ECN Forum Forums Photo Discussion Forums Electrical Nostalgia Odd Outlet

Hi Jack.
There's not really anything too strange about this receptacle. It's made (or was made) by General Electric in the late 50s/early 60's, it's obviously only a two-wire model (with both slots being the same size, which prevents use of newer plugs with a slightly larger neutral), and you could connect four items at the same time, if the plugs were all a flat type.

I have a couple of these in my collection, just more as an oddity than anything else.

Mike (mamills)

Mike,
Is that adjacent switch anything to do with the recepts?, or does it control another (lighting) circuit?.

The switch looks like an ordinary "quiet-type" single pole or three-way light switch available today (a separate device), mounted on a two-gang plaster ring or a two-gang box, along with the receptacle. It could be wired to control power to the receptacle, or, more likely, to control a light fixture somewhere nearby....leaving the receptacle hot all the time.

I saw a house one time that was wired by someone who apparently had a problem with bending down to reach electric receptacles near the floor. Every receptacle in the house was installed about 52 inches above the floor, and at the location of each light switch, there was a switch/receptacle pair like that above.

Mike (mamills)

a friend of mine has a few of those style outlets in his house. with modern appliances they are not of much use because the cord caps are so big you cant fit two plugs that close together.

It looks polarized to me, the right blade being the larger neutral. I had never seen one of those before.
Joe