For those that are interested
In article , ARWadsworth writes
Heeey, one in good condition, gas tight seal on the earthing and no possible room for the cables to wiggle, one for ebay (good condition[1]) I think.
[1] inc one new twist-on.En el artículo , ARWadsworth escribió:
Interesting, thanks for posting those.
Have you found any of the earlier hand-made junction boxes for the earlier circular profile lead-sheathed cable with the paper insulation? Those were a work of art. Three cables were jointed, then a square of lead bent over the joint to form a triangle with a cable exiting at each point. The edges of the triangle were then soldered up and the cable sheaths also soldered to the triangle to form a continuous earth. It'd be bloody scary to find those still in use today.
If it was soldereed all round, it should all still be sound. No air equals almost no deterioration, and the lead would provide more cordgrip than a modern jb does.
NT
They were.
Never thought of that. I was going to bin it.
I cannot say I have seen those. There is a section in my old book about joint boxes and lead sheathed cable.
I'll scan them if anyone says yes.
If its 1923 or before, great, could put em on the wiki some time. After then it'll be copyright though.
NT
Isn't copyright from author's death?
Andy
Pity, that rules out my "The Complete Handyman" (1938)
Never saw any of those, but in a house that was the first in the area to be electrified with its own hydro generator, I found lovely hand-made wooden junction boxes for the cables. Most of the wiring was later, as in lead sheathed, but there was still some evidence of original open conductor types - knob and tube, iirc.
I've still got some evidence of knob and tube (no longer in use) up in the workshop, even though that was built in the 1950s - presumably it was cheaper, and/or the builders had a supply of material sitting around (the farmhouse was built in the late 40s, but apparently there was a property on the site before that, so maybe they salvaged stuff from there and re- used).
A lot of the top floor of the house is done with cloth-covered rubberised cable, no earth (this is in the US, where wiring practices are probably
40 years behind the UK), with joints soldered and taped. The more modern wiring all uses bloody wire nuts, which I'm not convinced are a step forward, but are standard practice over here.Much of the house uses modern breakers, but I've still got a fair pile of screw-in fuses "protecting" various out-buildings, not to mention a few lovely old knife switch emergency disconnects... more power, Igor!
cheers
Jules
The 1800s ended in 1809.
Bill
Siemens screw-in fuses were standard fitment here until not all that long ago, being superceded by MCBs. There are still plenty of them in service - like every house over 20 years old. What gave me a snort of amusement was watching 'Das Boot' and seeing the exact same fuses in the bloody U-Boat control room.
To be fair, I think there are good & bad points for *modern* wiring standards on both sides.
The American standards specify good minimum socket requirements for bedrooms & living rooms, so you don't need to use as many extension leads. They require at least one RCD-protected socket in a bathroom (unlike the obsolete ban on non-shaver sockets in the UK). Cookers and other high-power appliances can be plugged in (with special plugs & sockets according to the current & phases), instead of having to switch off a circuit & fiddle with terminals inside a box. And they divide the sockets in a house into lots of independent circuits, instead of two rings.
OTOH, I like the British practice of putting lights & sockets on separate circuits, & a 3 kW kettle is nice & quick.
As for wire nuts, I get the impression they are fine if used competently in appropriate enclosures. (IIRC, American socket boxes are normally 2" deep, so there's room for the wire nuts. And I've seen the occasional bad terminal block connection in the UK.)
There's nothing to stop anyone using a 32A industrial plug and socket on any cooker in the UK, is so wished.
OK, but have you ever seen an oven supplied with such a plug, or a domestic kitchen that comes with such a socket?
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