SAE and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Though this version remains quite similar to the California Title 13 standard for sound output at various angles, this updated practice enables an acoustic laboratory to test a dual speaker siren system for compliant sound output.

Best practices
Siren speakers, or mechanical sirens, should always be mounted ahead of the passenger compartment. This reduces the noise for occupants and makes two-way radio and mobile telephone audio more intelligible during siren use. It also puts the sound where it will be useful. A 2007 study found passenger compartment sound levels could exceed 90dB(A).

Research has shown that sirens mounted behind the engine grille or under the wheel arches produces less unwanted noise inside the passenger cabin and to the side and rear of the vehicle while maintaining noise levels to give adequate warnings. The inclusion of broadband sound to sirens has the ability to increase localisation of sirens, as in a directional siren, as a spread of frequencies makes use of the three ways the brain detects a direction of a sound: Interaural level difference, interaural time difference and head-related transfer function.

The worst installations are those where the siren sound is emitted above and slightly behind the vehicle occupants such as cases where a light-bar mounted speaker is used on a sedan or pickup. Vehicles with concealed sirens also tend to have high noise levels inside. In some cases, concealed or poor installations produce noise levels which can permanently damage vehicle occupants' hearing.

Electric-motor-driven mechanical sirens may draw 50 to 200 amperes at 12 volts (DC) when spinning up to operating speed. Appropriate wiring and transient protection for engine control computers is a necessary part of an installation. Wiring should be similar in size to the wiring to the vehicle engine starter motor. Mechanical vehicle mounted devices usually have an electric brake, a solenoid that presses a friction pad against the siren rotor. When an emergency vehicle arrives on-scene or is cancelled en route, the operator can rapidly stop the siren.

Multi-speaker electronic sirens often are alleged to have dead spots at certain angles to the vehicle's direction of travel. These are caused by phase differences. The sound coming from the speaker array can phase cancel in some situations. This phase cancellation occurs at single frequencies, based upon the spacing of the speakers. These phase differences also account for increases, based upon the frequency and the speaker spacing. However, sirens are designed to sweep the frequency of their sound output, typically, no less than one octave. This sweeping minimizes the effects of phase cancellation. The result is that the average sound output from a dual speaker siren system is 3 dB greater than a single speaker system.

title: Siren (alarm)