Memory Lane!

MHRestorations:

Re: Pyrotenax... had no idea they were once separate companies.  When I trained in the 80s, the stuff was definitely branded BICC Pyrotenax, so I am guessing BICC borged the other company?


I remember some PFC gear (long in the tooth in 1989) labelled "British Insulated Callender's", who then became BICC


And less to do with power distribution but a well beloved name... Gent and Company of Leicester.   Manufacturers of alarm bells, fire alarm systems, switches, 2 different types of master clock system etc...


 

Yes, BICC started to make MICS in competition with Pyrotenax. It matched standards very closely and claimed inter-compatibility (the gland of one make would fit the cable of the other, etc.). In due course, BICC took over Pyrotenax and acquired the right to use the brand name.


I remember Gent well, and its rival, Synchronome. We had a Gent synchronised clock system in a building where I worked. Sometimes the slave clocks, wired in a series loop, would go out of synchronisation. The solution was to first clean the contacts on the master clock. to effect a clean make and break. Each slave clock had two static terminals on the front. If you short-circuited these terminals, the slave would ignore the next half-minute pulse; by this means a clock that had gone fast could be put back in synch. A battery touched momentarily on the terminals would step the slave clock forward by half a minute.


Such fun!

MHRestorations:

Re: Pyrotenax... had no idea they were once separate companies.  When I trained in the 80s, the stuff was definitely branded BICC Pyrotenax, so I am guessing BICC borged the other company?


I remember some PFC gear (long in the tooth in 1989) labelled "British Insulated Callender's", who then became BICC


And less to do with power distribution but a well beloved name... Gent and Company of Leicester.   Manufacturers of alarm bells, fire alarm systems, switches, 2 different types of master clock system etc...


 

Yes, BICC started to make MICS in competition with Pyrotenax. It matched standards very closely and claimed inter-compatibility (the gland of one make would fit the cable of the other, etc.). In due course, BICC took over Pyrotenax and acquired the right to use the brand name.


I remember Gent well, and its rival, Synchronome. We had a Gent synchronised clock system in a building where I worked. Sometimes the slave clocks, wired in a series loop, would go out of synchronisation. The solution was to first clean the contacts on the master clock. to effect a clean make and break. Each slave clock had two static terminals on the front. If you short-circuited these terminals, the slave would ignore the next half-minute pulse; by this means a clock that had gone fast could be put back in synch. A battery touched momentarily on the terminals would step the slave clock forward by half a minute.


Such fun!