very nice phil. we still have 4 of these in my town 2 have been used as tornado warnings for the last 6yrs and the other 2 are sitting idle waiting for more money to be repaired.
Hi Bob Both the sirens were taken to bits and one motor needed some attention to the windings,and the cylindrical one was very rusty. The next thing is all the control panels that came with them. one rack of switches is authentic pre ww2 with the mercury time switch complete,and alert and raiders past switch still present. Apreciate your interest and will be sounding them again soon.
Yes!!! Deffinatly do :-D and be sure to film it Its interesting actualy that they sound so diffrent... you have absolutly no idea how much i would love to have one of them :)
@HotTop202 The ports are the same 10:12 ratio, they are the same pitch, but the TONE is what's different. I think this could be due to the camera angle- there is a point between facing the end of the siren and the side of it where the sound goes quieter- you have to remember the noise is a mechanically generated noise, which works by sucking air into the end of the siren, and chopping it as it comes out of the side holes. Wind strength and direction can also greatly alter the loudness.
Thanks for comments on resto. I do have a three phase supply but it is not portable and neither are the sirens realy,looking out to the US for one of those phase converters,they are a lot cheaper out there. As far as these sirens going up for sale,ifyou notice most sirens that are sold in this country now are castles or klaxons which were used to replace the carters after the war. There are only two examples left as far as i know,other than mine. cheers phil
both these will run off the three phase electric system which is over 300 volts,we only have one around here now which goes off every friday,the other last remaining one was in a closed MOD depot,the siren is missing off its tower but all the control and supply is there and it was definatly 3 phase power,you have done a good job in restoration by the way
I remember 'siren spotting' as a kid (32 years ago) and wanting one of these. Then they all vanished! Have not seen one since (not that I still look for them though). Must be a HUGE stockpile of them somewhere in the UK. I did have a receiver box though that I err...found in a street cupboard as a child. WB1400. I was a terror when I was a kid.
Hi Generally there is only a key way on on the shaft so soak with releasing agent for a couple of days and then using a dead blow hammer either hide or the plastic ones on the market now,hit the end of the shaft a few times and that generally shocks the rotor off.
If anyone has one of these beauties for sale in the U.S. I am extremely interested as you just can't find them. I don't have the cnc machines to make one. The thunderbolt is cool and all but this is a classic and I'm quite obsessed with the past.
If my knowledge is correct, they were made from the 1950's to 1990. They usually have the blower assembly at the bottom of the pole and the horn at the top. They are of course rotational sirens.
ahh the memories, i remember watching this video over a year ago. Now i have managed to get two tiny Carters Sirens (12, or 24V, in mint condition) that was in the engine room of the old speed boats to the norwegian navy, gonna test them soon
I live near Agusta Westland Helicopters in Somerset, England, where the Apache helicopter is built. They still have these sirens on site and on certain days they test them. They're also used for special occasions. It's a strange experience hearing these go off. It wasn't that many years ago that if you heard these it was probably time to spend your last 3 minutes saying goodbye to family and friends. Shame you don't have a power supply to run them on, but the drill seems to work quite well.
Yes i had to let one of the carters go,for a more ambitious siren resto project.Dont worry its not a US siren It will be worth it if all goes to plan,Meanwhile i am in the process of wiring up my remaining carter to my newly aquired 3 phase generator. U Tube will be the first to hear (Hopefully) All the best Phil
Ha ha ha, I bet your neighbours loved you lol! ;-) Back in the Cold War days at 16:00 every Friday we'd have a siren test at RAF Wattisham, the sound of all the sirens around the base winding down together is still the eriest sound I've ever heard!
Hi Andrew Many thanks for your Appreciation. I tracked them down in a victorian fort in plymouth Devon. They had all there contoller switches with them aswell which was nice. The cylindrical one was rough and the fluted one faired better but they took three months to bring back to near factory condition. I will try and run them faster and post another one this time in black and white. ALL The Best phil
You could drive around from district to district and see all types of sirens in place. The ones on the poles were nearly all carters and it sort of gave you shivers when they used to test them,as you could hear rise and fall notes from all over the place. Down the road to me someone hit the big green control box with a mk 3 cortina and the siren went of for 20 minutes.Exellent fun but not for the cortina.
British sirens were rotors and stators as in the clip Horns were mainly used by the USA. probably easier to purchase an American made siren,as they still use a lot more than we do and they do get put on Ebay.
Very similar in sound to the carters. When the sirens were scrapped in 1991 only a very few survived,as there was no interest for them in those days. I was very lucky to find these but doubt if i could find anymore. Type in to you search engine NHP electrical engineering,and have a look at these.
There are plenty of modern sirens that are electronic, sure, but then there are still plenty of modern sirens that are mechanical like this one, just because the mechanical ones typically have a better ability to create a piercing sound to deliver the more jolting alert signal.
From a victorian fort in plymouth. The curator had them stashed away for years when they were removed locally. He decided to sell them to fund other projects, so i did a 575 mile round trip to pick them up,with all the other kit. Didnt realise they weigh 312lbs each,so van ran on two wheels on way home. Regards phil
ahh Range power & Elevator/Escalator power, i see you could plug one of these into a 220v dryer outlet and it would work how about into the mains power going to an escalator, bet it would be really loud right there
nice siren aca en chile ocupamos de esas sirenas los bomeros cuando hay un incendio gigante y haci le avisamos a todos los bomeros para que acudan chao
I dunno about mass panic. Similar sirens are used for weather warnings across the US so it's hardly an unusual sound to hear, especially during the summer. If the weather is bad you take shelter and grab a radio.
without ear defenders even at that speed which is not quite fast enough your ear drums hiss like mad. The manual states these things to be audible for four miles in still air,and also thirty feet up a pole. Regards
Everybody calls them carters but they are Gents of leceister. I have never seen a wartime carters siren,as Gents were the main siren supplied to the home office in 1938.
4 Horsepower equals 2.98kW. 2980W div 230V = 12.96A. ( Europe ) 2980W div 115V = 25.91A. ( USA ) 70µF x 2.98kW = 209 µF. That's your required capacitor and currents. Should be no problem operating the siren on the right single-phase current without blowing the fuse. A greater capacitor can be used without problems but not too great due to (dis-)charging time.
Hi something i havnt worked out as the rotors are identical in all dimensions. There is 10 years diference in production,but they are both made by Gents of leceister,and share the same 4 HP motor. They need to have air circulation to produce the right sounds and to be turning quicker,which i am working on. I might Drill run one on new years eve. Regards phil
also can i just add (take note danwiseby) while you are testing these with your drills the internal motor may be producing electric as ive tested this with my multi meter on my 12/24/ and 240V motor sirens,lol dont be tempted to have those junction boxes open on drill up
