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Ancient Incandescent Fixture (1)
I got this from my construction teacher. It was filthy when I got it so I took it home this weekend and scrubbed the porcelain-glazed reflector with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and the rest of it was scrubbed with a steel wool pad. The piece inside is really nice brass but it's totally concealed. The top part mounted to a junction box and swivels so the light will be level is mounted on an angled ceiling.

I was told this came out of a 1920s building. The wires that came out of this were both natural-colored cloth (tanish yellow in color) so you couldn't tell hot from neutral but one screw terminal was brass and the other was aluminum. The brass screw went to the socket contact as always... Does this appear to be a 1920s fixture? It certainly looks old and was filthy beyond belief but now it's all cleaned up and has new wires since the old wires were so brittle the insulation was falling off from being touched. The cloth surrounded a small layer of tiny black gravel-like rock things, which surrounded the strnaded copper wire. At any rate, the two wires had to go so I stuck some 14AWG stranded wire I had left over from my street light stand project.
Keywords: Indoor_Fixtures

Ancient Incandescent Fixture (1)

I got this from my construction teacher. It was filthy when I got it so I took it home this weekend and scrubbed the porcelain-glazed reflector with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and the rest of it was scrubbed with a steel wool pad. The piece inside is really nice brass but it's totally concealed. The top part mounted to a junction box and swivels so the light will be level is mounted on an angled ceiling.

I was told this came out of a 1920s building. The wires that came out of this were both natural-colored cloth (tanish yellow in color) so you couldn't tell hot from neutral but one screw terminal was brass and the other was aluminum. The brass screw went to the socket contact as always... Does this appear to be a 1920s fixture? It certainly looks old and was filthy beyond belief but now it's all cleaned up and has new wires since the old wires were so brittle the insulation was falling off from being touched. The cloth surrounded a small layer of tiny black gravel-like rock things, which surrounded the strnaded copper wire. At any rate, the two wires had to go so I stuck some 14AWG stranded wire I had left over from my street light stand project.

image~145.jpg m2.PNG gol11214_001.JPG gol11214_004.JPG gol11214_005.JPG
File information
Filename:gol11214_001.JPG
Album name:Mike / Indoor Fixtures
Keywords:Indoor_Fixtures
Filesize:251 KiB
Date added:Jan 12, 2014
Dimensions:1500 x 2000 pixels
Displayed:511 times
Color Space:sRGB
DateTime Original:2009:03:27 00:09:32
Exposure Bias:0 EV
Exposure Mode:0
Exposure Time:1/4294935168 sec
FNumber:f/2.8
Flash:No Flash
Focal length:28.8125 mm
Light Source:Unknown: 0
Make:Vivicam
Model:V5024
URL:http://www.galleryoflights.org/mb/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=16863
Favorites:Add to Favorites

Comment 1 to 14 of 14
Page: 1

GEsoftwhite100watts   [Mar 07, 2014 at 04:24 AM]
Very cool!
streetlight98   [Mar 07, 2014 at 12:08 PM]
thanks!
SeanB~1   [Mar 07, 2014 at 08:06 PM]
The black was originally soft unvulcanised natural white or red dyed rubber. It went black and brittle from decades of both heat and contact with the tinned copper wire it was extruded around.
streetlight98   [Mar 08, 2014 at 03:41 AM]
what went black?
SeanB~1   [Mar 08, 2014 at 04:29 AM]
The rubber that was the wire insulation. I have some as well dating from around that era, the insulation is brittle and hard, while it originally was soft and flexible.
streetlight98   [Mar 08, 2014 at 04:32 AM]
ahh the "pebble things" was really a rubber coating? I've seen wire that got brittle but the cloth and base insulation got brittle. These wires were still flexible but i guess the rubber just deteriorated.
SeanB~1   [Mar 08, 2014 at 04:37 AM]
The rubber degraded to the point where it was only loosely held by the cotton sleeve, so it was somewhat flexible. If it was less degraded it would be stiff and break as you bend it, but here it is way past that point. Likely it was pretty close to falling off completely leaving bare wires.
streetlight98   [Mar 08, 2014 at 04:40 AM]
Ahh i see. It's got nice fresh wires now though and the new wires are color coded too so i can tell which is which lol.
GEsoftwhite100watts   [Mar 08, 2014 at 05:05 AM]
Yeah a lot of older fixtures had non-color-coded wires..and a lot of old appliances, radios, table lamps, etc. had non-polarized plugs Shocked
streetlight98   [Mar 08, 2014 at 04:59 PM]
yeah my single lamp preheat industrial didn't have a polarized plug (well the plug was cut off and sitting on top but it was so nasty looking i threw it out. I had to open it to rewire it since the supply cord's rubber was dry and coming off in chunks. The internal cloth wiring as alright though. Now it's got a grounded computer cord. It had a pull chain switch but the switch was bad so i got rid of it and now it's just an empty 3/8" hole. The switch was also wired inline with the neutral wire (or what would be the neutral wire, since the supply wires weren't polarized) which i find is common with 1940 aplicances aparently...
GEsoftwhite100watts   [Mar 08, 2014 at 05:20 PM]
Interesting. You should be able to buy a pullchain switch at most any hardware store if you so desire...although I'm certain you control it with a wall switch currently...
It came out of your grandpa's shop, right?
streetlight98   [Mar 08, 2014 at 05:28 PM]
I have a pullchain and tried it and it didn't fit the hole so I was like "Eh, I don't need a switch on this anyways" lol. The single lamp industrial came from my cousins' grandpa's garage. I'm guessing it was his workbench light but one of those LOA shoplites with Altos has been over the workbench for as long as I can remember. I did pull a light off my grandpa's shop's wall but the fixture is still there. I have the ballast mounted on the wall work disply and I have the sockets in a tool box in the basement. He's got the metal pieces though. I also have a NPF preheat ballast waiting to replace it (since a HPS ballast wouldn't fit since the old ballast was a NPF, though full power; damn thing was rated for like 0.85A and it was a single lamp balalst lol, very lossey)
GEsoftwhite100watts   [Mar 08, 2014 at 05:31 PM]
Yeah I have a Universal (80s vintage?) LPF 14-15-20w single lamp trigger start that's supposedly .55a! I believe it though judging by the sound my generator makes when I turn that light on. It runs a Philips pre-Alto F20T12/WW from August 1997, just a few months older than me!
streetlight98   [Mar 08, 2014 at 05:59 PM]
yeah the older ballasts were REALLY lossey!

Comment 1 to 14 of 14
Page: 1