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I was sent some old books by an attorney friend. A couple are the 1921 NEC and Croft's American Electrician's Handbook. A few samples of contents arer listed.
The NEC for 1921 lists #12 @ 20A. for rubber insulation, 25A. for VC, & 30A. for “other insulations.” That is for AC. For DC #12 is listed @ 30A. for single conductor cable, 25A. for 2C, 23A. for 3C, and 19A. for 4C.
The copy of American Electrician’s Handbook is fantastic! It even has a chart as to how many lamps of a given wattage may be placed on circuits, ie: a 20A circuit may have 44 100W lamps on a 3 wire circuit.
In the estimating section it uses a labor rate of $7.00 per day!
Labor cost for ½” conduit is $0.05 per foot, ceiling outlet $0.15, wall outlet $0.20, S.P. switch $0.25 each and 28 per day.
I'll spend a little time reading and try to post a few interesting items.
Roedy

I think I've had one too many Heinekens. I can't spell.
Rowdy

speaking of old books, i have a 1936 ge & westinghouse catalog that is very interesting.plus several meterman's hadbooks.only wish i could buy stuff out of'em. cheap & top quality!

[This message has been edited by circuit man (edited 02-23-2003).]

more old books,
i've got a 1901 nec.it's 3"x5 1/2" and all of 80 pages.got the 1902 list of electrical fittings thats a supplement to the 1901 nec that is all of 23 pages and the same size.i guess there wasn't much of a selection of parts approved by underwriters national electric asociation back then.many items have only one or two manufacturers.

It might be interesting to see some sample pages out of these books if any of you could scan some and send them in.

Bill