Posted 7 years ago
Champagne1…
(21 items)
So this was a very interesting find at the GW, an 1800's porcelain electrical service entrance knife switch that somebody made into a lamp ! It is pretty obvious that who ever made this into a lamp did so sometime ago, maybe the 60's or 70's ? I am really not sure. I showed this to my husband who has worked in Boston as an electrician for many years and he said that he has seen a lot of these knife switches in the basements of houses, however he was intrigued by the fuses in this one. He said that he had never seen a fuse completely cased in metal like these. The switch is labeled GE.CO.CAT.NO.28703 60 AMP. 250 VOLTS. I have searched online for more information on these fuses and have not been able to come up with anything so if any one knows anything more about them I would certainly be interested ! Now I just have to find the right type of shade for it and maybe an Edison bulb ?
Is it possible that these fuses were designed to be "repaired," by the homeowner, with a replacement piece of fuse material, rather than replacing the whole fuse? I've never seen such a thing either. They look dangerous. :-)
Thanks UncleRon, someone else I know suggested that too, just so hard to imagine ! From what I have read online they were VERY dangerous and this one seems to have a higher voltage than most I have seen. I don't even like getting a static shock so I can't even imagine having one of these in my house !!
Early breakers/fuse boxes were pretty bad. To reset them, sometimes you'd have to under-go an electric shock when you flipped the switch. They worked, but working on them was no fun.
Most fuses were made to be disposable, but I don't know about those that are this old.