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Old 20th May 2019, 4:58 pm   #41
TonyDuell
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Default Re: Woolworths Electrical Counter

I remember the self-service electrical counter. Dozens of plugs (not just BS1363 13A ones of course), sockets, adapters, BC plugs and lampholders, those 2-way adapters to fit a BC socket (and run a bulb and some other device) -- some with pushbutton switches and at least one with a pull cord, etc, etc, etc. There was a Woolies just round the corner from my grandmother's house and plenty of things in said house were repaired (by me, aged about 7) and my parents with bits from said counter.

Incidentally, those MES batten lampholders (now called 'E10' rather than MES) are still sold by RS, but not cheap. About 25 quid for a box of 10.
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Old 20th May 2019, 5:01 pm   #42
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I doubt that they were actually much use!
Your eyes were more sensitive then!
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Old 20th May 2019, 5:07 pm   #43
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Originally Posted by Heatercathodeshort View Post
As I have mentioned fond memories of the Woolworth's Wimbledon store you can imagine the sadness when on the 30th April 1981 the big store was burnt to the ground in a horrific fire that resulted in the loss of life of a fire fighter.

The store was rebuilt and carried on till closure of all branches. Seems incredible it was 40 years ago.

I took these pictures before the tragic incident around 6pm. J.
I can't read that without mentioning the fire at the Central Manchester Woolworth two years earlier, when ten people lost their lives.

My wife and her uncle were in the store a mere half-hour before the incident.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co...-fire-16214759
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Old 20th May 2019, 5:33 pm   #44
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Well my memories were of the Nuneaton branch. Working in the electrical department on Saturdays. Biggest job was looking after the light fitting display, but also fetched fittings down for customers, and measured / cut flex and cable. Somewhere on one of my soldering irons I have a plug with a built in neon, that I am 99% siure is a W&G I got from the same shop. My parents first colour TV was bought from there, getting a discount with my vouchers. Small 14" or 16" portable. Can't remember the brand (probably Fidelity or Ferguson) but I had to fix it when the repairman came and was completely useless.
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Old 20th May 2019, 7:56 pm   #45
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Default Re: Woolworths Electrical Counter

I've got one of those, too.

Not in use, but I've plugged it in to show it still works.
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Old 21st May 2019, 1:31 am   #46
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Default Re: Woolworths Electrical Counter

Brings back some memories for me too, especially Pifco, and all the plug adapters. I had a two way light bulb adapter that I converted into a ray gun.

When I was a kid, along long time ago,I always thought Empire Made, was the Japanese Empire and It puzzled me for a while. I don't remember hearing much about the about the British Empire, but I did read lots about the Japanese Empire after the war.
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Old 21st May 2019, 7:40 am   #47
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Default Re: Woolworths Electrical Counter

What were those flat batteries with two long brass contacts and what were they intended to fit?
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Old 21st May 2019, 7:59 am   #48
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Default Re: Woolworths Electrical Counter

IIRC, those 4.5v flat batteries were used in torches(flashlights). Oddly enough there is a thread about a Nordmende transistor radio which mentions two flat batteries, which may well have been the same types, being used to power this portable.
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Old 21st May 2019, 8:33 am   #49
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Default Re: Woolworths Electrical Counter

That would be what is now known as a 3LR12 or MN1203 (widely available, this is shown simply as an eaxmple).
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Old 21st May 2019, 9:01 am   #50
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This all sounds like great fun. Sadly, being born in 1973, I must have just missed out on this.
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Old 21st May 2019, 12:32 pm   #51
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Default Re: Woolworths Electrical Counter

I remember as a lad in the fifties buying ten yards of twisted 'bell wire' which had a reddish colour to the insulation to set up an intercom between my bedroom and my mate's who lived next door in our terrace using two earphones.

I think it cost threepence (3d!) a yard. I also remember buying one of those three-tap bell transformers and all sorts of 5 amp and 2 amp, three and two-pin plugs and sockets. There were also some strangely shaped 'rocker' light switches which I suspect were made in France.
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Old 21st May 2019, 12:34 pm   #52
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That would be what is now known as a 3LR12 or MN1203 (widely available, this is shown simply as an eaxmple).
Well, well I never expected to see one of those again
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Old 21st May 2019, 12:40 pm   #53
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The flat 4.5 volt batteries are IME becoming more popular. They are used in a popular brand of headtorch.
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Old 21st May 2019, 2:22 pm   #54
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Didn't we use those 4.5V batteries with the flat brass strip contacts for cycle lamps? Or am I imagining things?
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Old 21st May 2019, 2:27 pm   #55
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Default Re: Woolworths Electrical Counter

You could be right - before the ones that took U2 cells. Ones with a screw down switch.
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Old 21st May 2019, 2:37 pm   #56
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Didn't we use those 4.5V batteries with the flat brass strip contacts for cycle lamps? Or am I imagining things?
I thought some (most?) cycle lamps took an '800' battery which was 2 F-size cells side by side. A brass strip on the front connected to the casing of one cell (-ve terminal) which touched the back of the bulb in the lamp. And another strp on the top connected to the carbon rod of the other cell (+ve terminal) that connected to the switch in the top of the lamp.

See the Ladybird book 'Magnets, Bulbs and Batteries' for plenty of pictures of them.

That battery has not been (easily?) available for some time.

The flat 4.5V battery will always be a '1289' to me.

I can remember buying both types in Woolies and Boots...
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Old 21st May 2019, 2:44 pm   #57
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Default Re: Woolworths Electrical Counter

Those flat 4.5 batteries were very much a Continental thing. They were commonly used on imported bike lights in the 1980s ("Ucar" brand??). They are still available in supermarkets etc. abroad.

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Old 21st May 2019, 2:59 pm   #58
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I thought some (most?) cycle lamps took an '800' battery which was 2 F-size cells side by side. A brass strip on the front connected to the casing of one cell (-ve terminal) which touched the back of the bulb in the lamp. And another strp on the top connected to the carbon rod of the other cell (+ve terminal) that connected to the switch in the top of the lamp.

See the Ladybird book 'Magnets, Bulbs and Batteries' for plenty of pictures of them.
Yes, of course those are the ones I was thinking of. The flat ones were just useful because you could easily connect leads to the big brass terminals.

They also used to sell batteries with screw terminals. When I first got an electric train set the controller took two or three of them - and they only seemed to last for a few minutes. Were they actually bell batteries?
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Old 21st May 2019, 3:09 pm   #59
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Default Re: Woolworths Electrical Counter

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Didn't we use those 4.5V batteries with the flat brass strip contacts for cycle lamps? Or am I imagining things?
Continental cycle lamps tended to use the flat 4.5 volt batteries.
British cycle lamps usually took a single 3 volt battery that consisted of a pair of F cells side by side.

The larger 4.5 volt batteries with screw terminals were primarily intended for door bells but had many other uses including three in series for model trains, and also three in series to power a small 12 volt fluorescent light for camping etc.

Last edited by broadgage; 21st May 2019 at 3:15 pm.
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Old 21st May 2019, 3:22 pm   #60
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They also used to sell batteries with screw terminals. When I first got an electric train set the controller took two or three of them - and they only seemed to last for a few minutes. Were they actually bell batteries?
The 4½V batteries (or at least the Ever Ready ones) were known as 126 - not to be confused with the B126 (which was a 90V HT battery).
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