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Honestly, can this get any better than this in rarity???
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This is something I do NOT see everyday, sure I see MV everyday, but not late 50s cobraheads! Those are the rare OV-14Bs which was once common in Canada, and not so common in the USA!
There was about 10 to 12 of them in this road alone....there are other 2 I know of near me.....There may be more out there that I have not yet discovered!
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In BGE (my local electric company) before and during 1965, all the fixtures with exceptions of the NEMA fixtures and the open bottom fixtures were all remote PC! That includes the OV-12, LM Unistyle, Silver GE M-250R, Silver GE M-400, Silver GE M-250, OV-25 series, AE series 13-000, all clamshells, LM Unistyle 400 and a few others.
But by 1966 when the OV-15s came out and the Grey GE M-250R and the McGraw-Edison Unistyle 175....they had internal photocells..HOWEVER even after 1965, the higher wattage (Medium sized fixtures) were STILL remote PC except for the GE M-400A1 powerdoors........So that means the Grey GE M-400, OV-25s and Unistyle 400 were still remote PCs. By the time those fixtures got discontinued.....all the streetlights were interally photocells...
But on the other hand..the neighboring electric company of BGE, which is PEPCO.....had internal Photocells VERY early......a lot of their clamshells had internal photocells as well as the early cobraheads, all of them!!! How Shocking!
But to make things even more ODD!!!!!! BGE may have been late in internal photocell, but they were pretty early into accepting low wattage MV, such as those OV-14Bs, and they have a good number of OV-10s and of course you know we have open bottom fixtures which were an attempt of trying to increase low wattage MV fixtures sales as they were not common in those days!
You won't find any low wattage MV clamshells in PEPCO. The earliest low wattage cobraheads in PEPCO are the OV-12 and the AE Series 13s and the later 60s McGraw Edison Unistyle 175s....but most of the MV cobraheads in PEPCO are from the 70s which are the ITT 13s, GE M-250R1 and OV-15...
Interesting eh???
We do have group relay photocell setups in BGE though....
There IS a Form109 I spotted on a utility pole hovering over an abandoned fenced in area, the pole is long disconnected and the refractor is cracked, maybe that was one of the originals...
But this is a nice shot! I would like to see one of these in service someday, but I haven't yet. Even when I was in Maryland, I Never went in an area with these.
Why did the early Westinghouse cobraheads have the two doors? Like this and the Flat bottom OV-25's.
And Ian, this may help you answer a LOT of questions about Denver in this book
It's easier to attach a streetlight pole with the door close but need a place to bolt the fixture in...that's why...
@Jace, nope I actually haven't seen one of these yet but how many of you have seen a Powerlite B2217 in person?