bagpuss_24

LED's! Blimey on some of the kit I saw, they used 6v or 12v filament lamps and an analogue meter!. LED's didn't exist. As you say, you can't beat a box full of relays and some batteries. One of my last jobs with Thorn was ripping out a 1964ish 'AFA' set up in an old Record Shop. The Panel was immaculate- clean, no scratches, stickers etc. The Internal Blue Bell box was immaculate. Even the external Red drum box was in very good nick (as it wasn't fully exposed to the elements.) It was heading towards a skip - until it was OK'd by my Service Manager, to take it - to donate to a Police museum who were intrested in it as part of a display- and then was closed by their local council. So it never made it there. It is still working today on my workshop - despite a minor mod as the Flag Cells are hard and expensive to come by - so runs from a 6V SLA and mains charger. Thanks for the welcomes, great to meet you all. I have never visted Pinewood; though my brother worked down there quite a bit as a carpenter during the 1990s. I would have loved to have been down there in the Rank hey days...not sure about Babs Knockers though!!!! ;-)

Hello to you all! Kind of just signed up. Trained as a domestic/industrial electrician. After a redundancy, took a job with Thorn Security and worked removing/installing Intruder Alarm systems between 1994 and 1999 (Until the merger). While at Thorn, I was lucky enough to work with some of the more senior engineers, many of which had to manufacture equipment on-site during the early days- I was also fortunate enough to work with security alarm equipment dating from the 1950s up to the more modern equpment. It was seeing the variety of methods used in years gone by that sparked my intrest in vintage kit! Moved on in 1999 to work in the Film Industry as a "Practicals Electrician"; building anything from simple boxes with flashing lights, to light-sabers, sonic-screw drivers, control panels, electronic props, animatronics and anything else with wires and resistors!

OK old thread. The afa panel shown is an upgrade on the lock,block coffin installs. This panel is a multi circuit 'g type', giving the user zone indications via the panel Meyer. There was also a smaller single zone unit too. These panels were brought in with the drum bell boxes. The box on the right is an upgrade on the internal drum sounder, as it has the same bits and wiring in. The gtype was still manufactured as late as around 1977, where a 10 zone beast was available and about the same size as a suitcase! I worked for thorn between 1994 and 1999 and we had large numbers of these installations stil on our service books and working fine. I will have to Delve into the archive, but I still have all the circuits for them somewhere. Fascinating bits of kit, I have a single zone unit protecting my workshop!

If I had 1p for everytime someone mentioned some porn film related joke - I'd have retired a long time ago. ;-) Secondly - that side of the buisiness isn't regarded as the "Film Industry"- and if you ended up working on anything like that, you'd be kicked out of your respective union- and then never work again. Yep - the Film (and TV) industry is very old fashioned - and still operate on Union Rules introduced in the 1960s. You can't touch anything with wiring - unless you are an electrician, anything that's a prop (movable by an actor) has to be done by an Equity Member and so forth. To clarify, I work as a Visual Effects Engineer. Basically building electronic bits, panels, controllers, radio control, detonators- pretty much anything you can't get off the shelf. I have worked on Dr Who, Starwars (new ones) - currently involved in new one, Harry Potter (all of them), Minder (new series), and a couple of the more recent "Bond" films. I saw tons of old very old "AFA" panels when I worked for Thorn in the 90s- all working - and a couple protecting High Security Installations too. The only bug bear was the flag batteries that were dotted everywhere- and seemed to fail on a Sunday afternoon while I was on call. I knew of a couple still in operation about 2 years back - though expect the've been ripped out now. My question on the old alarm panels further up, was just to see if anyone had any old kit they were dumping and had ripped out as I will be starting work on some project set in the early 60s. I May end up raiding the local army suplus stores for kit with bakelite knobs on and building something that looks the part.

Apologies for the late reply (again). I have been in hospital. I know of a couple of "G-Type" relay installations still going. Though with subtle modifications, with them having their circuit batteries removed and the end linked out to make a continuous closed loop. A mains/battery PSU has been added. What amuses me is that someone has actually gone to the trouble to modify these systems- when in actual fact it'd have been easier (proberly cheaper) to just rip it out and replace it. However- I now work in the Film Industry as a visual effects engineer. I am currently involved in a feature film set in the 60s, and the set requires an 'authentic' burglar alarm panel for the bank and vault. If anyone has ripped out any old kit recently, and hasn't yet skipped it- if you want to get rid of it! Let me know!

I remember going into the old ATV / Central TV studios in Birmingham in the late 1990s to remove some dimmer racks a mate had brought. That had an old AFA-Minerva "CT6" fire alarm panel, with extension panel- and 100s of old F35 and F50 smoke detectors knocking about everywhere. When I was at Thorn - sometime during the 1990s, all Fire Alarm engineers cars were checked with a Gieger Counter- as those detectors contained a huge amount of Radioactive Material, and in quantity were even more dangerous. Most of the detectors they had removed from various Rolls Royce sites during upgrades were sealed in silicone bags and despatched to be stuck underground in a concrete bunker at Sellafield. The Fire Alarm guys could only cary so many at a time. I'd be intresed to see if anyone on here has any photos of proper old installations? Sadly- I never took any back then!

I removed the installation from an old Collector Record shop when it closed down. The building was earmarked for demolition- I had to remove to autodialler and basically de-commission the system. The installation was in such good condition; the keyholder had kept it all clean, and the numerous engineers over the years had kept it in good order. The only snag, was getting hold of the old R40 Flag cells; various Ham Radio sites and parts suppliers have them- but I'd need to sell my house, sell my kids and win the Lottery to afford to replace them. So- after a subtle mod, it's now powered via a SLA battery / PSU, and is a closed loop (as opposed to having circuit batteries). It does the job, makes a noise when it goes off, with or without mains power! Will take my camera later and grab some snaps......

When you say "too modern"; does that mean it's less then 40 years old? ;-) Don't think I've ever come across an A&G. I'd be intrested to see what the likes of "Rely a Bell" and "Clarion Equipment" were fitting in the 1930s...... I think the science musem in London has a first prototype mechanical Intruder Alarm from the 1800s, as well as a turntable auto dialler.

Just looked through my AFA / Thorn archive. I don't have any thing on those systems either. Mind you- if you do ever come across any old AFA burglar alarms (G type) relay burglar alarm panels withe round drum boxes- I got info on those.... not that, that will help you! Will ask around some fellow ex Thorn engineers.

I missed all this "chat" by about 3 years......... Being a bit nostalgic for old kit, I'd thought I'd add my bit. I started working at Thorn Security in April 1994, (previously training as an electrician). My first "panel" there was an old AFA 'G-Type'- a hammered blue metal box with GPO 3000 relays, a meter, lamp, switch, keyswitch and a setting push on the front. This thing could be upgraded to 6 "circuits"- though onl4 4 were used. Above that was a hammered Blue AFA "drum" bell box, with 5 x R40 flag batteries, and a couple of relays. Out side was two of the Red equivalents, with yet more flag cells, and each has a plastic resin sealed module inside, where your panel end batteries, bell box batteries and bell would be terminated. Perhaps a very early form on SCB. All the doors were kick laced, had contacts fitted, windows were batterned/laced. Apart from the replacement of the circuit batteries, this system didn't give any problems. The next system I saw, was 1976 equivalent- this thing was the size of a suitcase, had the batteries, bell and a GPO approved lines unit in iside too- and was about 10 circuits. Other odd AFA ones around (and Thorn literally had 100s of the systems still on the books in our patch)- was a single zone one, a small box with a black knob, keyswitch and lamp. This was the most common intallation in shops. Usually fitted with shunt locks on the doors. I still have the circuits for them- not that there's much to them; but none the less, it's how they did things "back then". My workshop still has a fully functional (though slightly modified) AFA system running, complete with bell boxes. The system was modified (by myself) to operate as a closed loop- using a Backup battery and PSU. I'd have to sell my kids, and remortgage the house if I was to keep replacing the Flag Cells....... Anyone have any pics of any old systems knocking about? I'll get some photos of the AFA panel on my workshop.