Her Majesty likes to put radiation stickers on all equipment which produces Ionising radiation.
She does really well for her age!
Years ago when I was a teenager, I bought a Graviner fire detector unit. They were being sold mail order in one of the amateur electronics magazines, I think described as hotel fire detectors. It had a nice thick curved stainless steel enclosure with a window. I had ideas of using it as a digital clock case as well as being interested in what was inside. Unfortunately the flange was folded and crimped closed and I did too much damage getting it open. Inside was a photomultiplier tube, resistor ladder and some sort of gas trigger tube, the whole thing in encased in low melting point wax. Not as exciting as I hoped.
The bits got thrown in a drawer in my bedroom... and eventually, my garage. It was a few years after I owned my own house that I built a sensitive end-window Geiger counter and looked around for something to test it on. Going through my junk drawers in the garage, I suddenly came across a surprisingly hot target in the said drawer. It turned out that what I thought was a blob of paint on the side of the gas trigger tube was actually rather nasty. Luckily it was a waxy consistency and not at all powdery so there were no other traces. It had obviously been applied to the
outside of the glass as an ionisation source.
It just goes to show that not all 'nasties' come in enclosures that display the appropriate warning signs. It was only with the advent of the internet (and then some) before I found that Graviner make fire detection systems for aircraft, including engine bays and other hostile environments and absolutely nothing to do with hotels!
EDIT: Yikes, there are still a few around, but it's probably wisest not to post links.
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