British General Electric Sirens

British General Electric Sirens
A 12/14-port dual rotor BGE siren, located in Schofield, NSW. It was used as a fire siren, but it is unknown if it is still in use. Photo credit to SirensOfAustralia.
Company	British General Electric Company
Produced	1930s-1940s?
Type	Omnidirectional Electromechanical
Frequency	50 Hz
Horsepower	3 hp
Voltage	240 V AC

British General Electric was a company formed in 1924 and was a manufacturer of various radios and vacuum tubes during the early to mid 20th century. During World War II, the company was commissioned to produce air raid sirens to warn the public of incoming Axis air raids. Unlike many siren manufacturers at the time, BGE went with a vertical omnidirectional design, instead of the typical horizontal sirens. After World War II, these sirens fell out of use as Australia has little use for sirens, and few units remain today. Little information exists on these sirens, and their exact model names are unknown. It appears that these sirens were produced by several manufacturers, and were supplied by British General Electric.

Models

12/14-port dual rotor siren

BGE produced a unique vertical dual rotor siren, which has a distinctive appearance. This siren uses a dual rotor design, with the top rotor being 12-port, and the bottom rotor being 14-port. This results in a 12/14 port siren. The siren runs on a 3HP dual sided AC motor, which runs at 2880RPM, 50hz, and was designed for three-phase AC. The siren was produced by several different companies, but all were supplied by BGE. Since the siren runs at 50hz, the siren resembles a 10/12 siren when operating. The siren heavily resembles a dual rotor Fedelcode or XT22 with the housing removed.

Single rotor siren

WIP