|
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Old wiring devices
A small hobby of mine is antique light switches and outlets. It’s been a lifelong interest of mine, going back to my first encounter with vintage electronics. A neighbor of mine had an old cathedral radio in his living room, and he noticed it had caught my eye. He said that it still worked, and told me to plug it in so we could listen to it. Being that it was an old house (you could see where it had gas light fixtures at one point), it had an older, unusual outlet near the radio and my 5 year old mind could not figure out how to plug the radio in. I remember it looking like this:
That day launched two of my hobbies. I remember the push button switches on the walls of my house, and an old round one by the basement stairs that sparked and made a snap when you rotated it. Since then I’ve amassed a collection of vintage wiring devices – especially the early ones that predated the standard 3 prong outlets and flip light switches. It’s amazing the sheer variety that was out there in the early days – many different and incompatible types of plugs and outlets, and various unique ways of turning lights on and off. It’s something most of us would ignore, but I can’t help noticing those small details when I am in an older building. |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
I see that Hoosick Falls has a population of 3400 or so, and less than 20 radio amateurs.
I could find no mention of Hoosick Falls Radio and Electrical Parts Mfg. Co, Inc. Maybe they were bought out by Leviton (which I like to pronounce as leave-it-on). |
#3
|
||||
|
||||
check out www.electrical-contractor.net
forums there cover this sort of thing, got lots of interesting material I have similar odds and ends of old electrical stuff I am partial to antique round surface mount light switches... use them all over for lots of stuff. |
#4
|
||||
|
||||
I have a copy of the 1934 Westinghouse Electric Parts Catalog that is wonderful reading. They list all of the different Mazda lamps, street lighting equipment, push-button light switches, etc, etc, etc. It's such fun to look through...
One of the latest advances in lighting at the time of printing was the new Mercury Vapor lighting fixture for use in factories. I found the catalog in an abandoned building less than one week before it burned in a huge spectacular fire that took out some major riverfront businesses here. I'm another one that likes old lighting equipment. |
#5
|
||||
|
||||
I've got some older switches some are push button some are toggle. One of my toggle switches came from the basement of the house I grew up in, and that is either a very early one or a very high current one as it's made of ceramic and has these HUGE contacts that make a LOUD click and a big spark if the plate is removed for one to see it. At some point the plate was removed for a few days for some reason, and with all those exposed voltages and the sparking it made I was afraid to touch it.
__________________
Tom C. Zenith: The quality stays in EVEN after the name falls off! What I want. --> http://www.videokarma.org/showpost.p...62&postcount=4 |
Audiokarma |
#6
|
||||
|
||||
Quote:
While I had the switches out, I took them apart, and cleaned them up like new. The switch on my furnace is an old ceramic shell toggle switch like what you describe. Also rebuilt. I'm looking for more pushbutton switches and wallplates. I'd like to replace some others in the house, too. |
#7
|
||||
|
||||
Here is one I've been trying to figure out for years:
Our shop, which was built around 1950, used nothing but these. My father would just bend one prong of everything he bought, but when I started working for him I replaced them all with standard grounded sockets. Why would they make them like that? I could understand if it were DC, but why for 120vac?
__________________
Bryan |
#8
|
||||
|
||||
Quote:
I've seen knob and tube wiring before....The most memorable occasion was in the second floor of an antique shop in Kentucky where the wiring fed some of the oldest bulbs I've seen in person. New wiring and lighting had been added, but they left the old stuff in there.......Was that ever cool to see.
__________________
Tom C. Zenith: The quality stays in EVEN after the name falls off! What I want. --> http://www.videokarma.org/showpost.p...62&postcount=4 |
#9
|
||||
|
||||
Brian, that right-angled outlet is so odd! I've seen 240 service with the right angled blades, but those are all grounded. Looking through my NEMA books, even the older ones, show nothing like it.
|
#10
|
|||
|
|||
The Hubbell website shows a device like that, but not in a duplex. They still make a lot of non-NEMA devices, both plugs and recepticals.
|
Audiokarma |
#11
|
||||
|
||||
Quote:
Will post catalog pages and NEMA chart tonight. Some shops would use strange plugs as a lame attempt To reduce tool theft, maybe that was the logic at Your father's shop. Or maybe it was 230V originally. |
#12
|
||||
|
||||
At my parents house are 120-volt receptacles that both terminals have a T-shaped contact to them...
they can accept a plug with the blades both turned 90 degrees like this -- -- One time I actually found a plug with these type blades and wired it up just as a novelty. |
#13
|
||||
|
||||
Quote:
I have an old B&H movie projector with the uncommon style of plug. |
#14
|
||||
|
||||
Quote:
I recently saw a house for sale that had several Edison screw plugs in the walls at the floor. They were disconnected, but still there. If the sale happens, I'll pull them and post pictures of them. |
#15
|
||||
|
||||
I have a bunch of old preheat fluorescent light fixtures out of a factory that have plugs like these in your picture. Maybe this was an industrial standard?
|
Audiokarma |
|
|