TURNER'S BURGLARY DETECTOR

The Curator has decided to protect this Museum by installing Turner's Burglary Detector.  He decided to use it because he felt that no one else would.

Nothing is known of Turner's Burglary Detector except what appears in this advertisement from the General and Commercial Directory of the Borough of Birmingham and Six Miles Around, by W. H. Dix and Company, 1858.

But it is the duty of museums, especially virtual museums, to display the one offs, the oddities, the leading edge technology of the day and examples of spirit and enterprise, however misplaced.

In any case this device is clearly an example of how the lock trade in Wolverhampton did not stand still but was willing to expand into other areas of security.

What happened to Mr. Turner (I presume it was a Mr.) and his marvellous machine, or if even one was ever installed, I do not know.
This close up of the Detector may enable you better to understand the text of the advertisement:-

"The important and peculiar advantages of Turner's Patent Burglary Detector are:-

"1st, that it can be affixed with little trouble and expense to doors, windows, shutters, or other moveable fixtures ; to the floors, stairs, or ceilings [sic], of manufactories, offices, dwelling-houses, or other buildings, gardens and pleasure grounds.

"2nd, It will unerringly indicate when any of these are moved or opened, and also show by which door, window, shutter, or other aperture the burglar is entering.

"The action of Turner's Patent Burglary Detector may be thus described :- When any burglarious attempt is being made, the Indicator is instantly set in motion, the alarm bell is rung, and a light produced, while the face of the Indicator shows not only the precise place through which the burglar has entered, but also indicates his progress through the premises.

"The importance of this invention to the public cannot be over-rated, affording as it does the surest protection against the depredations of the thief. No place to which it is affixed can possibly be opened without alarming the sleeping inmates, or the watchman, and this is unknown to the burglar, while the light enables the inmates or watchman to trace his progress and be fully prepared for his capture, or to raise the general alarm if needful.

"It is fixed upon the chimney-piece in the bedroom; wires are attached similar to bellhanging; it is self-acting, i.e., it is in action when the doors and windows are shut, and will not require attaching at night and detaching in the morning."

You could have this Detector with only 4 indicators on it.  If your premises were big enough you could have up to 64 indicators.  In the model illustrated there are 16 indicators and the rooms they are connected to give some indication of the sort of Victorian house it was intended to go in:

Front Door;  Back Door;  Dining Room Door; Dining Room Window;  Breakfast Room Door; Butler's Pantry;  Drawing Room Door;  Drawing Room Window;  Study Door;  China Closet; Cellar Window;  Area Door;  Cellar Door;  Bedroom No.1;  Bedroom No. 2;  Bedroom No. 3.

The system must have operated on tripwires connected to the Detector or on catches actuated by the opening of the door or window.  In either case a sensible burglar would break a window and dodge the wires.  But, if the burglar tripped all the wires in turn on a large system, the house owner could sit in his bedroom, watching with increasing terror the indicators turning to red as Bill Sykes made his progress through the premises, nearer and nearer to the owner's bed room. 

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