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#115323 - 10/17/03 11:04 AM "SIMPLEX" wire connectors?
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Registered: 10/07/00
Posts: 3006
Loc: NY, USA


 Quote:
This is marked "MADE IN HOLLAND."

I found it while digging in my back yard during the summer. Were these (are these) used often?

-ThinkGood

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#115324 - 10/17/03 02:45 PM Re: "SIMPLEX" wire connectors?
HotLine1 Offline

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Registered: 04/03/02
Posts: 4904
Loc: Brick, NJ USA
TG:
Nice find....I had a few of these around somewhere that were removed during a renovation job. They are "wirenuts", and were used as such a long time ago, before plastic. I never noticed that they are from Holland. Wonder what they cost???

John
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John

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#115325 - 10/17/03 03:09 PM Re: "SIMPLEX" wire connectors?
SvenNYC Offline
Member

Registered: 08/19/02
Posts: 1685
Loc: New York City
I have an old electric menorah from which I removed an ill-fitting white ceramic wirenut to replace it with a better fitting but garish yellow plastic one.

Some people also call them "marrettes".

The one I removed, however, is unglazed. There is also no metal spring inside the porcelaine shell and no maker's mark -- just a UL logo on the top.

I saw, years ago, some tiny ceramic wire nuts in a lighting store here in New York. Didn't know they still made them in that material.

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#115326 - 10/17/03 04:01 PM Re: "SIMPLEX" wire connectors?
sparked Offline
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Registered: 09/23/03
Posts: 101
Loc: Raleigh
While talking about old splice caps here, I just removed an old one from a 40's house. It was a brass? crimp on the wires. UL listed for 10-18 AWG wires. There were 4 dents (one on each side) so I guess it was sort of crumpled on the wires with a special tool. Over this was a black rubber cover shaped like a wirenut.There were 4 bumps (to fit in the dents?) inside. At the end was a B in a triangle (Buchanan, I think) and the number 2005. As an extra security for the insulator, there was a red ring slid over the cap. I think it was original. I has to cut the crimp off though, so I was left with some 4" leads from the box. Very labor intensive.
Thinkgood, is there a spring inside? I guess even if there was, it has rusted out from being buried for years.

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#115327 - 10/17/03 04:29 PM Re: "SIMPLEX" wire connectors?
winnie Offline
Member

Registered: 09/15/03
Posts: 652
Loc: boston, ma
Those crimp splices are not necessarily old. You can buy them all over the place. Home depot even sells them (though they don't sell the necessary crimping tool)

See:
Ideal/Buchanan crimp connectors

-Jon

[This message has been edited by winnie (edited 10-17-2003).]

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#115328 - 10/17/03 04:35 PM Re: "SIMPLEX" wire connectors?
sparked Offline
Member

Registered: 09/23/03
Posts: 101
Loc: Raleigh
I use Ideal crimps all the time on grounds. I just thought it was neat the way things were done before wire nuts were commom.

ps I use a klein 1005 crimper

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#115329 - 10/17/03 05:00 PM Re: "SIMPLEX" wire connectors?
Bill Addiss Offline
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Registered: 10/07/00
Posts: 4185
Loc: NY, USA
Should this be in the 'Nostalgia' area?
Can anyone date the usage of these?

Bill

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#115330 - 10/17/03 08:03 PM Re: "SIMPLEX" wire connectors?
stamcon Offline
Member

Registered: 03/24/01
Posts: 322
Loc: So San Francisco CA
Porcelain wire nuts are still used and readily available. They are for areas of high heat(stoves,ovens,...). No spring, just threaded cone.

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#115331 - 10/17/03 11:46 PM Re: "SIMPLEX" wire connectors?
u2slow Offline
Member

Registered: 09/18/03
Posts: 198
Loc: Salt Spring, BC, Canada
 Quote:

Some people also call them "marrettes".


Another case of one brand's name becoming the accepted name of a generic product. Maybe its just a Canadian thing?
http://tnbelectricalworld.tnb.com/contractor/docs/marrette.pdf

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#115332 - 10/18/03 10:53 PM Re: "SIMPLEX" wire connectors?
classicsat Offline
Member

Registered: 11/23/02
Posts: 449
Not just Canadian (maybe for marrettes "though"). Other countries often use tradenames for the generic name of a product.

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#115333 - 10/19/03 07:04 PM Re: "SIMPLEX" wire connectors?
ThinkGood Offline
Member

Registered: 08/07/02
Posts: 1084
Loc: Milwaukee, WI
As stamcon wrote, there was no spring inside. Just a lot of soil!

What I found fascinating is that it was able to clean up into such nice condition--even though it's just a wire connector

As to the crimp connectors, I recall reading in one of Rex Cauldwell's books that the proper way to crimp is with a device that will apply equal pressure from all sides.

I have noticed that the orange store carries caps to cover the crimps on current-carrying conductors.

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#115334 - 10/20/03 03:55 PM Re: "SIMPLEX" wire connectors?
SvenNYC Offline
Member

Registered: 08/19/02
Posts: 1685
Loc: New York City
Winnie:

Are those crimp-on barrels also properly used for splicing together the bare ground wire in NM cable?

The DIY book I bought at the orange store shows that use. However they just show the brass "sleeve" crimped over a bundle of bare copper wires - no rubber sleeve or anything.

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#115335 - 10/20/03 04:10 PM Re: "SIMPLEX" wire connectors?
sparked Offline
Member

Registered: 09/23/03
Posts: 101
Loc: Raleigh
Sven

I use bare crimps on ground wires. It's not nescessary to insulate the crimp because the ground wire is typically bare anyway.

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#115336 - 10/21/03 04:08 PM Re: "SIMPLEX" wire connectors?
PaulCornwall Offline
Member

Registered: 06/02/03
Posts: 112
Loc: England
yep they were very popular over here in the UK..used in old house wiring.

well before my time though,must have thrown hundreds in the bin over the years.

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#115337 - 10/28/03 04:58 PM Re: "SIMPLEX" wire connectors?
kale Offline
Member

Registered: 11/08/02
Posts: 167
http://elec-cat.tnb.com/tnbcat/tnbcat/te..._hier_id=TEL314 is T&B's version of the porcelain wire nut.

[img]http://elec-cat.tnb.com/wcat_images/publish/tels/tels_porcelain[/img]

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#115338 - 02/24/04 12:18 AM Re: "SIMPLEX" wire connectors?
Lostazhell Offline
Member

Registered: 02/21/04
Posts: 1152
Loc: Bakersfield, CA (Originally Or...
I came across & still have (somewhere) some of those same Simplex - Holland wirenuts... I have a regular customer in Ocean Beach (San Diego) who owns a house built in 1927.. Those were used at pretty much most of the existing light fixture locations, along with the funky wax-coated cloth wire.

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