Tim

Oh, that looks like one of those Australian style craw foot outlets like the ones I have. Better check the wiring in that dam.

I hope you don't live below the dam.

Rob

I live above the dam and to the side of the lake. The more I look around this old place, the more I believe he was just a helper and told people that he was a master electrician.

This is a very informative board and I hope that I will learn alot from the good people here.

Tim

Remove the plug on the first "extension" and put it on E-bay.

You'll make a bunch of money, since those old screwplugs are prized by antique lamp, appliance and fan restorers.

Whoa!!,
Is that top connector something you screw into a lamp socket?.
Where does the Ground come from?.
In the bottom pic, is that paint or corrosion on the outlet part of that extension cord?
Is it legal to have an extension cord without a ground wire/pin on it?.

BTW Tim, Welcome to ECN mate!.

Thanks for the welcome Trumpy.
Yes, the top connector screws into a lamp socket. Ground? We don't need no stinking grounds. Seriously, no ground is on it or most of this house.
That is paint on the bottom receptacle. He actually had the ground attached to the receptacle, but cut it off the male end. He also had the hot and neutral reversed.
Tim

Here are some more pics from royal12136.
The connectors with the cover removed:





Thanks Tim.

Probably did that so he could jam the three-pin plug into the existing two-hole socket in the wall.

Home-made cheater plug, anyone?

The NEMA 5-15 receptacle has the polarity reversed.

Regarding the "ground" contact on the "junior" crowfoot: It's not electrically continuous with the mounting strap, is it? My old catalogs (GE '36, Wesco '60) do not refer to these as grounding receptacles, but rather as "2-pole, 3-wire receptacles". They were used (rarely) the way we use a NEMA 5-15 today, so the third prong was for equipment grounding, but it wasn't called a grounding receptacle.

The screw plug looks like one of those molded composition ones. The wires aren't removable, are they? My '60 Wesco catalog still lists these!

Hello Yaktx,
The wires are molded into the screw plug. What does your catalog call these type of screw plugs?
Thank you,
Tim

[This message has been edited by royal12136 (edited 11-02-2005).]

<i>What does your catalog call these type of screw plugs?</i>

Bryant molded one-piece weatherproof plug:
Medium screw base. 4 1/2" No. 14 R.C. leads.
660 watts, 600 volts (!)

I've always wondered why American electricians use the term "cord cap" for what everyone else calls a plug, and I think I've figured it out. Way back when, this thingamajig was a plug. Then they came out with the two piece deals, one piece screwed into an edison-base lampholder (this was the plug base), and the other thing plugged into it, and that was called the cap.

This distinction was lost on the general public, to whom a plug was just a plug. Meanwhile, we are now several generations removed from the era when there were no wall receptacles, and thus "plug bases" are not thought of as being part of a two-piece kit.

Electricians still know to call a plug a "cord cap", but I bet most have no clue why.