394
Rotary Beacon Tower
1949 - 1953


Page Last Updated 12/ 7/99

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History
When introduced in 1949, the 394 Rotary Beacon Tower became a popular accessory. The rotating red and green beacon was realistic and similar to many towers located near airports throughout the United States in the 1940s and 1950s.

The enigma associated to the 394 tower is its reliability. Proper rotating operation is dependant upon the heat given off from the light bulb. It was not only inefficient, but rarely worked as designed. In 1954, the 394 was replaced with the more reliable 494 Rotary Beacon Tower -- whose operating design is superior to that of the 394.

Features
The 394 Rotary Beacon Tower includes the following standard features: stamped metal structure, metal ladder, light on the top plus a rotating beacon with a red and green lens.

Additional Detail, Photos & Box Information

Painted Red Steel Tower - Shown in the photo above - A common variation.
Painted Red, Unpainted Steel Tower - A legitimate factory variartion, most probably made in late 1950 or early 1951 in an effort to use up remaining inventory of red bases. This is a difficult variation to locate.
Painted Green Steel Tower - A rare item, very difficult to locate. The exact production year is unknown, but is assumed to be a small production run in either 1949, or more probably 1952.
Unpainted Steel Tower - A somewhat common version to locate.
Unpainted Aluminum Tower - The most common version to locate.

394 Rotary Beacon Tower
Click on the Variation or Box Type for a Photo
Variation Years .Box TypeYears
Steel, Painted Red 1949 - 1950:Middle CLassic 1949 - 1953
Steel, Painted Green ??:Printed OPS Middle Classic 1952
Red Base, Silver Tower ?? Late 1950, early 1951:~ ~ ~ ~~
Steel, Unpainted 1950 - 1952:~ ~ ~ ~~
Aluminum, Unpainted 1952 - 1953:~ ~ ~ ~~

394 Rotary Beacon Tower Instruction Sheets
Title Size Form # Date Ink / Paper Color
How To Install & Operate No. 394 Rotary Beacon Tower6.25" x 9.50"394-305/50Black / White

Inventory For Sale
The following inventory is available for sale from our website sponsors.

394 Rotary Beacon Tower
Click on the sponsors name for contact information.
Available inventory as of Sun Feb 7 16:53:52 2010 .
SponsorConditionPriceComments
There are no 394 items currently available for sale.
Table generated at Tue Feb 9 02:40:26 2010 .

Related Paper Products For Sale
The following inventory is available for sale from our website sponsors.

Click on the Description for purchase details.
DescriptionSheet #DateConditionPriceComments
How to Install No. 394 Rotary Beacon394-308 / 19496$ 3.00Clean instructions, corners are nice and square, no stains nor writing.
How to Install and Operate No. 394 Rotary Beacon394-305 / 19507$ 5.00Clean sheet, no writing, stains nor blemishes. Corners are nice and square.
How to Install and Operate No. 394 Rotary Beacon394-302 / 19527$ 9.00Clean instructions, no writing, tape and only minor fading on the left side of the instructions. This is the harder-to-find 1952 dated instructions.
How to Install No. 394 Rotary Beacon394-308 / 19498$ 8.00Very clean instructions, no writing, tape nor blemishes, corners are nice and square.
How to Install and Operate No. 394 Rotary Beacon394-305 / 19508$ 8.00Super clean instructions, nice and white paper, no fading, tape or stains. There is a small 1/2" tear along the middle fold line, otherwise, it's near perfect.
Table generated at Tue Feb 9 02:40:26 2010 .


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