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Memory Lane!

whjohnson
Reflecting on the 43 years I have been working in the industry and all of those once familiar famous brand names, I began to wonder what happened to them - apart from globalization, but where did they end up? Who bought out who? And who just gave up and shut down completely?


Here's a few names to start the ball rolling -

Allen West, makers of contacters, motor starters and switchgear.

Ellison - motor starter, switch gear etc.

MTE LTD, contacters, isolators, switchgear etc


What happened to these companies? Where are they now?

We all know that the likes of Electrium and Schnieder pretty own everything these days - Square D, Telemechanique, Merlin Gerin et al

But whatever happened to those old faithfuls whose kit I installed and worked years ago?
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    Jaymack:




    Tomgunn:

    Hi, can I ask... does anyone remember the name of the electrical wholesalers in Victoria?


    Was it Belco / similar??? As of 1967 I was the sparking 'donkey'. I used to go there all of the time, (and on the way back I would pop into the local cafe' for a sneaky coffee, haha...), but, was it 'Belco?' I know Bemcos is on the left, as you go from south to north London, over Wandsworth bridge... strange as I was going there, for my firm I was working for, for years'!


    regards...




    BEMCO?

    https://www.yell.com/biz/bemco-london-5583101/


    Jaymack

     




    Hi Jaymack,


    Thanks for the post but, I know of Bemco, I used to have an account with them decades ago... it was the one in Victoria, London... 'Bemco?'


    I guess it was a bit of a silly post, by me, it's just that I was always going there in the late 60's early 70's... wow - where did the time go??


    Anyways, from a daft ole sparky... I hope everyone survives the situation we're forced to be in!!


    regards... Tom


     

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    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...


    Back in the mid 90s they were VERY helpful, I had a pul-syn-etic master clock  (C7 for those interested). I was trying to track down the documentation that was supposed to be in the door pocket. The gentleman i talked to at the company remembered working on them as an apprentice, and kindly sent me some photocopies of the original documentation.


    This, for a youngish lad who'd picked their clock out of a skip, not paid a penny for it, and the equipment was 35 yrs old even back then!


    Later I believe they merged with chloride batteries?
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    In my vast collection of old rubbish, I have a load of paperwork from the 1950s, about a project for Firth Vickers Stainless at the Staybrite works where they were installing new switchgear, possibly for rolling mills, all purchased from British Thomson Houston, its moderately interesting, I have photos of the switchgear too, that I think it relates to.
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    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!
     

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    Was that Tann Synchrome?

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