12EC. Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Brockley Hill, Stanmore, London Borough of Harrow With thanks to Dwight for informing me of these Survivors. Situated around the hospital grounds are several Atlas Beta 3 lanterns for 45 - 60 Watt SO/H and SOI/H lamps - the forerunners of the later 35 Watt SOX (low pressure sodium) lamps. While one of these lanterns is located in a part of the hospital site that remains in use, the remainder are to be found towards the back, along a disused road that leads to the derelict former Zachary Merton building.
Three of the four Beta 3s are attached to fluted Revo cast iron columns. These columns may date from around 1936, as this was when the Zachary Merton building opened.
The Beta 3s themselves, however, are pure 1960s' design.
Even by 1969, the Beta 3 had been removed from Atlas / Thorn catalogues - a shame that it had a relatively short production run, as it was an incredibly stylish lantern.
Much of the lantern, including its distinctive wide-brimmed canopy, is plastic, adding to the modern feel of the design in an era when aluminium-canopied lanterns were commonplace.
The column's inspection door was missing, revealing a very weathered fused cut-out that hadn't been used in a long time.
The lantern was missing from the next column's bracket.
As the bracket still had a "true" end, the lantern was probably removed deliberately, rather than falling off through corrosion. The spigot did appear heavily corroded, however, which may have been why the lantern was removed.
The door was still intact on this column, and was secured using the standard two-hole Revo bolt.
The lantern survived on the next column, but was missing its bowl.
The canopy caused the lantern interior to appear in silhouette, thanks to the bright ambient sunlight providing a contrast.
A slightly different angle allowed the internal workings to be viewed, however. Surprisingly, a 35 Watt SOX lamp remained within the lantern (albeit, damaged). The ballast carries T.E.I. (Thorn Electrical Industries) and Atlas branding, while the capacitor is positioned behind, on the narrow gear tray.
Although a further installation appeared to exist further along the roadway, Heras-style fencing prevented venturing any further. Heading back into the 'live' hospital site revealed one final Beta 3, however - a wall-mounted example on the back of the Duke of Gloucester Ward.
The bracket looks rather Heath-Robinson in its construction, and appears to have been extended from its original length to improve the lantern outreach using a length of steel conduit, with a stay bar added for stability.
The plastic bowl remains intact here.
The building is probably one of the original 1922 constructions.
A length of mineral-insulated cable terminates into a 20 mm through box that then changes to flexible cable to feed the lantern. This is unlikely to be the original means of supplying this lantern, and could suggest that the lantern was installed here second-hand (perhaps, even from the bracket seen earlier) in the 1980s, as another wall bracket that was still at its original length supported an aluminium-canopied Thorn Beta 79 lantern (not pictured here), which would be contemporary to that period.
Another later installation is this Thorn Sheerline aluminium column supporting a Beta 5.
The Beta 5 is not fitted with a photocell, suggesting that it is switched from a main control point located elsewhere within the hospital grounds.
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