Note that one circuit isn't used for the moment. I wired the fuse holder at right to my original circuit, and screwed in a blown fuse, to cover the live contact, and it looks better too!

2nd note: The circuit was lit up when I took the pic, so that's truly a pic of the panel in action!

EDIT: The blown fuse is in the unused circuit LOL.

I think I still have some of those screw in fuses around in a box, NOS in the original wrapper of 4.

That's cool. Here they're sold individually, sometimes packaged, or they're sold in 2-packs. Maybe there are other retail package sizes.

Mone are late 70's vintage though.......

Are these still used, remember these in the 50s as a kid and have some here(fuses not the box) our fuses were rewireable on a porcelain holder with flat blades. Also I am looking at a US fuse by BUSS 6A not blown from a Bootsale here in London area the seller had not a clue what it was. Do you still use switches that have a little neon in them so to see in the dark these are normal room switch, lastly Leverton made a room switch using a mercury contacts, these were common in the 50s I think. Also like your black and white colour code which has not changed to brown and blue like here UK

fuse boxes aren't allowed in new construction but fuses are still made for existing fuse boxes. In Rhode Island in order to sell a house, it must get upgraded to a circut breaker panel instead of a fuse box.

I think the 2-pole 30A fused disconnects sold for air conditioners and water heaters are still allowed here but breakers are mostly used now. My local Home Depot or Lowe's (can't remember) still sells the bakelite fuse block inserts for the old panels.

I believe neon switches are still available but they're pretty hard to find. The mercury switches are no longer made though. And yeah our colour code is still black(Line 1), red (Line 2), white (Neutral) and green/bare (Ground) for most residential wiring.

what are neon switches?

They're switches with a built in neon pilot light (have no clue why it's almost 30 bucks) in the toggle which light up at times to show the location of the switch in the dark or to show that the load it controls is on.

Another type has the neon light separate from the switch toggle.

oh i've seen the toggles in the hotel i stayed at in Niagra falls, except the toggle was almond and the light shown through it. It came on with the light was turned off in the room. I've seen the second style too. the switch that controlled the tulamp long john fixture i have was one of those. were mercury switches the same thing basically?

Mercury switches are different, they're regular toggle switched but instead of having the toggle switch move a contact, it tilts a mercury vial to complete the circuit. The advantages of them is that they're almost silent in switching and the contacts last a long time. But since they contain mercury someone freaked out about them and got them more or less banned. They're harmless unless the vial is broken and the mercury leaks out though.

ahh i thought all switches here like that?

Basically from what I understand the idea behind mercury switches was that they would have totally silent operation. The reason why this is is because the old switches (I still see them around in older installations) have a loud SNAP! when operated, even if they are operated slowly. The reason this is is because the contacts in those are spring-loaded to snap together or come flying apart too quickly for an arc to start, which I guess was previously an issue...so thus the mercury switches came about. Some even had a little (I think argon) indicator light in them so they would also be visible in a dark room, or, like Joseph said, indicating the load they control is on. IIRC all the ones (even the modern neon non-mercury type) are what is called a "Reverse-Pilot-light" because the only time the indicator is lit is when the switch is in the "Off" position. When the switch is turned on, the indicator lamp goes out and the load is switched on.
BTW, the modern neon switches can wreak havoc upon CFLs in the form of flashes because they still must pass a small current through the filament of the bulb (assuming incandescent) to basically sense, "Am I on or am I off" and I would assume simplify the wiring/circuit. This current is too small to even dimly light the filament in an incandescent bulb but can make CFLs flash occasionally. I have also heard of this small current making starters in preheat fluorescents glow dimly but not enough to "fire". Some motion detectors, photocells, electronic timers, etc. can do this as well.

yeaah arcing is an issue with newer switches that are silent yet aren't mercury switches. i forgot about the "SNAP" switches, as i call them. Those are my favorite.

Older non-mercury switches had a snap action like the sound a breaker makes when you flip it. As people didn't like that, they came up with mercury switches to have a (nearly) totally silent switch. As the problems with mercury switches became evident, companies came out with quiet switches which had a weaker spring so it was quieter. It had a problem since if you move the toggle slowly, there was a higher change of arcing occurring at the contacts. Most switches installed today are quiet switches.

On Indicator lights, they were mostly small neon indicators that were in the toggle which light up at times to show the location of the switch in the dark or to show that the load it controls is on like how I mentioned above....

Older switches had a problem with non incandescent loads as it passes a small current through the switch to power the light but newer ones usually have a neutral connection for the neon light. This eliminates the problems they have with non-incandescent loads as the current returned through the neutral but it makes them not compatible with some switch configurations. (IE the type where there's only switched and unswitched hot in the switchbox).

Some dimmers, timers, PCs also need a neutral for the same reason too.

Is i just me or do some older breakers snap more loudly than newer ones? Mike, if you want some serious snapping action, try those safety switches with the spring-loaded handle...I have an old 30A Westinghouse one in Alaska that has a large spring-loaded handle and it's hard, hard, hard, to pull until it gets to a certain point and then, SNAP! It has cartridge fuses...does that mean it's vintage or do those still use those?

Fused disconnects are still made... The ones from Siemens and probably from others have a nice snap action switch inside.

Thanks...when did they phase out cartridge fuses and screw-in fuses in normal residential applications in favor of breakers?

Probably sometime during the mid-early 60s when breakers were introduced to the residential market. Fuses are still code legal in some places but you'll be hard pressed to find a new fused loadcentre though. Cartridge and Edison base fuses are still used in 30A and 60A disconnect boxes though.

And replacement 15A fuses are still made, I see them in the light bulb aisle at any grocery store...