Crouse-Hinds Type DT
by A.J.____
Crouse-Hinds was an electrical supply manufacturer that was around since 1894. They are now a subsidiary of Cooper Industries, although their signal line was dropped in 1981. This 8" signal is known as an Art Deco Type DT, the predecessor to the Type D. The DT uses aluminum reflectors and boasts a more dust-tight design compared to the older D. The Type D uses glass reflectors and is generally more coveted for that. The Type Ds and DTs often used smiley lenses, lenses made by Corning that feature smile-shaped designs at the bottom of the lenses to help pedestrians see the indications more clearly. These lenses are somewhat uncommon nowadays, but not as uncommon as command lenses, which were also used. The Art Deco signals are not modular, instead they use open-ended house sections that use seperate tops and bottoms that are bolted through, holding the whole signal together. This makes running the pre-wired cable harnesses much easier, at the cost of requiring certain rod lengths for each amount of sections. 12" signal variations of the D and DT were also made, with a 12-12-12 being the Type H and a 12-8-8 being the Type K. My DT came from a forum member on October 4th, 2012. It arrived with faded yellow paint on top of a green layer of paint and without lenses. All 3 of my smiley lenses were purchased from eBay around the same time at a later point. Afterwards, I made a thread on the forum and gathered the necessary parts for the third section.