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This picture was taken exactly as I discovered it. Notice the screw-in outlet in the center of the porcelain lampholder. The brown cord has a female cord cap on the end with a cheater plugged into it!

Photo by: Ed Corcoran

Using an old book (sorry...).
Art. 400-8. Uses not permitted (of flexible cords and cables), and Art. 410-47. Screw shell-type lampholders.
It looks as though there are at least four different cords connected to this one fixture, possibly two of which have had it's ground circumvented by all this.

Joe; wonder what the "cord" is which enters the picture from the left (with the wire nuts). It almost looks like a piece of romex
with a short piece of lamp cord/plug spliced to it.

I know that lampholders such as this are made (were made) with an auxilliary outlet off to one side. This is really stretching it.

Mike (mamills)

[This message has been edited by mamills (edited 09-05-2002).]

Yeah, that sure looks like a piece of #18 gauge lamp cord spliced to the romex and plugged into a triple cube tap that goes to the receptacle on the porcelain lamp fixture. Then there's another cord with a black round plug connected to that that thing (towards the top).

Porcelain ceiling lamp fixtures like that are still made with either grounding and non-grounding receptacles on the side. The pull-chain switch only controls the lamp and the receptacle stays on.

I'm sure, however, that the manufacturers never intended them to be used like THIS!!

Also, look at how the lamp cord connected from the screw-shell adapter is wrapped a few times around the ceiling and then goes to the little rubber connector that has the ground-cheater adapter and the black three prong cord hooked to it. Gotta give the genius responsible some credit here, at least he thought about providing some strain relief! Hahahaha! :-D

Where do all these wires go to anyway???

[This message has been edited by SvenNYC (edited 09-05-2002).]