I removed a similar piece of equipment from service just a few years ago. It was a sub panel fuse enclosure. It was custom built in that it was just an asbestos lined space between 2 studs with a wood header across the top and bottom. It contained about 10 circuits as I recall. Originally each circuit had the hot & neutral fused. Some where in time they replaced the knob & tube feeder with type AC (with the porcelin fitting where it entered the enclosure)feeder, at the same time it appears, the neutral fuse blocks were jumpered to eliminate the fused neutrals. The service had been revamped to breakers before I came on the scene, but this panel remained in service for a long time after the revamp. The long abandoned, original, 2 pole knife switch main is still located on the gable end in the attic, as are the 2 or 3 attic cisterns that were for the collection of rain water for the indoor water closets. This is a big old house, 9 bedrooms if I recall correctly, & 3 stories.
Rick
