Lanterns/Fixtures > Antique

Ever seen the old knob & tube wiring of the 1880s - 1930s?

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joe_347V:
I haven't seen knob and tube wiring before in real life but I 've seen a display of knob and tube wiring before at a electrical display.  It's kind of scary to see something as old as K&T still being used today especially since there weren't as many circuits and there was no grounding in K&T

Here's a picture of a display of K&T wiring(Click to enlarge):


 

SeanB~1:
I did see some that was removed from the hotel next door, I did post a photo of it.

gailgrove:
I`ve seen it in a house that was about to be demolished (I was going to get a knob and tube) but they showed up too early in the morning  ::)

icefoglights:
A house I lived in while I was in Louisiana had K&T wiring.  I ended up replacing most of it.  The parts of it that hadn't been messed with too much were actually in good shape, despite brittle and missing insulation on the wires.  The worst stuff was where the wiring had been messed with over the years, with balls of open splices made sitting on top of the ceiling.

That house had almost all major generations of wiring in it.  The front had knob and tube dating from its original construction.  The back half, which was added later, had a early type of cable.  Basically the same wires used in k&t wrapped in paper and bundled in a thick loom sheath, with both wires the same color.  Than there was "loomex" cable with rubber/vinyl insulated colored wires wrapped in paper and bundled in a thin loom sheath.  Than there was ungrounded romex; same construction as loomex but with the sheeth made from vinyl, and finally grounded romex.

Nevada Willis:
I grew up in K&T houses.  As a tot I once climbed up and pulled a brass pendant light fixture off the K&T braid that it was hanging from with a shower of sparks that followed.  Never did that again.  Electric meters were indoors which was no problem since most ladies stayed at home back then.  If you were gone on meter reading day you had a little card to put in the window with numbered wheels that you'd turn to match the readout of the meter.

The original electrical outlets were actually Edison sockets.  Old lamps had threaded bases at the ends of their cords that screwed into the sockets.  Those little two hole screw in socket adapters were originally made to adapt the old screw in outlets to the new fangled blade type plugs.

Having actually worked with K&T as I got older I appreciated the skill used to tension and turn the wiring so it would remain taught.  The up side to K&T was that it dissipated heat really well so it could carry a pretty good load.  The down side was that as the insulation wore down, you could get a really sharp "bite" from it if you rubbed up against it.

An outfit called Radio Daze still makes replacement fabric coated wire and some buildings in historic districts still have K&T showing, although I would imagine that most of their loads were carried behind the walls in Romex and conduit.

":O) Willis

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