ECN Forum Forums Photo Discussion Forums Photos for General Discussion Hefty old wiring from Austria

I already salvaged some of the switches and junction boxes.
Fuse holders are no problem either.
We just need to figure out the shipping.

Ragnar, that's cool. I can give you an address in London they could be send to sometime later this month (my job's London office is moving...)

Ragnar:

OK. I'll do so probably by next Monday. It will be under a different name though...so don't be surprised (if you're confused, I'll explain).

I hope they don't take out the old lift from the building, that thing's a classic. Is there any way you can get inside pictures of the car when you get a chance?

I still remember some office buildings in New York having manually operated lifts (with a lever and an accordion gate) run by a man who would pay attention to the lights on a panel so he would know what floors had requested the lift.

Of course, once inside, you'd just call out your floor to the man.

And this was when I was growing up in the 1980s. I miss those things...

Ok.

I think I'll post the elevator pics in a new thread to avoid long loading times.

This one is self-operated... it only goes up. Unlock the wire door (every tenant has a key), open the sliding oak door, get in, close the wouter door, then the inner. Push the button for the desired floor and wait. Open both doors, close the inner one, push a button between the two doors and close the outer one. After a few seconds the light goes out, you'll hear a solid "clank" and the cab goes down to the first floor automatically. No way of going down in that thing, unless you have someonae closing the door after you (doors have to be closed in the right sequence) and don't mind going down in the dark. I LOVE that beast!

Some even had a coin slot, so visitors without a key could use it too. I don't know what happened to them after the changeover to Euro though, the last (and only) time I used one we still had the old Schilling currency. Cost 1 Schilling (roughly 10 US cents) a ride.

Ragnar,
Is that for real?.
Never heard of a lift that only goes up.

Regardless of what has been said before,
There are some very good pics here.
Not only the electrical work, but the way that the buildings are constructed.
They don't build places like this anymore.

That's absolutely true. All those 1900 lifts only go up unless they've been fitted with all new controls. This one was actually completely rebuilt in 1958 but still only goes up.

Yeah, the construction of that place is something.
The cellar walls are close to 1m thick I think.

The concrete ceilings must have been a very modern thing back then, the house where I live is almost 10 years "newer" and it still has the old fashioned mix of wood beam ceilings and brick vault ceilings.

Those floor tiles in the stairway are full 2cm thick! Today replacement tiles of that kind kost 70-110 Euro/sq m!

Hanging ceiling lights to those ceilings is a pain though. They simply nailed some reeds to the bottom of those concrete structures and plastered over. So where there's a cavity the ceiling won't hold anything, and if you hit a concrete "rib" it's rock hard. I tried to do one using a standard hammer drill... it was a pain. Should I have to do more I'll definitely use my Bosch hammer.
Here in this place you can screw into a beam, or lightweight fixtures even screw into the lathe (like for example the famous chinese rice paper balloons). Besides, there's usually a strong hook screwed into the old gas light line. Tested to hold up chandeliers that have to be carried by two strong men...

As of today the lift is dead. R.I.P.
The sign says it#ll b back in service in July... so I'm afraid the NEW one will be in service by then. The control box already has a sticker on it: "Please keep! Kaufmann, apt. 24"
I made a video of going up in it, if I find a way to compress it I'll upload it to Youtube.

That's sad about the lift.

I hope it just means they're going to refurbish the existing one? I'm sure there's a way it can be modernized but at the same time keep the old passenger cage with a new control panel.

P.S. Did you ever manage to figure out the shipping on the old switch/socket/fuse holder?
Thanks.



[This message has been edited by SvenNYC (edited 02-22-2007).]

SvenNYC.

You can get those diazed fuses on Ebay Germany.

Believe it or not the electrical wholesalers sells those of the shelf in New Zealand too.
These fuses are used a lot in timber mills and inported 3 phase lathes.

Type in "Ebay Deutschland" in google

Look under "Neonised" or "Diazed" Sicherung
http://cgi.ebay.de/Sicherungen-655-...Z001QQcategoryZ36808QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Edited to insert link.




[This message has been edited by RODALCO (edited 02-22-2007).]