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Three generations of Eagle's DURASIG model.
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Left to right:
1st Generation DURASIG. 1973-1981. Aluminum reflectors mounted to door, caused heat issue burning the lens. Visors locked in with short tabs/slots Not quality plastic.
2nd Generation DURASIG. 1981-1993. Door reflectors replaced with plastic ones mounted in the body. Visor tabs lengthened and notched to prevent breakage. Better quality plastic.
3rd DURASIG. 1993-Present. Following Eagle Signal's merger with LFE/Automatic Signal, the signal was redesigned to be interchangable with LFE's plastic signal. Plastic reflectors replaced with metal ones. Doors redesigned to accept the standard screw on visor that LFE used. Much better quality plastic!
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Plastic lenses are clearly marked with a wattage limit of 150 watts (100Watts if masked for arrow). Plastic lenses will melt with excessive heat (like when the green is in rest) and become brittle very quickly.
20 year old plastic lenses that have been charred from heat can literally disintegrate from touching it.
A side note..Eagle and the Laboratory for Electronics (LFE) corporation merged in 1993. The visors were changed to screw on so it can accept the LFE visor. The LFE was revamped with Eagle DuraSig guts. Today Siemens still manufactures the LFE poly and Eagle DuraSig
They had the internal guts of a first generation version of the signal however there were noticable differences:
The doors were held shut with wingnuts inset in the door. This was replaced in the signals production run to thumb screws inset in the door.
The back of the signal was void of the model name "DURASIG" the signal was developed before the finalized molds were made. All that was on the back was an Eagle logo.
The prototypes were only developed in 8 inch.
The prototypes were not injection molded plastic like all poly signals made today. These were vacuum cast plastic. Thinner and more designed for prototyping then actual service.
I wish I still had the advertisements for the 1973 introduction of DuraSig to the Eagle signal line.