ECN Forum
Posted By: Admin Old Stuff!! - 11/18/05 05:50 AM
Quote
I found these in an old electricians basement.

HCE727
[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]
Quote
I found these in a garage from 1929, the were still in working condition!
[Linked Image]

[This message has been edited by Webmaster (edited 11-18-2005).]
Posted By: pauluk Re: Old Stuff!! - 11/18/05 02:48 PM
What are the dates on sopme of this stuff? The Push-Matic breakers and Tap Lite boxes look typical 1960s styling.

Not sure about the wirenuts and insulated staples. Possibly a little earlier, although sometimes the same box designs lasted for years!
Posted By: Hemingray Re: Old Stuff!! - 11/18/05 03:25 PM
What was that TAP-LIGHT switch used for?
Posted By: mamills Re: Old Stuff!! - 11/19/05 11:59 PM
Those "Tap-Lite" switches were quite the finishing touch in the modern contemporary home of the late 1950s/early 1960s. They are analoguous to the common toggle wall switch - push on, push off. I have a friend who has a number of these single and double gang devices in her house. The one shown here features a woodgrain cover which hides the 6/32" mounting screws.

My favorite is still the old 1910 era 2 button switch (with the real "mother of pearl" inset for the "on" button, and solid brass plate, of course [Linked Image].

Mike (mamills)

[This message has been edited by mamills (edited 11-19-2005).]
Posted By: Trumpy Re: Old Stuff!! - 11/20/05 01:04 AM
Is Honeywell a US company?.
Reason I ask that is because a lot of Room Thermostats here are made by H/well.
I always thought they came from the UK.
BTW HCE727, that stuff is in pristine condition. [Linked Image]
Thanks for the pics, I could look at old stuff like this for hours. [Linked Image]

[This message has been edited by Trumpy (edited 11-19-2005).]
Posted By: HCE727 Re: Old Stuff!! - 11/20/05 02:57 AM
You and me both, love that stuff! I have a couple of other things that I am going to post.
Posted By: yaktx Re: Old Stuff!! - 11/20/05 05:41 AM
Quote
My favorite is still the old 1910 era 2 button switch (with the real "mother of pearl" inset for the "on" button, and solid brass plate, of course.

I recently bought a 1957 Leviton catalog which included mother-of-pearl pushbutton switches. I'd bet these were old stock. I have a 1996 Leviton catalog listing t-slot receptacles, and T-rated switches, and other things they were probably trying to unload.
Posted By: TWeeks Re: Old Stuff!! - 11/14/13 08:45 PM
I am looking for the Honeywell tap-lites that you show in the above photo. My parents are selling their home and need to replace some of these. I need 4 two tap-lites switch plate covers and 1 four tap-lite switch plate. Do you know anyone that has some of these?

Please email me at tmweeks@carolina.rr.com
Posted By: HotLine1 Re: Old Stuff!! - 11/15/13 03:15 AM
Best suggestion I could offer is:
Get the exact dimension of the hole(s).
Contact Mulberry Metals via a google search.
They MAY have a plate available, or for the $$$ custom make them.

www.mulberrymetals.com

They are still in Union, NJ
Posted By: gfretwell Re: Old Stuff!! - 11/15/13 05:31 PM
I have made custom plates myself with a bench router or even a Dremel tool, starting with a blank cover or a toggle cover, depending on where the screw holes need to be.
You can always start with a clean sheet of brass too.
Posted By: Trumpy Re: Old Stuff!! - 11/15/13 06:09 PM
A funny thing guys,
I was looking at that picture of that box of cable staples.
When I first started my time as an electrician, we had an area upstairs at work called "The Museum", most of it had stuff that we only used once in a while, but there was an area, that had stuff that was so out-dated it never got used,
there was boxes and boxes of really old stuff from the 30's, the war years and the 50's.
In amongst this stuff, I swear there was at least two boxes of these same insulated staples, back in the days when electricity was first put into houses over here, you had 2 single conductors, varnished cambric tinned copper wire was used and it was stapled along the timber framing in the house.
So simple, but you didn't need a lot back then, having lights in your house, would have been a heap better than the old gas lamps (if you could get them), it just meant you had more visitors at night, coming to see this new- fangled lighting.
One other thing we had upstairs was an old knife type 2 pole main switch rated at 80A per pole, it looked like something out of a Frankenstein movie, I kick myself for not getting a photo of that. frown
Posted By: HotLine1 Re: Old Stuff!! - 11/15/13 08:42 PM
Trumpy:
Look closely at the staple box, and see the 2 conductor lamp cord (zip cord)! Also, these staples came in a few colors, brown, white, etc.

A common use was to make 'outlets' in rooms where there were none, or just one, using two wire lamp cord (zip cord)

2 wire outlets (raised plastic) were mounted on the baseboard, wired with zip cord, around the room, and a 2 wire cord cap was attached and plugged into the receptacle.

A lot was also done from room to room, thru walls, around door jambs, etc.

We referred to this as 'fuses', like what you light to set off a firecracker.

I have not seen any of this stuff in many years, but it was readily available at the corner hardware store, or in the 'electrical aisle' of the five & dime.

Leviton and Eagle were the major mfg.

BTW, Honeywell is a major worldwide company!
Posted By: HotLine1 Re: Old Stuff!! - 11/15/13 08:43 PM
Greg:
Do you have a UL stamp for your 'custom plates'??

LMAO
Posted By: harold endean Re: Old Stuff!! - 11/16/13 03:38 AM
There was an old catalog that I used to get from a company called Rejuvenations. They had the old electrical switches and things in there. Here by me, the houses are between 50-200 years old and some of them still have the old knob and tube wiring and switches, etc. So my customers could still replace their old switches with new modern ones that looked old. Try going to this location:

http://www.rejuvenation.com/catalog/categories/hardware/switchplates-switches

See if they have what you need.
Posted By: harold endean Re: Old Stuff!! - 11/16/13 03:42 AM
This site also has another old style that was popular around here it was called the Remcon Relay system. You would install the little relay in the box which fed you light and you ran a small low voltage wire down to the switch. It was momentary on/off to get your light to work. The best thing about this system, was that you could run 3, 5 ,6 or 8 switches down by your front door and you could use it as a master switch to turn on outside lights, garage lights, front door lights, and walkway lights all from the front door.

Here is some of their equipment:

http://www.tequipment.net/RemconR-115S-5Pack.html
Posted By: gfretwell Re: Old Stuff!! - 11/16/13 06:59 AM
Originally Posted by HotLine1
Greg:
Do you have a UL stamp for your 'custom plates'??

LMAO


Sure, there is a guy in China that sells the UL stickers for a dollar a sheet. wink
Posted By: HotLine1 Re: Old Stuff!! - 11/17/13 07:33 PM
And I hear there is a guy in Cambodia that gets .80cents
a sheet.

© ECN Electrical Forums