Safetran mechanical bell question

[Nascar Fan007]

Anyone know when safetran started producing their mechanical bells? I've been curious ever since I got my bell back in August of 2019. I always wondered when safetran first started production on them and why some of the gongs sound different from each other. If anyone knows anything about safetran mechanical bells, let me know.

[freebrickproductions]

They started in 1971, when the company was born out of RACO. The earliest bells were pretty much just RACO bells, except they featured a sticker inside labeling them as being made by Safetran (the RACO bell I own is one such example). Sometime after that, probably around the time that Safetran got to rebranding the rest of the equipment they produced, they changed-up the bells slightly, making the "1st Generation" of Safetran mechanical bells.

These 1st Generation Safetran bells look pretty similar to the 2nd Generation ones, but there's a few noticeable differences. The most obvious one is the base, as the bell features a cast-on 4 inch base with three bolts (so there's a bolt on the front of the base). This base is also slightly more stylized than the 2nd Gen Safetran bells, and the 1st Gen Safetran bells also still use the old gongs that the RACO & Griswold bells did. There's a few other differences, but they're much, much more minor (IIRC, the latch is different between the 1st Gen and 2nd Gen bells), and many of these are also internal, so you won't really be able to tell them apart from the outside.

Then, sometime around the late-70s/early-80s, Safetran redesigned their bells once again, making the "2nd Generation" of Safetran mechanical bells. This redesign gave the bells a cast-on 5 inch base (which only featured two bolts, for some reason, meaning it lacks a bolt on the front of the base), as well as a new gong, and other, more minor, changes. It appears that these came in two models, "Loud Tone" (which is what I have) and "Soft Tone" (don't believe I've ever seen one, but they've at least been suspected to exist). Because of these new gongs though, the bells feature different sounds from the 1st Generation ones. These ones were made up until sometime in the 2000s, and are easily the most common variety of Safetran mechanical bell out there.

Of course, like other mechanical bells, how worn the gong and hammer are will also affect the sound of the bells.

[TrainsNSirens]

What is the difference (physical) in Safetran, Raco and Griswold mechanical bells? I am making a mechanical bell map and I am looking how to identify the differences.

[freebrickproductions]

What is the difference (physical) in Safetran, Raco and Griswold mechanical bells? I am making a mechanical bell map and I am looking how to identify the differences.

With RACO and Griswold, the only differences are the brandings on the back. With Safetran, the 1st Gens feature a simpler design of 4 inch base, while the 2nd Gens feature an even simpler 5 inch base which lacks a bolt on the front of the base.