From the Collection: Mars Signal Light

This artifact is a 1936 Mars Signal light, a safety light used in firefighting and railroad operations. The light utilizes an oscillating mechanism to move the direction of the light both vertically and horizontally, greatly improving visibility. This benefits both drivers and pedestrians and has become an instrumental tool for emergency services. Jerry Kennelly, a firefighter in Chicago, created the light to prevent accidents, navigate heavy traffic during emergencies, and clearly distinguish emergency vehicles. Kennelly began developing safety lights in 1925, with early versions being applied to fire trucks as early as 1929. Kennelly would continue to refine his signal light technology during the 1930s, with multiple designs being patented in both the United States and Canada including the 1936 model. The Chicago Fire Department was an early adopter of the signal light, beginning to incorporate it into its fire trucks as early as 1929 and expanding its use throughout the 1930s as production increased. During the late 1930s and into the early 1940s, the use of Mars Lights had expanded to other U.S. Fire Departments, including New York.

The Mars Light was first adopted by the Aurora Fire Department for use on the 1934 Pirsch firetruck, and then on the 1942 American LaFrance pumper. New firetrucks were met with much fanfare in Aurora, the Beacon News noted in 1942: “The screaming siren, one of the new, more powerful models, and a swinging “mars” light cleared traffic as people stared at the new fire truck.” The impact of Mars Lights in firefighting was most noticeable in densely populated urban areas, where they greatly reduced collision risks in emergencies. This was particularly useful in Aurora, where the fire department faced persistent traffic issues when going to fires Mars Lights continue to be used by many fire departments worldwide, though the adoption of LED standards has led to a decline in the use of original-style Mars Lights. LED Mars Lights are capable of the same movement non-mechanically, in addition to being roughly 3 times brighter than the original designs.

​The Mars Light, also referred to as “The Light From Mars”, was heavily utilized by both fire departments and the railroads; however, due to the mechanical complexity of the device, maintenance costs were particularly high. This led railroads to move away from Mars Lights in favor of newer and cheaper signal lights. In addition to logistical considerations, federal laws adopted on December 31st, 1997, required the retirement of Mars Lights in favor of a standardized series of “ditch lights.” Ditch lights are low and fixed-position lights, which were discovered to be more effective at allowing motorists to gauge the speed and distance of a train. The law dictated that auxiliary lights on trains must be functional, meaning if a Mars Light experienced a mechanical failure, the locomotive was non-compliant, and railroads would face fines. This led to all trains in the United States, with the exception of museum pieces, to move away from Mars Lights before the year 2000. However, in firefighting, the Mars Light is still utilized widely for several practical reasons. Unlike locomotives, the oscillating light mechanism is necessary for firefighters’ visibility, and changing to a fixed beam light would decrease visibility in fires. The oscillating effect is also beneficial to firetruck drivers as it makes objects and pedestrians stand out more to the driver. While the traditional style of Mars Lights is still produced, some fire departments have adopted new LED versions to reduce maintenance issues and improve energy efficiency.

By Wyatt Harvell, Aurora University Student.

From the Collection: The Strowger Telephone and the war against telephone operators!

This artifact is a Strowger Potbelly Candlestick telephone, the first commercially available dial telephone. This particular example of Strowger's eleven-digit dial phone, dating back to 1905, revolutionized telecommunications. It did this by bypassing the need for telephone operators and allowing users to directly dial one another’s phone numbers. The speed of the rotary dial allowed for fast contact with fire and police services rather than utilizing the limited number of specialized fire alarm call boxes. Through a combination of innovative spirit and his conspiratorial resentment for switchboard operators Almon Strowger (1839-1902), an American inventor, developed the Strowger switch, a technology to bypass phone operators. Strowger was working as a funeral director, responsible for managing the funeral processes for the community of Kansas City, Missouri. Strowger had constant issues with his telephone. In addition to functionality problems, he believed that the local women working as switchboard operators were purposely misdirecting calls, sending them to his business competitors and causing him to lose a great deal of business. Strowger would often fly into long-winded rants about the switchboard operators, and would constantly call the phone company for repairs. 

A 1913 article from the Sioux City Journal interviewed Mr. Herman W. Ritterhoff, the superintendent of the Home Telephone company, and brief business associate of Stroweger. He was responsible for addressing Mr. Strowger's telephone complaints, frequently sending repair workers to his home. However, they never could find anything wrong with Mr. Strowger's phone, much to his fury. Mr. Herman Ritterhoff wrote about Strowger's switchboard obsession, saying, “he became possessed with the idea that the girl operators were systematically working against him, and that he was so convinced of this that he got to hate them. And his next idea was one of revenge against them”. Strowger's revenge, as it turned out, would come in the form of the Strowger Switch system. 

Strowger revealed his new innovation to Mr. Ritterhoff in 1888. Upon seeing Strowger's technical drawings, Ritterhoff realized that despite their amateur appearance, Strowger had outlined a transformative technology that could revolutionize communication and make both men very wealthy. Strowger had developed the technical specifications needed to make a working telephone that had no need for central switchboard call management. The Strowger Automatic Telephone Exchange Company was founded in 1891 by Strowger with his brother Alfred and nephew William. Ritterhoff assisted him to refine his plans and apply for a patent in 1891 due to Strowger's crude artistic abilities which were of no humor to Strowger, who was known to be quick to anger and held grudges for life.  Ritterhoff would later recount that Strowger's poor art skills and temper were responsible for Ritterhoff missing the chance of a lifetime after laughing at a crude prototype Strowger had built himself. Strowger stormed off in a rage and raised $50,000 in capital to start the Automatic Electric Company without Mr. Ritterhoff as a business partner. By 1892, the first phones utilizing the Stroweger switch were installed in La Porte, Indiana, by Stroweger for his personal use in his business. By the early 1910s, Stroweger switch phone systems made up 10% of all telephones in use, and were quickly becoming the standard automatic phone system in many cities. The system would also rapidly be adopted by fire and emergency services in the United States. Internationally, the British Post Office adopted the Stroweger system in 1912, with widespread adoption in wealthy metropolitan areas worldwide by the 1920s. 

 Ritterhoff eventually found  out the real cause of Mr. Strowger's phone troubles. Strowger had decided to bring his rusting old shop sign inside and had hung it on the wall over his telephone. Every time his front door opened and shut, wind would rush in, swinging the old sign back and forth. And on occasion, it would be caught perfectly in the two wall posts that rose above the telephone causing a short circuit. This meant that whenever the repairmen came to fix his phone, by simply opening the door, they fixed the problem. While Mr. Ritterhoff surely found this explanation entertaining, it did nothing to sway Strowger's insistence that it was the fault of the switchboard operators. 

Mr. Stowger continued his personal war against the switchboard operators, seeking to “put every last one of them out of a job”. Strowger Automatic Telephone Company had become Automatic Electric Company in 1901. By this point, Strowger had little involvement in the company, having sold his patent in 1896 and his shares in Automatic Electric in 1898. His patent sold for $1,800 (roughly $70,000 in 2026), and his shares sold for $10,000 (roughly $390,000 in 2026). Ritterhoff would later recount that Strowger's poor art skills and temper were responsible for Ritterhoff missing the chance of a lifetime after laughing at a crude prototype Strowger had built himself.

Ritterhoff had been promised 10,000 shares in the Automatic Electric Company, which by 1913 would have been worth millions. But upon traveling to Chicago to claim them, he learned Strowger had died and purposely left him out of his company. Prior to his death, Strowger would refuse to contact Ritterhoff for the rest of his life, even refusing to answer any letters sent by Ritterhoff. The Automatic Electric Company became greatly successful, financially dominating the telecommunication market into the 1940s, leaving Ritterhoff to comment in 1913: “That laugh cost me a million dollars”.

By Wyatt Harvell Aurora University Student

From the Collection-Telegraph

The bits of metal seen before you is actually a telegraph, though it may not seem like much but it was certainly helpful during the 19th century. The first aspect of the telegraph was made by a Frenchman called Claude Chappe. In the year of 1794, he was able to successfully create an optical telegraph that relayed a message over 9 miles. Europeans continued to advance this new technology until it reached the United States. The optical telegraph then began to lose its popularity when electrical telegraph began to be widely used. The difference between the two is that an optical uses towers with arms or boards on top to create words visually by moving the arms to communicate with the other towers while an electric uses a magnetic field to make the needle move left or right. Which was a much cheaper and stable option at the time. 

An American painter and inventor known as Samuel F.B. Morse began to fiddle around with the telegraph to relay messages for farther distances. He was then able to create a device that would be able to make a series of electrical pulses which would then be translated into words by the person receiving the message. Once this method was implemented by the government, states were now able to communicate with one another faster than ever before. The telegraph was then placed at official government buildings such as newspaper offices, police stations, and fire stations. The fire stations placed numerical alarm boxes with telegraph keys connected via a telegraph cable; One box is kept in the central alarm station, and the others are placed somewhere easily accessible out in the neighborhood. 

Reporting an emergency with the fire alarm telegraph was a multi-step process. First, the central alarm office receives the call from the fire alarm box from which it is pulled. The alarm office would know where the call was coming from based on the number of the fire alarm box that would be punched out of the piece of paper tape. Then, the dispatcher would send out the alarm and box number to the closest firehouse. Eventually, technology advanced and the telegraph became less popular once the telephone was introduced in the late 1800’s. 

In Aurora, the city finally authorized the construction of the fire alarm telegraph on December 18, 1878. By January 22, 1879 the connections of the fire alarm box were completed. One was located in the Broadway stairway of the Aurora National Bank block, and the other on River street. Unfortunately, in between the construction of the fire alarm boxes, a man by the name of Thomas Bexon fell to his death on the 15th of January in 1879 when he was fastening wire to the last pole.

By the 1920's the rotary dial telephone became the most efficient way to communicate especially in times of urgency. This eventually led to the fall of the telegraph. The last telegram message was sent in the year of 2006 on January 26th to the office of Tom Wolfe in Manhattan.

By Paola Hurtado, Waubonsee Community College Student

From the Collection-Batronic Resuscitator by Batrow Labs Inc.

A resuscitator is a device that inflates air into a patient's lungs to assist with breathing. Firefighters usually use resuscitators if a victim has inhaled smoke from a fire and needs their lungs restored with air. Firefighters and EMT's must be properly trained to use a resuscitator because using it incorrectly can injure the patient. The first resuscitator was created in 1907.

The type of resuscitator in our collection is a Batronic Resuscitator made by Batrow Laboratories, Inc.  “Batronic” is a term created by Batrow Labs referring to a current of electricity being used to stimulate a patient's diaphragm (a muscle surrounding the lungs) to regulate their breathing. This type of resuscitator, first created in 1951, uses a glass wand covered by a sponge that was dipped in water, a metal electrode placed on the patient's body, and a metal plate that is placed under the patient. The sponge covered wand is placed on a patient's abdomen to administer tiny electrical pulses that travel along nerves inside their body. The device was powered by a battery. These pulses “tingle but are painless.” Each pulse of electricity is only millionths of a second long but can go up to 60,000 volts with the amount of voltage being adjusted until the desired level of breathing is achieved. 

Batrow Laboratories Inc was founded around 1949 by John Anthony Batrow. John was passionate about medical devices- one of his first devices was used to stimulate nerves and muscles in polio patients. He dedicated a room in his home to treating patients, local doctors were impressed with him and sent some of their patients to him. John built a small laboratory next to his home to further develop new devices, this laboratory is where he created the Batronic resuscitator. He struggled for many years to get a patent on the Batronic due to the process in general being arduous but also because at the time he was looked down on by patent offices for not having any political connections. Batrow Labs started operating out of a larger facility in 1963. 

In 1970 the FDA deemed the Batronic to be ineffective and unsafe due to the risk of the patient getting heart damage as well as a lack of improvement with patients breathing. By that point in time, there were already safer, more effective, and less bulky types of resuscitators being used that made the Batronic resuscitator completely obsolete. The FDA went on to cease Batrow Labs from continuing to manufacture Batronic resuscitators as well as ban the use of them entirely. Those who owned a Batronic resuscitator were supposed to destroy them. 

This historical artifact’s existence serves as a cautionary tale of how even devices intended to help people can accidentally harm them if they are designed using faulty information. Medical knowledge is always being updated so it is not uncommon for something like this to occur. Learning from mistakes helps to preemptively avoid making similar mistakes again before it is too late.

Written and researched by Richard an Aurora University student interning at the Aurora Regional Fire Museum studying museum studies as a minor.

Thanks to the Branford Historical Society for sharing information about Batrow Lab Inc., which was located in Branford, including an oral history with members of the Batrow family and newspaper articles discussing the resuscitator.