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Mystery Clock


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Correct

Regents Court, Bradfield Road. :)

My grandma and grandad lived on Regents Court for over 30 years. It was a magical place for us kids in the 1950s, what with the three lifts the long balconies and its tennis courts. Every flat had a fully fitted kitchen with the added mystery of a fridge that worked off a gas flame. I only went up on the roof once. to help my grandad put up a TV aerial, there were what seemed like hundreds of them as that was before the days of communal aerials. The lift on the front of the building was always breaking down and every now and again would be full off smoke, I think it came from the coal fired boilers that suplied the hot water for the communal heating. Later on the flats became available to buy, the mid 1980s price being about £10,000. To say they were built on the site of a mill dam in the early 1930s, they were built well. When you think of all the flats that have been built and demolished in Sheffield over the last 50 years they have certainly stood the test of time. W/E.

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What's a "Blade" doing in an Owls area ? he he

They played each other at Hillsborough last Sunday.

Good enough reason to go up there I suppose.

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Every flat had a fully fitted kitchen with the added mystery of a fridge that worked off a gas flame.

I remember those gas operated absorbtion fridges.

We had one at one point. They operated with a tiny gas flame inside a boiler tube at the bottom of the fridge. This tube continued up as a chimney and terminated at the top rear corner.

There was no way to light the flame at the bottom but attached to the top of the chimney, by a bit of chain, was a small metal plate with a hole in it.

You placed this plate over the chimney, turned the gas on, and after the gas built up in the flue you could light a small flame coming out of the hole with a match.

The flame slowly diminished until with a loud pop the plate flew off and the flame travelled down the tube and lit the burner.

This was regarded at the time as a safe method to light the fridge. :o

As schoolboys, (and bigger boys) we used to do something similar with a Lyres Golden Syrup tin with a large hole in the bottom and a tiny hole in the top. Very effective when placed under someones work chair. :wacko:

HD

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My grandma and grandad lived on Regents Court for over 30 years. It was a magical place for us kids in the 1950s, what with the three lifts the long balconies and its tennis courts. Every flat had a fully fitted kitchen with the added mystery of a fridge that worked off a gas flame. When you think of all the flats that have been built and demolished in Sheffield over the last 50 years they have certainly stood the test of time. W/E.

During the 1950's (and I would think earlier), the Regent Court Flats were regarded as a very desirable place to live.

They were well maintained and I think were all rented or leased. We scruffy oiks were prevented from entering the posh portals by uniformed commisioners.

Over the next couple of decades the management changed hands several times and they began to look rather dingy with peeling paint on the exteriors.

Some relatives of mine bought a couple of them in the seventies and asked me to do some electrical work before the carpets went down.

I discovered that the lighting circuits for the flats underneath were run up through the concrete floor slabs and were directly under my relatives floorboards. Presumably the arrangement continued with their lighting wiring running under the floorboards of the flats above.

I advised them to check their meter disc was stationary when they switched everything off in the flat after dark, just in case someone had "accidently" connected to the wrong wiring.

HD

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.

I discovered that the lighting circuits for the flats underneath were run up through the concrete floor slabs and were directly under my relatives floorboards.

All the building was re-wired during the 1970s. During the work In my grandparents flat [102] It was discovered that the bathroom light in the flat below had been connected to their lighting circuit since the flats had been built. W/E.

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tozzin' timestamp='1331905788' post='103681']

Where is this lovely old clock? [attachment=34166:014.JPG]

Moved your question into this more appropriate Topic,

hope you approve tozzin.

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Kelham Island.

Although Kelham Island is near the River Don, I think this clock is near another body of water within Sheffield

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Although Kelham Island is near the River Don, I think this clock is near another body of water within Sheffield

Quite a hint there Stuart0742

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Where is this lovely old clock?

The clock says "Tinsley Park" on it.

I don't suppose that would be the answer would it? :unsure:

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As schoolboys, (and bigger boys) we used to do something similar with a Lyres Golden Syrup tin with a large hole in the bottom and a tiny hole in the top. Very effective when placed under someones work chair. :wacko:

HD

The exploding Tate & Lyles tin is still one of my standard demonstration experiments on combustion even after all these years.

Must admit it doesn't work quite so well with natural gas as it used to with coal gas.

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The clock says "Tinsley Park" on it.

I don't suppose that would be the answer would it? :unsure:

No its not. You shouldnt BARGE in to answers.

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I remember those gas operated absorbtion fridges.

We had one at one point. They operated with a tiny gas flame inside a boiler tube at the bottom of the fridge. This tube continued up as a chimney and terminated at the top rear corner.

There was no way to light the flame at the bottom but attached to the top of the chimney, by a bit of chain, was a small metal plate with a hole in it.

You placed this plate over the chimney, turned the gas on, and after the gas built up in the flue you could light a small flame coming out of the hole with a match.

The flame slowly diminished until with a loud pop the plate flew off and the flame travelled down the tube and lit the burner.

This was regarded at the time as a safe method to light the fridge. :o

HD

A friend of mine still has a Calor gas powered fridge in his caravan.

He usually lights it using a small candle attached to a bent to shape piece of wire made from an old coat hanger. You light the candle, get on the floor, shove the candle under the fridge with the wire to the pilot jet at the back and turn the gas on.

Seems to work every time and no accidents involving blown up or burnt out caravans yet.

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A friend of mine still has a Calor gas powered fridge in his caravan.

He usually lights it using a small candle attached to a bent to shape piece of wire made from an old coat hanger. You light the candle, get on the floor, shove the candle under the fridge with the wire to the pilot jet at the back and turn the gas on.

Seems to work every time and no accidents involving blown up or burnt out caravans yet.

My wife and I used to manage a caravan park in the peak district on a part-time basis.

I seem to remember spending hours over a weekend lighting peoples fridges.

I don't remember any that required lighting with a naked flame.

They were all fitted with a piezo lighting arrangement where you pressed a button and charged up a small spring which suddenly released it's stored energy onto the end of a piezo pile. This comprised a series of discs of a material which generated an electrical charge when mechanically stressed. The resultant voltage of a few thousand volts sparked across a gap in the burner gas flow.

The fridge chimneys were made of mild steel and when the caravan had been disused for a while, rusty bits falling down, used to short the spark gap out.

I had a bit of rubber pipe which I used to feed into the bottom of the back of the fridge. A quick blast of air from Hilldwellers lungs and the muck was blown out. I knew all those hours spent gasping into an E flat Bass (tuba) at school would come in handy ,one day.

I was glad when the site was wired for power.

HD

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I had a bit of rubber pipe which I used to feed into the bottom of the back of the fridge. A quick blast of air from Hilldwellers lungs and the muck was blown out. I knew all those hours spent gasping into an E flat Bass (tuba) at school would come in handy ,one day.

I was glad when the site was wired for power.

HD

And I don't want to hear any jokes about blowing my own trumpet

HD

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I don't remember any that required lighting with a naked flame.

They were all fitted with a piezo lighting arrangement where you pressed a button and charged up a small spring which suddenly released it's stored energy onto the end of a piezo pile. This comprised a series of discs of a material which generated an electrical charge when mechanically stressed. The resultant voltage of a few thousand volts sparked across a gap in the burner gas flow.

HD

No it wasn't designed to be lit with a naked flame.

The ignition mechanism had packed up and this was their own Heath Robinson contraption for getting it to work.

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Wrong building vox, it is on the Grain warehouse.

Spot on, you win a two week holiday on the Russian Steppes.

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