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I always try to check for any electrical problems when I head back home to my aunt's place in Pa. This trip, I noticed a hallway 3-way combo that only worked in one of the 2 positions. No big deal to stop at the local store to buy an ivory 3-way and a spare. Then it hit me that it was a rocker, not a toggle, and I'm not sure that I've ever seen one in a store. I don't mean Decora. It is a rocker that takes the same cover plate as a normal toggle. The bad switch is part of a multi-ganged box and it would look pretty bad to have one toggle sticking out amongst the other rockers. Any clues?
Joe
Is it a Despard ..

https://www.platt.com/platt-electri...s-Seymour/ACD1-I/product.aspx?zpid=46602
Joe, I'm misunderstanding your question, a rocker type switch that fits in a toggle opening .. I've never seen that.

Despard is the smallest 120v switch I've come across for residential.

https://www.google.com/search?q=des...BELAE&biw=1343&bih=906&dpr=1
A 'rocker' with the positions described could be a center 'off' and either momentary 'top' / 'bottom' or maintained.

Most were parts of low voltage switching for lighting control (GE)
I have seen what the OP describes. It is not Despard. I have seen them in houses from the 60's. They look like a toggle if you glance at them from a distance, but they are actually a small rocker switch on the same yoke a toggle uses. I believe they are obsolete. I have thrown many away. Best bet is to change the whole 3 gang to regular toggles or Decora so everything matches.
Hubbell HBL1281I?
If there any of the old style hardware stores in the area they may have some as new old stock. A lot of them stocked what was installed in the area when the houses were built.
Got photos? A picture is worth a thousand words, the switch being discussed may have been made by Eagle (now Cooper).
I'm back in Chicago now and don't plan on heading home again until Thanksgiving week. I think BigB nailed it. My electrical work started in '75 or '76, when the Electrician Mom hired, let me help on our house to save her money. He liked my work so I helped him on jobs after our house was finished. I'm sure I installed hundreds of switches in a couple of years and never any like that. I installed a 3-way dimmer in my aunt's dining room several years ago. If I replaced a regular switch, it might be in a box someplace. The switch at the other entrance to the room should be one of those rockers. If so, its single gang so a toggle will look fine there and I can swap it into the hallway location. I just don't like the idea of moving a 50 year old switch, give or take. Thanks for your input guys and I'll check out that Hubbel number, Ghost. They have a slick Type 703 600VDC contactor that will let-through >30kA, but I haven't checked out any of their residential stuff lately.
Joe
I wonder why that type of switch never caught on in the US. In Europe these switches completely replaced toggle switches even before silent toggles really made an appearence. There was a switchover straight from clunky DC-rated toggles to those rockers. Toggles were pretty much out of production by the early 1960s.
So I guess I should just go home to Pa. via Austria. So T_R, do you think that you could post a European link that might show one, if they are still in production?
Thanks,
Joe
I think Ghost found it ..

Grainger
Well Mark, I think you spotted the 3 way that looks close but I doubt it is the same. None of the local Graingers show it in house and I'm not anxious to take a $50 gamble.
Originally Posted by JoeTestingEngr
So I guess I should just go home to Pa. via Austria. So T_R, do you think that you could post a European link that might show one, if they are still in production?
Thanks,
Joe

Unfortunately those rockers went out of production here around 1980. Besides, they never fit US boxes and cover plates, so no help there unfortunately.

I think moving another switch would be your best bet in this case.
I took a pic over Thanksgiving. Now I just have to go over the instructions on posting it. Clicking the "Enter an image" tab doesn't seem to work.
Joe
Texas Ranger...

It was during the 1960's that France dramatically expanded her reach into European wide standards. This shift was tied into the EEC -- which was actually launched (1955) as the Franco-Germanic iron, steel and coal cartel.

Both nations have their heavy industry located right up close to their mutual borders. This was of major consequence during WWI and WWII.

After WWII, both nations mutually decided that it was impossible for them to ever fight again over pretty much anything -- in a world now dominated by America and Russia... particularly in iron and steel production. (Russia eventually displaced America as the world's top producer. Later it was Japan... and still later it's Red China.)

What got started as an iron cartel expanded into every manner of industrial goods production. Group Schneider (Square D) rode this wave to the top of the heap.

Paris, long ago, made electrical goods a national priority -- and designed out/ regulated out -- Westinghouse and GE product lines. Step-wise, France -- with German backing -- unified European design solutions. ( IEC )

It got off to a slow start in the 60's... and now is everywhere you breathe.

The French eventually made American imports -- de facto -- illegal. Ultimately, if a product is certified for sale in America or Canada -- then it's de-certified for sale in Europe -- and it's hangers on. (Francophone Africa, etc.)

This is the true source of grounding conductors that are green with yellow stripes. The stripe was mandated to stop the importation of cheaper American/ Canadian copper wire. It's also used to block NEMA certified equipment -- right on up through robotics.

The French argued that America's massive electrical trade allowed Westinghouse and GE to out compete European designs... that no European firm could ever push exports into the American-Canadian market.

This, in a world where Group Schnieder owns Square D outright and the largest Mexican manufacturer, too!

This gambit goes far beyond devices -- to include atomic plants. France now has the most advanced atomic technology on the planet. No-one else is even close. She'd rather export the juice than the atomic plants. At night, most of Europe is getting their juice all the way from France: Italy, Spain, Germany, Belgium, etc. are all addicted to lowest cost French atomic electricity.

When the inter-tie went down, all of Italy went dark! It took days to re-boot its grid. It finally came out that France was powering the base load of almost all of Europe that night. (!) Paris looks upon the practice as her ideal export engine. The money just keeps rolling in.

All of which is a long way of saying that America (NEMA) is, and has been, in a long smouldering trade conflict with the Europeans. (IEC) Both want to be exporters to the world -- and don't want their peer to challenge them in their home markets.

So, the devices are engineered to not quite fit each other (dimensionally) -- even if they are virtually knock-offs of each other.

We see a variation on this with the NEC mandating new technologies -- even if the stuff is not ready for prime time.

The battle is on economics... not on the engineering.
[Linked Image from i39.photobucket.com]

[Linked Image from i39.photobucket.com]
How many do you want?

[Linked Image from i39.photobucket.com]
Originally Posted by BigB
How many do you want?


Somewhere I have a unused single pole switch like those i my stash, BTW,they were made by Eagle.

Wow, you found them! I never did go through to find out how to attach my pic. How many are you willing to part with? I can't wait to tell my aunt that there are some out there. I'm going home to visit for her 89th this month and would love to change out the bad one.
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