Thorn Beta 8/AEI Junior Amberline
Lantern acquired in March 2006.
This elderly lantern was owned by the Housing department, but was replaced with a Designplan Concourse (another 100 Watt Metal-Arc version, as with my own) in early 2006 due to its age. The Beta 8 was never a popular lantern in Derby, due to its 1984 successor, the Beta 2, being a preferred choice. Jeremy's mother had a rare 60 Watt SLI/H version fitted to the side of her house - details on this can be found here. SOX examples can be seen in small numbers around the county; particularly the South Derbyshire area.
The Beta 8 and Alpha 9 were clearly based on the same design - the only difference being the addition of an over-lamp reflector (gear tray in some models) in the former. The reflector really is meant to be at that angle inside the lantern! Unfortunately, the existing bowl is broken at the front; however I have a replacement (picture below).
This view clearly shows the damage to the bowl.
At some point, the NEMA socket has been blanked off with a conduit box lid, and an SS55 detector installed in its place.
The replacement bowl appears to be a vacuum-formed replica. The refractor panels do not deflect the insides as much as on the original bowl; however, they make up for that by moulding extra diffusion to the underside of the lantern.
The reflector has a dark line running along it, where years of warm lamps have taken their toll on the gloss white finish.
The reflector is held in place with two large screws. Each screw has a spacer fitted to allow the reflector to be positioned at the sharp angle shown above.
The lantern was fitted to an AC Ford AC 872 wall bracket on Saturday 28th October 2006. It was then wired up to the old British Lighting Industries instant start ballast, which came with it.
After that, the lantern was powered up.
The angled lamp can be seen best with the flash switched on:
A much newer Thorn design, the Riviera, can be seen below the Beta 8.
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