Klaxon Horn button
 

Hello folks!

First time post on the new forum. Looks like Ryan, and everyone involved, have done a wonderful job bringing new life to a classic and very informational website!

Now, onto the question...

I really wasn't sure which area to post this on, so I just rolled the dice. Not knowing a whole lot on the history of Klaxon horns, I'm assuming that in some cases they are after market pieces. I hope I'm not asking a too off-topic question.

I'm looking for some information on a couple dash mounted horn buttons that say "KLAXON" on them. I was wondering if anyone knows anything about these horn buttons. I found a listing in the UK for what appears to be a reproduction item, but are these in fact a reproduction of something or are they just a button that someone for a marketing company thought would be neat to engrave KLAXON on?? If they were indeed once available, what era of part would these be??

Any info would be appreciated!

Thanks!
Scott

Re: Klaxon Horn button
 

Klaxon was the brand name motor driven ooogah horn , made by Delco Remy in Anderson Indiana , back in the 20's and 30's. Not sure what car's used them but I see them at swap meets sometimes and on ebay fairly regularly. Saw (and heard) lots of ooogah horns , including Klaxon . at Hershey last week.

Re: Klaxon Horn button
 

Right, I knew that. Have a few of them, and have seen a million different types including diaphragm type, but really I'm curious about the button itself.

Is this button something that was actually sold with horns (or separately) or are the ones I'm seeing being made now some kind of bogus gimmick?

Re: Klaxon Horn button
 

Hey guys,

I know this is sort of an old thread, but I really never found a good answer to this anywhere. Not even by the people that are selling the reproduction buttons.

I know Klaxon itself made quite a few horns, everything from motor-driven to diaphragm type, but it's the button itself I'm curious about.

If this is getting off-topic, I apologize. Just know that early Fords used the horns and I haven't had anyone say that early Fords never used a button like this. Maybe someone can confirm one way or the other. Maybe it was only an after-market component.

Thanks again for any help.

Scott

Re: Klaxon Horn button
 

change your "IVY" vest ! LOL good luck

Re: Klaxon Horn button
 

haha! :d

Re: Klaxon Horn button
 

I think they may well be real, and considerably older than Model A...early car catalogs have a lot of aftermarket horns in them, including klaxons, because OEM horns (and brakes, a closely related system!) were feeble, sometimes just the rubber squeeze bulb sort. A realdamnloud horn helped move livestock and pedestrians out of the way. Extra loud horns are still popular, of course, but they became a lot less popular as OEM horns became more powerful in the thirties and as people began to find that more modern brakes could sometimes cover some traditional horn functions...
I have a lot of early car accessory catalogs with pages of horns, but they are not really findable right now. House has been neatened up by a woman, a terrible bibliographic disaster!

Re: Klaxon Horn button
 

Early Klaxons were manually operated, not sure when they actually went electric. To my memory I have never seen one of the pictured buttons as a factory mount on any early auto I have ever seen. It's a safe bet these are probably a 1970's button as a fix for a shorted horn rod as would happen with a model A. Looks like an item more fitting a dune buggy....

Re: Klaxon Horn button
 

Klaxon horns were used for various emergency alerts such as a diving submarine, arrival of approaching aircraft in WW 2, and to call volunteer firemen. My local fire dept STILL uses a KLAXON horn to advise personnel of type and area of a fire, in addition to individual member belt radios and community sirens.
It would not surprise me if some of the buttons for these signals would say KLAXON, though I do not recall seeing any personally.
They would certainly have been used during the 1940's, and 1930's, with a carry over into the 1950's. I will drop by our local fire house and ask the dispatcher to see what his button looks like on their control panel. I will advise you if, in fact, it says "KLAXON."
The Model A did not particularly use a Klaxon brand horn.

Re: Klaxon Horn button
 

I just today ran across a 1935 Klaxon catalog at an auction and bought it. In it is a drawing of a horn button like the plated one in your pictures. It does not have Klaxon printed on the button. It is called an "auxiliary horn button" and is listed for 75 cents. Part number is 1840570. To tell the truth, horn buttons that look just like this are still listed in the NAPA catalog as well as other parts catalogs from different parts stores to this day.
As a side note, the Klaxon catalog lists a bracket, #824373, to mount a Klaxon #31 horn on a Model A. The #31 horn looks a lot like some of the horns that we see in pictures taken of the A's back in the late 30's to early 40's. Could it have been cheaper to install an off brand horn when the original Sparton died rather than replace with another Sparton?

Re: Klaxon Horn button
 

Is this a Klaxon horn ? The name tag is their but cannot read the name on it [worn away]. It seem's strighter then most of the horns i've seen on other "A" models.

Re: Klaxon Horn button
 

Thanks everyone for your input! Very interesting!

The Bakelite looking horn button is particularly interesting to me. The reproduction of it is supposedly very large, too. Curious what era it is and purpose.

Louis, my Klaxon looks exactly like that, except not nearly as pretty! :D