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.
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 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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Interesting to hear the differences between the 2 sirens... But why does the Carter sound do much more tinny than the fluted one, which seems to be a fuller deeper sound? Also, that Carter- that's some strange noise at low speed- is that the brushes or bearings?
So, the gap between the blades and the squared wholes in the plate was all that was needed for an air raid siren? So it's air getting compressed in those wholes and gaps?
Damn. Didn't know air could make that loud of a sound :p Quite simple. And between the two wheels is the motor that would start it if it was connected to a power supply...?
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
Fantastic!(sound is 4 seconds behind video.) You scared me putting your hand into the second siren's rotor. Thanks for restoring them. Beautiful. Do the motors actually produce any electricity? Thank you, Robert Gift, Denver, Colorado, USA
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.
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
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
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
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
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.
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.
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
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.
These sound lovly! The second one has a very diffrent sound but looks pretty much identical to the first one, Whats the diffrence? Obvoisly they are diffrent makes and the motors look diffrent the the rotors look pretty much the same?!
I have operated a 400V-three-phase motor on 230V-single-phase current by using a capacitor. (Charles P. Steinmetz invented that method.) Some electricians say that the capacity should be 70µF per Kilowatt on 230V current. Depending on the stator wiring and power it should be no problem calculating the required capacitor. How much power do the motors have?
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
are these air driven or do they run on 12 volts the 12 volt ones you could maybe run with one of those jumpstart boxes i dunno, a town i lived in had these on their firetrucks i might be able to get one of those going using a jumpstart box
Still waiting for the full wind-up! Having problems with three-phase? Not sure if I can wait much longer! Put me out of my misery and blow my ear drums, please!
i have been fascinated with these since a kid. I have perfect pitch , so i obsess over the interval in the siren. a major third usually. I would love to own one of these, either this type, or the yellow with the long snout, thunderbolts i think ?
Yu aint the only one who is obsessed with dual tone sirens and yes i have perfect pitch too and can tell betwean a minor or major 3rd. This is minor 3rd the best alerting tone ever. Major 3rd sirens sound so happy compared to our minor 3rd sirens that tell you somethings gonna happen
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.
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
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!
Fantastic! you've done a brilliant job on the restoration...have you run them on 3 phase full pelt? I've got a castle, would love to get a carter...do they still come up for sale anywhere?
must have caused a short that started the siren, lol maybe i could fix that but then its probably a felony to mess with those, but well it is going off and there isnt an emergency b/c a car hit the control box
Those Gent sirens with the cooling fins are really rare, the only other one I've ever seen was a photo of one in a scrap yard from 1992.
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.
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.
The sound of them actually relaxes me x_x;
Wow, awesome. Those sirens are works of art.
did you not manage to restore the compressor defrosters or were they not fitted when you accuired them?
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
Wow a fluted Gents that is rare!!!!!
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.
i love the sound of theses... I kinda wish i was around when they where in place.. I was hard for me to get my hands one of those... but i love it..
It sounds like a car engine!
Riley Munsie yeah an R8 for my opinion
HELL YAH BROTHER
On an old racing game from the 80s
It also second one sounds like a thunder bolt at 1:42
I love these old sirens! Far better than the current electronic/PA rubbish that is being offered.
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.
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
Hi
These sirens are from the original contract of 7000 made in 1938,and were
positioned all over the UK up until 1991.
Thanks phil
Those Sirens look Wonderfully Restored....especially with the Gray Housing,with the Rotor Painted Red.
EXCELLENT !! 5 stars ***** We have one of those at our firestation. Currently not working onfortunately.
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.
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.
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.
I'm going to try making a cardboard version.
man the sound of a dual tone sirens is awsome specially this 1
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.
What would happen if you put your fingers in the holes as it was spinning? Would it make a different sound?
this siren sounds like it hit puberty
+Average Alien ROFL
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.
They are so cool! The second one sounds like a F1 race car engine!
Interesting to hear the differences between the 2 sirens...
But why does the Carter sound do much more tinny than the fluted one, which seems to be a fuller deeper sound?
Also, that Carter- that's some strange noise at low speed- is that the brushes or bearings?
Thats because the rotors are swapped, 10 port rotor is in the 12 port stator and 12 port rotor is in the 10 port stator.
So, the gap between the blades and the squared wholes in the plate was all that was needed for an air raid siren? So it's air getting compressed in those wholes and gaps?
That could be what everybody would say. But these sirens are mainly used for bomb threats or nuclear threats. It does sound like a tornado siren tho.
Damn. Didn't know air could make that loud of a sound :p Quite simple. And between the two wheels is the motor that would start it if it was connected to a power supply...?
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
Very loud carrot choppers :D
good comment! :)
Fantastic!(sound is 4 seconds behind video.)
You scared me putting your hand into the second siren's
rotor. Thanks for restoring them. Beautiful.
Do the motors actually produce any electricity?
Thank you, Robert Gift, Denver, Colorado, USA
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.
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
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
Now thats a UK siren! I havn't got the nerve to turn mine that fast.
Got a postwar one that is being restored
that will be coming on the market soon.
Made about 1950 and looks very similar.
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
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
Its an old princible that goes back to 1918
in the UK,But modern sirens are mainly electronic like police sirens.
Sounds like a revving car engine! Love it!
These look very similar to the blowers used in the old Thunderbolt sirens. They seem to put out good sound though.
What's that 2nd siren, the one in the back, sounds at least in my opinion, much better than the first
Thanks for that i will give it a try with my mate who knows more than i do about electricity.
Those are awesome! Where did you get them and how long did it take to get them into that condition?
How fast are those things spinning? What is generally the RPM needed for the sound of a Siren? o.o
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.
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.
@stuartcoplan
I have one left now which is the best one in my latest siren test.
Those look and sound like British Carter sirens, but i needed to check with you first, are they?
Why did the second one still wind up when you removed the drill?
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
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.
These sound lovly! The second one has a very diffrent sound but looks pretty much identical to the first one, Whats the diffrence? Obvoisly they are diffrent makes and the motors look diffrent the the rotors look pretty much the same?!
How do those type of sirens work? I LOVE those LOUD sirens!!!
in the city i live in, they still use the old ones from the 40s and 50s, veryday saturday at noon for testing
I have operated a 400V-three-phase motor on 230V-single-phase current by using a capacitor. (Charles P. Steinmetz invented that method.) Some electricians say that the capacity should be 70µF per Kilowatt on 230V current. Depending on the stator wiring and power it should be no problem calculating the required capacitor. How much power do the motors have?
I wish I'd seen the auction in time. I'd love to own one of these and I'd probably have gone higher than that!
Sounds like my Cadillac when I took the mufflers off to replace them, and want to see what it sounded like!
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
Low quality in the video,
High Quality in the sound.
Nice.
are these air driven or do they run on 12 volts the 12 volt ones you could maybe run with one of those jumpstart boxes i dunno, a town i lived in had these on their firetrucks i might be able to get one of those going using a jumpstart box
Still waiting for the full wind-up! Having problems with three-phase? Not sure if I can wait much longer! Put me out of my misery and blow my ear drums, please!
i think ill try and get a hold on one of these it may help to wake me up in the morning lol
i have been fascinated with these since a kid. I have perfect pitch , so i obsess over the interval in the siren. a major third usually. I would love to own one of these, either this type, or the yellow with the long snout, thunderbolts i think ?
I think it’s a minor third actually
Yu aint the only one who is obsessed with dual tone sirens and yes i have perfect pitch too and can tell betwean a minor or major 3rd. This is minor 3rd the best alerting tone ever. Major 3rd sirens sound so happy compared to our minor 3rd sirens that tell you somethings gonna happen
Minor third mutch better and most TBOLT sirens where minor 3rd and still are
@@glennadams3395correct.
Nice sirens I'll take one
It does, but it is really 10/12 port(please correct me if I'm wrong) which, in theory, makes it a 2t22. It sure does sound like one!
Sounds like a race car awesome 👍
Nice restorations Philip.
Do you know he rpm these sirens normally run at (should be on the motor plate)
These two sirens run at 2880RPM (Carter and Gents)
Castle Castings and Klaxon GP8s run at 2900RPM
Hi there,
Did you sell one of these on eBay recently?
Thanks,
Andrew
And do you think I can get one of these??? It's the last thing I need to get for my collection!!!
I wonder what would happen if you would put your hand in on of those holes:O
first one sounds sorta like a car! VROOM!!! VROOM!!!
second one sounds like the siren in half life!
No. Its in sync. Just takes a while for it to get going. You can tell its in sync by listening to when He puts the Drill on the Siren.
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.
yes it would....the sound of fingers being sliced off.....those rotors go way above 1000 RPM.....
I love the fat stator air-raid,tornado, or fire sirens
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
Sometimes i feel like i need these mounted to my alarm clock :D
isn't that second one a single toned Klaxon ?
one of these old air strike siren is used every day in my upper school for the first "ring"
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!
Ive been looking for a carter siren everywhere! Do you know where I can get one from???
Fantastic! you've done a brilliant job on the restoration...have you run them on 3 phase full pelt? I've got a castle, would love to get a carter...do they still come up for sale anywhere?
well not the same but same tone and shape. just type in sirenco 15d
Marvelous ww2 sirens. Connect them on an electric cable to test their engine please.
I take it, the motors are geared internally?
sounds like a '94 viper and a lambo
hahh
how many sirens do you have?
must have caused a short that started the siren, lol maybe i could fix that but then its probably a felony to mess with those, but well it is going off and there isnt an emergency b/c a car hit the control box
He has a mind of his own, he dont care what girls think.
imagine the one day in which there really is a need to play the siren..and nobody believes it..
They resemble bench grinders quite a lot!
do u wear ear protection when using these?
What are you going to use these for?
Aaaand I'm watching siren videos again, great -.-
@Ericliberty11 well hes only spinning them half up with a drill so there not going to be as
high pitched! /:
I'll bet your neighbors love you :)
How far back do the Thunderbolt sirens date to?
Why did the second one not have as deep of a sound as the first one?