A Clever Thief-proof Device
Page 44
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AVEHICLE immobilizing device, made by the Lunken Co.. Ltd., Gander Green Lane, Cheam, Surrey, makes vehicle theft practically impossible unless the potential thief be prepared to fit a new coil and condenser to by-pass the attachment.
The B.M.S. immobilizer, as it is known, is a small cylindrical device which can be attached to the steering' column tube or dashboard. The top half of the cylinder, which is the removable immobilizing cap, contains a condenser connected to two points in a multiple-pin plug and socket. The ignition circuit is connected to two other selected points.
Connections are varied in each fitting so that to find the four points of the ignition and condenser from the 12 pins presents a large number of combinations. The caps and sockets are paired and coded and to use a different cap would blow the fuses. To increase the number of permutations. the cap is keyed to the socket and its position is changed by one degree after the first set of combinations has been used.
A special spring-lock coupling eon810
nects the lead to the primary of the coil and .except for cutting through the metal easing with a hacksaw there is no other means for removing the lead to the coil.As the wire is protected with an armoured cable, to cut it with pliers
would merely fold the ends over and form a short.
Because the condenser is positioned away from the heat nod vibration of the engine, the possibility of failure is remote: it is made of lead foil as a protection against burning. The B.M.S. immobilizer, available for any vehicle equipped with battery ignition, costs £3 15s.
Apart from the primary object of the device which is to prevent a vehicle being driven away by an unauthorized person, it is claimed that the installation of the condenser remote from the heat of the engine 'improves performance.
Whilst this may be so it is usually considered more efficient when the shortest possible leads are used between the condenser and the contact points. The time taken for fitting, as carried out by a member of the staff of "The Commercial Motor," was 20 minutes.