Posted 6 years ago
fortapache
(3287 items)
Despite having plenty of stuff sitting around the house I did a bit of antiquing on my day off. The thrill of the hunt and so on.
This poor mold space heater was sitting outside luckily covered. As this was out in the desert and in a covered area not that big a deal but not the best for something electric. It had been out there so long the price tag had disintegrated.
As to the item it is an Al Bersted product. He was the king of dimestore electric appliances from the 1920s-1950s. They were sold under a variety of names. I am going to have to make an educated guess on this one. In the 1950s it would have been under the McGraw Electric name so I am thinking 1940s. It has a stamped metal base so unlikely it would be much earlier.
The radiator on this is about a foot across. The cage has a spider web design used on the Eskimo Fans around 1950. It has a nifty woven cord. If I check it out to see if it works I will use a series of surge protectors.
Thank you very much MacDaddyRico. Perhaps the kitchen outlet plus a series of surge protector strips.
Thank you very much valentino97. Actually I have several fans in line for new cords first. This will be just for display I think.
Thank you
MacDaddyRico
valentino97
Caperkid
Newfld
TassieDevil
mikelv85
fleafinder
vetraio50
aura
iggy
nutsabotas6
First thing to do when thinking whether to plug in (or not) ANY old electric thing is to EXAMINE IT CLOSELY. If any of the cord looks obviously worn/twisted/abraded (esp around its wall plug, and where it enters the device itself) -- OR if it feels (or sounds) 'crispy crunchy' when flexed -- think twice. If you see *any* exposed copper anywhere -- STOP.
If it otherwise looks/sounds good (old heater cords in particular tend to be pretty durable over time if not physically damaged) but you are still hesitant -- and instead of your kitchen/bathroom GFCI, I'd suggest using an extension cord in the garage/driveway instead...plug the heater (etc) to the cord first, THEN the other end of the cord to an outlet somewhere further away from you, ifns 'the thing' should happen to unexpectedly go *boom*. ;-) :-)
That's definitely pretty nifty!! I guess there were very few safety requirements back in the day:)
Thank you everyone. I shall take everyone's advice into consideration.
Thank you Scott. Things were a bit loose back then.
Thank you very much valentino97. That would have been awkward.
Thank you
Poire
PhilDMorris
jscott0363
Jlmam
gargoylecollector
lisa
burtmacklin
Thank you SEAN68.