Gents' of Leicester

Gents' of Leicester, also known as Gents & Company Limited, was established in Leicester, England, in 1872 by John Thomas Gent. For over a century, the company was a well-known manufacturer of electrical equipment, in particular its electric clocks, which were used in public buildings and railway stations all over the world.

Typical Gents' of Leicester logo.
Chloride Gent Warbler original fire alarm sounder, dating from 1980, at a secondary school in Derbyshire.
Model 1102 Manual Call Point, dating from 1980, just before removal from a secondary school in Derbyshire.
Gents' Pulsynetic, C40A, Waiting Train, Turret Clock (1940s/50?). Photographed in the Ministers' Building (The Secretariat), Yangon.
A typical 240-volt electric wall clock produced by Gents' of Leicester, dating to approx. the late 1960s

Products

The company also produced fire alarm systems, electric bells, transformers, telephones, signalling and recording equipment, and electrical parts for aircraft communications and radar equipment. The company had a workforce of several hundreds at its height. Some of its well known fire alarm products include the Model 1102 manual call points, which came with a small hammer attached to a chain. The extremely loud Warbler sounders were used in many schools around the United Kingdom. The original Warbler had three selectable tones: warble, continuous and intermittent and also had adjustable pitch and speed dials. The later models were considerably quieter and included the addition of a sweep tone, without the pitch or speed controls. Gent now manufacture many fire alarm sounders. The S-Cubed range of sounders have the options of voice alarms and visual alarm devices. The S-Quad is a smoke/heat detector using advanced false alarm reduction technology and options for built in voice sounder/visual alarm device. The S-Quad is used in many buildings in the UK and Protec have copied the concept.[1] When the Gent Warbler became so popular during the 80s, companies such as Protec also copied their design. Many warblers have since become collectible items because many have been scrapped and replaced by newer fire alarm systems. The 2510 and 2511 sounders were then produced, the latter being common across many schools and manufactured until 2003. The Model 1500 sirens were also often used on older fire alarm systems, sounding very similar to air raid sirens.

Location

Its main design and manufacturing centre and headquarters were at the Faraday Works in Temple Road, Leicester; but after World War II, the company expanded into nearby Kibworth.[2] A premises at London Road was also used at this time. In the early 1990s a new large building was constructed in the Hamilton area of Leicester and the other buildings were all closed.

Takeovers

In 1981, Gents' of Leicester was taken over by the international organisation Chloride, and was known as "Chloride Gent". In 1982, the company was sold by Chloride to the MK Electric Group, and was then known as "Gent Limited". The factory at Kibworth closed, and only a few jobs remained at the central Leicester works.[2] In 1993, the company was acquired by Caradon/Novar; and in 2005, it was taken over by Honeywell, and has been known as "Gent by Honeywell" since. Still based in Leicester, the company is now mostly involved with fire detection and alarm systems.[3]

References
  1. "Vintage Chloride Gent Warbler". YouTube. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  2. 'Memories of Gent’s Electrical Equipment Manufacturing in Kibworth' Kibworth History Society.
  3. 'Gent | About Us' Gent by Honeywell.


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