A few quick pics of some older-style British light switches.

First is a typical 1940s-style tumbler switch, with porcelain (vitreous) back and brown bakelite cover. This is the Britmac "Little Briton":


The lower two round holes are the terminals, the center pair have a wax insert covering the screw heads which hold the switch mechanism in place:


These have a quick-make/quick-break spring-loaded toggle making them suitable for AC and DC use. Contact ratings are the standard 250V 5A maximum:

Here's a later model, probably 1950s, made by GEC. Unlike the first switch where the cover is secured by two screws top and bottom, this one just unscrews from the threaded center hole:


In this one the switch contacts are fully enclosed. The rating is 250V 5A again, but the swtich is a quiet-action type without the spring-biasing, and is thus stamped "AC only." This is the 2-way (=U.S. 3-way) version:






By the way, to give an idea of scale, both of these switches are about 2" diameter.



[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 05-31-2004).]

Remember them well, and the Crabtree lincoln switch mutch the same pattern. Spent many/many hours drilling wooden blocks to match the connection holes. Oh nostalgia tears are starting to well up in my eyes. I can even hear my old mate shouting at me for not getting the holes perfectly in line with the connections. Thank you lord for the modern plate switch.

Paul,
We used the Round GEC switches here too.
And there are still a lot of them in use here, to this day.

We had those round switches too, they were usually installed on "conical anchors", that's the name for conic wood patresses that are plastered flush in a wall. They usually had a 1/2" center hole for th wires. In walls with crumbly bricks far more reliable than modern plastic plugs.
The squarish one looks weird though. Older switches were completely round and newer ones are square, sometimes rectangular.

Yes, that Britmac with its "rounded square" shape was less common than the plain round types.

As Alan mentioned, the usual method of installation here involved a wooden pattress block, with individual holes drilled to line up with the terminals. The block was then fixed to the wall (sometimes with just a single screw through the middle) with the wires left poking through the holes, and the switch then screwed onto the block.

I have loads of the Crabtree tumbler switches. When I was a kid these were the sort of thing that were being stripped out of older houses for rewires, and I managed to get holds of lots of them for free. They were very handy for my various electrical projects of the time, such as banks of light swiotches for model railways etc.

I'll take some pics of the Crabtree switches next time I have a photo session.

Heres a few pics of the wooden pattress switch and a few others i ripped out of a job i done a few months back.










Heres a few pics of some old Pyro cable clamps which came from the same job.

Quote:

I am always suspicious to switches with metal handle. I also dont like those little knitter switches, unless they are mounted in a grounded plate.



i've seen those (don't know which manufacter) mechanically fail after a high on/off cycle count, shorted pole to pole, and i think they could also short to the housing...

[This message has been edited by :andy: (edited 06-02-2004).]

Andy,The Crabtree metal dolly type is usually O.K.it was always fitted in a good quality cast iron box, with the fixings for the switch interior being taped directly into the cast box giving a good earth. (prviding the conduit was sound). Agree with you on the panel type switch have seen a good number of these shorted and blown up even seen them causing the door of the panel to become live because there has been no bonding strap across the hinge mechanism. Never like to see them on 240v systems. You can get a rubber gasket that fits over the switch dolly but they are seldom fitted.Even that does not make me like them. Company called Arrow used to make lots of them.

Andy,
Although most have now long-since been replaced, when I was a kid there were a still quite a few old brass switches left in service in 1920s/30s houses.

Unfortunately, some were not grounded, especially if somebody had used a brass switch as a replacement for one of the types pictured at the top of this thread. In domestic wiring, lighting circuits here were not required to have an earth until 1966.

I've used many of those miniature toggle switches in my electronics work over the years, and they do fail sometimes (the old full-size toggles were far more reliable).

I would always ensure that a metal panel is bonded, not just for safety but also because in many types of equipment it is needed to help shield circuitry and reduce hum.

sanUK,
Just a small question about pic No.6 with the Pyrotenax cable.
Shouldn't there be a sealing gland on the end of that cable?.

looks as though it could be a flameproof gland by look of the thread length, what was the installation?

The gland was filled with bitumen yes BITUMEN when i removed it, i stripped the gland down later after removing the old pyro.
The cable was a sub main supplying a farm outbuilding, and looked to be the original wiring, at a guess 1950`s (ish).

Received by e-mail from somebody identified only as "gippeswyc":






Thanks to gippeswyc for taking the trouble to send me these photos. It's amazing the treasures that can lie hidden away for decades.

We're getting more switches for the collection. The following comes from John at Cumbriapower:










Thanks for those John. I don't recall ever seeing this brand before.

Thanks Paul. I have come across them a couple of times before which makes me wonder whether they might be of a local origin...? I'll try an do a little research if I can, and find out more about them.

Sorry about the focus in the last pic - I haven't got the hang of the macro function on the camera yet !

Seem to remember very similar if not identical switches were used in council houses in East Kilbride, I'm talking over 30 years ago when I was a kid so don't take it as gospel.

Simon.

Ah well Simon, this came from a house in the Lake District I can't find any info about the manufacturer at all sadly.

Anyone want to add this thing to their collection/s? First to post can have it - or I'll be binning it!!!

Hi fellas. I see this thread is quite cold. I'm just a regular dude with no electrical experience whatsoever. I was in Australia recently and bought a lovely old unbranded switch that resembles a Vitreous or Crabtree.

I was flipping it on and off but the prongs were too tight and little ceramic bit that keeps you from getting electrocuted broke.

[img]https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxKo5yPjAYwRTm0yS0RKc2ZkOGM/view[/img]

I was very sad. This switch only cost me about $8. For a brief moment, I considered throwing it away. I think that's what most people would have done. But then I began thinking of how I could salvage it. After lots of bad ideas, I decided that the best thing would be to go to pottery class and mold a new piece out clay and fire it. I made about ten duplicates, assuming that they would break or would not fit right for one reason or another.

[img]https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxKo5yPjAYwRYVNHQ3IxX2hXMWM/view?usp=sharing[/img]

Well, the first one fit and worked great.

[img]https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxKo5yPjAYwRQXVwcXhqVy1fUU0/view?usp=sharing[/img]

...and after all this work, and after installing it...

[img]https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxKo5yPjAYwRSjQwTlRRVmw4Z1k/view?usp=sharing[/img]

only NOW does it occur to me - is this thing even SAFE to use? I think it only has a 5amp capacity. A person at the hardware store helped me calculate that with a 60 watt lightbulb it would only create a .6 amp load. Does that sound right?

Thanks and looking forward to your replies. Hopefully my flat won't burn down in the meantime.

Cheers,
~M.

For the power calculation: 60W / 120V = 0.5A

Anyway, I don't really expect it to set anything on fire, with the ceramic base, but I doubt such a switch would qualify as "double-insulated" so if nothing else, I would have a GFI on the circuit.

Hi guys I remember those old round switches where my dad worked in the 1980s the place was built in the 50 s so it all makes sense. What I do remember is that when a flourescents lamp was installed to replace a pair of filament lamps in a workshop when switçhing off the switch would break down live to earth with a BANG and blown fuse!

Now that's not what I'd expect from a switch obviously designed with DC in mind!

It was a bit scary when it happened they changed the switch soon after that. I think part of the trouble was that the place was damp which don't help things.

More to the point in your part of the world: 60W / 240V = 0.25A

True for Anne-Marie but Meezy is located in New York so 120 V is correct!

Well I've repaired all sorts of things, either as necessity or just as a challenge, but I congratulate Meezy on replicating the part I would have considered impossible!