As we had some discussions about knob&tube wiring in the international section, here's a pic of K&T European style.
Unlike US knob and tube hot and neutral were together on the insulators and the wiring was always exposed.
a K&T switch (but also sometimes used with flush mount wiring, such a switch was controlling th4 balcony light in my family's 1913 apartment until about 1993)
An ungrounded receptacle, if you look closely you can see the conductors enetering at the top. Usually there was just a single hole for both wires though.
and the matching plugs.
In some very old-fashioned rural houses this type of wiring is still in use. Junctions are usually just open taped splices hanging loosely on the wall. I think the receptacles were of a fused type, either 1 or 2A cardboard fuse (a piece of cardboard or a similar material, sometimes color coded according to the rating of the fuse, about 1x2.5cm, with metal sleeves on both ends), 1 for neutral, 1 for hot.
[This message has been edited by Texas_Ranger (edited 07-23-2003).]