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I forget where I got these from, but found that I had them and thought I'd share. They seem odd to me...


^ in the socket to the left there are small spikes to pierce the wire


^ a little closer on the end cap...


^ closer still. it reads 75W 125V Levition around the outside, and "Made in USA" surrounding a UL seal.




(move to photo discussion please ^_^)

Made in the USA is refreshing to see! The insulation piercing feature allowed socket placement along either a 2-wire zip cord, or THW strung parallel. IMHO a 'decorative' use item.

i have a few of these, I use a few of these on my Christmas display

We used to call them pin sockets.Used for temp lights years ago.Mainly on fire repair jobs.

Larrypro:
Welcome to ECN forums!

The one in the pic is a candelabra base, but yes they did mfg edison base ones also.

with the small "night light" C7 bulbs?
i would think they would use the regular large sized bulbs

I've used them a couple times before. I have a third one, but its broke and I cant find it

I remember years ago, every corner used-car lot had those lights strung around its perimeter, usually on twisted two conductor cabling. They were the standard Edison socket version. You still see a lot of similar "temporary" string lighting using these sockets at Christmas tree stands this time of year.

Eagle used to make a version of these (at least an Edison base version) that was pretty cool. They had a quarter-turn "T" shaped knob that clicked into the closed position and was reusable. The little ones are also available with a metal mounting bracket and were often used in furniture. I have a china hutch that has several of them looped with zip cord in my dining room. It is only a few years old.

I had some of those candelabra base sockets around a makeup mirror in a cabinet I built for my daughter. We put globe bulbs in them for that Hollywood look.

You can still buy them and they are for light strings to be installed on CXWT which in Canada is Christmas tree wire or Brewery cord as was used on construction sites. Not approved anymore for construction as steel studs kept getting energised by cut insulation. Great for garden parties. Most of this stuff has been replaced by manufactured light strings. Can be a handy speaker wire as the cord was usually #14 0r #12 fine stranded.
Tricky to polarize too.