1915 Electrical appliances - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2018, 12:25:37 pm
content: Because I’ve always wanted a ceiling-mounted soldering iron hanging at eye level! (6:02)https://youtu.be/eGLLEte6kx0

author: xrunner
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2018, 12:32:21 pm
content: Yea you put your finger near the wrong place in about a dozen areas and say goodbye to it LOL.

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2018, 01:02:50 pm
content: The car was an electrical car, a Tesla precursor!!!

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2018, 01:43:36 pm
content: Great peek at the way we once were. If you could afford electricity you could afford a maid. You just stuck a cigar you were smoking into your pocket. And we were so worried about tripping hazards that we festooned rooms with overhead mains feeds. Easy to duck past.

author: Cyberdragon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2018, 04:39:30 pm
content: Quote from: DC1MC on March 31, 2018, 01:02:50 pmIn the very early 1900s, electric cars were often for women. EAT THAT TESLA!

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2018, 05:01:43 pm
content: "Chafing dish" and "luncheon" are two words not often heard these days. And coffee percolators are devices not often seen these days either.

author: Cyberdragon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2018, 05:10:52 pm
content: There were really no roads between cities back then anyway, you had to take a train. So they couldn't travel over ten miles or so regardless. The car companies sold you charging stations, you were expected to make it back home.

author: helius
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2018, 05:11:55 pm
content: The electrically heated shaving dish... and what's that other thing in the bathroom? They certainly had just as many useless gadgets then as now!

author: Cyberdragon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2018, 05:15:10 pm
content: Quote from: helius on March 31, 2018, 05:11:55 pmThey even had electric anal warmers and mains powered vibrators...

author: helius
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2018, 05:22:11 pm
content: Quote from: Cyberdragon on March 31, 2018, 05:15:10 pmNot sure why it would need to be warmed.The "Hitachi Magic Wand" is still mains powered and quite popular

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2018, 05:53:56 pm
content: Quote from: helius on March 31, 2018, 05:22:11 pm"The Prostate WarmerInvented in 1918, this device promised to “stimulate the abdominal brain!” (I am not sure what that is, although men have long been accused of thinking with it).The device consisted of a 4.25 inch probe which was plugged into the wall and then inserted into the rectum.When plugged in, a blue light bulb lit up to tell you it was working to restore your manly vitality. Brings new meaning to the phrase “blue light special.”

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2018, 06:04:44 pm
content: Yikes, that doesn't sound the least bit pleasant.

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2018, 06:12:17 pm
content: I thought the fetish for sticking blue lights on things was a modern phenomenon!

author: Cerebus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2018, 06:45:57 pm
content: Quote from: Cyberdragon on March 31, 2018, 05:10:52 pmIn your neck of the woods perhaps, but here in Europe we've had roads since the Romans built them for us (well, to oppress us really, but they proved useful once the Romans buggered off). Many of Britain's primary routes follow the path of Roman roads for some or all of their lengths.

author: radar_macgyver
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2018, 07:05:23 pm
content: You certainly can't just hang up a JBC or Hakko on the ceiling like that. Ah, those were the days!

author: KE5FX
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2018, 07:07:39 pm
content: How's he supposed to get home? Call an Uber on his iPhone?

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2018, 07:40:49 pm
content: I'm sure there were plenty of fake electrical devices marketed at bringing good health back then.I've just had a spooky thought: everyone in that film, apart from possibly the child, are certainly dead!

author: chris_leyson
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2018, 08:03:29 pm
content: QuoteMy gradfather would take radio batteries or accumulators to the local chemist to get them recharged, there was a sign advertising accumulator recharging painted onto the chemists window and it was still there in the 1960s.

author: Vtile
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2018, 09:15:00 pm
content: Quote from: Cyberdragon on March 31, 2018, 04:39:30 pmWhere did you think the Grandma Ducks moving phone booth did come out.https://youtu.be/OhnjMdzGusc?t=3m18s

author: Edison
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 01, 2018, 03:30:13 pm
content: Quote from: radar_macgyver on March 31, 2018, 07:05:23 pmhang upand for half an hour work with solderstrengthen a week at the gym

author: medical-nerd
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 01, 2018, 07:18:02 pm
content: HiyaIf you think this is bad - try looking up the Victorian treatment for drowning!!Quote from: DC1MC on March 31, 2018, 05:53:56 pm

author: German_EE
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 02, 2018, 08:18:23 am
content: All of those twin lead ungrounded appliances, and the exposed belts, and the exposed heating elements, it's a wonder that they survived. The hot soldering iron at eye level was the best bit though.

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 02, 2018, 01:35:29 pm
content: Interesting video.No radios of course, as coffin radios were just beginning in the early 1920's.These people had no concept of safety. "Mrs Wise" was risking losing her fingers to the washing machine, and her frilly dress could easily have been ripped off in front of the visitor. The hot soldering iron dangling from the ceiling was another safety hazard. And the equipment did not seem to have an earth - just two wires. Edison cared more about money than safety.I noticed the maid looked Caucasian, meaning it probably came from New York which had a fledgling movie industry at the time, or some other more progressive northern state.

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 02, 2018, 02:11:13 pm
content: Quote from: German_EE on April 02, 2018, 08:18:23 amWell, I grew up in a world where exposed heating elements were pretty normal in electric fires, and even as an inquisitive child with a tendency to poke things through the bars and touch the glowing element I survived quite well without any burns or electric shocks.Survival is about adapting to your environment and managing the dangers around you. Danger is always present and it is foolish to think you can take it away. I dare say when people try too hard to remove dangerous things from the world around us the quality of life is reduced.

author: Cyberdragon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 02, 2018, 05:23:56 pm
content: My little old lady neighbor still has ungrounded sockets in most of the house. Some rooms do have grounds like the kitchen and bathroom and I think maybe the bedrooms. There's definately no GFI anywhere though.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 02, 2018, 06:16:50 pm
content: Quote from: Cyberdragon on April 02, 2018, 05:23:56 pmThen she has been living in the house for a really long time, long enough that the code changes that meant grounding all sockets is not applied to her. Probably still has screw in ES socket fuses as well, and old DCC gutta percha cabling in the walls as well. going to be expensive to whoever buys the house to rewire it up to code, as likely the DCC cable will not survive any leakage testing with a pass.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 02, 2018, 10:07:47 pm
content: Quote from: SeanB on April 02, 2018, 06:16:50 pmNot necessarily. In the US anyway it's perfectly acceptable to buy or sell an older house with electrical wiring that does not meet current code, as long as it was up to code and passed inspection when it was built. She obviously lives in an older house, but that says nothing of how long she has lived there. There are millions of houses out there with old wiring, my aunt & uncle live in a 1922 house that has had a lot of electrical updating done but some of the original knob & tube wiring and 2-prong receptacles remain in service.

author: jmelson
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 03, 2018, 08:22:47 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on April 02, 2018, 10:07:47 pmNot quite correct. A lot of old stuff is still permitted, but grounded outlets and/or GFCI is required where grounded appiiances/things are present. So, outdoor outlets, garage outlets, kitchens and bathrooms must have GFCIs. The GFCIs even COME WITH labels to indicate that this outlet has no "equipment ground".Other than the specific locations for GFCIs, a lot of other old stuff is permitted, such as 2-wire (no ground) Romex, even knob and tube wiring!Not too many houses with screw-in fuses left, thankfully!Jon

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 03, 2018, 11:24:40 pm
content: Are you sure it has to be updated to sell the house though? About 10 years ago some friends of mine bought a house that still had the original 100A plug fuse panel. A few years later I replaced it with a new 200A breaker panel and service drop, fun project, came out really well. Previously there were a few grounded receptacles but most of the original circuits were not, and only one bathroom had a GFCI. This was of course taken care of in the upgrade but we could have left the whole system alone.Unfortunately if you do mess with anything, you have to bring the rest of it up to code. I had planned to replace the rather small and aging 200A breaker panel in my house with a new fullsized panel but I'd have to update so much else now that it's not really worth it, easier to get by with what's there.

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 04, 2018, 02:30:36 am
content: Here in the US the biggest oops is people who have installed grounded outlets on ungrounded circuits. With exceptions as noted above it is permitted to have ungrounded circuits, but the inspectors will test outlets and require repairs if a grounded outlet is not fully connected. Some jurisdictions will allow restoring an ungrounded outlet. Others demand a rewire.Shade tree electricians often install the grounded outlets "as a convenience" to allow using appliances/tools with grounded plugs. As an alternative to clipping the ground pin off the plug.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 04, 2018, 02:59:06 am
content: Well it's certainly preferable to clipping off the ground pin.In the house I mentioned, a number of grounded outlets had been installed with a separate ground wire added in the basement, I left most of those as-is because I wasn't doing anything in that part of the house. Others I rewired because I was already running new circuits to that area. I more than doubled the number of circuits in the house as I recall. Previously the entire basement was on one 15A circuit, which I found had a 30A fuse and the insulation was starting to melt off the wire in the panel.