4 Slot Outlet

[randynavarro]

What's this outlet do again? 1925 home.

It's energized.

And no, I didn't test it. I was working on some electrical stuff at home and left my multi-meter in the garage. Dooope! I have my voltage sniffer though, and it lit.

Image Insert:

66.4 KB

[Bill Kibbel]

That's from the transition period, when earlier, non-parallel blades where still in use. Mandating parallel blades came after NEMA was created in '26.

The earliest outlets where all "sockets".

Notice they're porcelain and not Bakelite.

[JDSchlueter]

For how old that receptacle is, it looks to be in pretty good shape yet.

Most of them are usually paint globbed or broken, or both...

[Bain]

Why were non-parallel blades disallowed? Did the plugs slip out more easily or was NEMA trying to limit how much of the hot blade was exposed if the plug wasn't inserted all the way? Or am I being thick and not realizing the obvious?

I've never seen an outlet like the one in Randy's photo, and can't determine if the non-parallel slots are polarized, but I don't see what's dangerous about them.

[Jim Katen]

Originally posted by Bain

Why were non-parallel blades disallowed? Did the plugs slip out more easily or was NEMA trying to limit how much of the hot blade was exposed if the plug wasn't inserted all the way? Or am I being thick and not realizing the obvious?

They simply hadn't settled on a convention yet. At the time, you could buy plugs with parallel blades or in-line blades. Eventually, the parallel blade configuration became the norm. I doubt that there's any particularly compelling reason why one configuration succeeded.

The receptacle in Randy's picture is like a VCR machine that accepts both VHS and BETA tapes.

I've never seen an outlet like the one in Randy's photo, and can't determine if the non-parallel slots are polarized, but I don't see what's dangerous about them.

It's not any more dangerous that any old receptacle. And it has the bonus of accommodating old parallel-blade plugs.

- Jim Katen, Oregon

[Chad Fabry]

The receptacle in Randy's picture is like a VCR machine that accepts both VHS and BETA tapes.

What's a VCR?

[Jim Katen]

Originally posted by Chad Fabry

The receptacle in Randy's picture is like a VCR machine that accepts both VHS and BETA tapes.

What's a VCR?

It's the machine that we used to record episodes of The Love Boat.

Image Insert:

9.47 KB

- Jim Katen, Oregon

[caryseidner]

Jim,

My college roommate had a VCR that looked just like that one. It had a wired remote control. We were state-of-the-art!

[Brad Manor]

I found this old gem in my own house today (my house was built in '26). It was inside a wall, and energized. The interesting things you find when bashing walls down. Now I have another item to add to my box of old knobs, tubes and other things a house nerd would want to keep.

Image Insert:

26.54 KB

-Brad

[Bain]

Keep looking, Brad. You might get real lucky, like this guy did.

http://www.mixx.com/videos/33935/worker ... -for-half-

[hausdok]

The link is apparently no good.

[Chad Fabry]

worked for me

[hausdok]

I dunno,

I've tried it over and over for the past hour every which way that I can and all I get is an

Error 404

File Not Found

[Bain]

Another account of the story.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081108/ap_ ... dden_money