Homemade Despard multi-outlet
date: label: date made
content: ca 1930
name: label: maker
content: Despard & Gordon Co.
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Six brown Despard polarized, ungrounded outlets set in a beige Wiremold surface-mounted electrical box, mounted on a wooden base. Plastic ivory-colored faceplate, 2-conductor cloth-insulated cord with a rubber Eagle plug. Cord emerges from the wooden block through a plastic bushing. Stamped on plug tines: "[Eagle logo] / 660 w / 250V".
label: Description (Brief)
content: The adoption of electric lighting was one of the most significant events of the 19th and 20th centuries. The convenience and efficiency of electric lighting systems has revolutionized our daily existence and resulted in benefits and challenges that continue to affect everyone. Lighting, however, served as just the introduction for most consumers’ use of electricity. Once connected to the system, users could electrify many other tasks. An electrical system is just that–a system–and it requires multiple components. One such component is an outlet, now often called a plug socket or connector, that provides an interface between the appliance and the electrical supply. Outlets are designed for specific electrical ratings, often show proprietary designs of specific companies, and have demonstrated the impact of standardization. The individual outlets on this unit are called “Despard” outlets, after designer and manufacturer, Victor R. Despard (1888-1965). The Despard product was a very successful line of small devices. Many remain in use today, although manufacturing ended in the 1990s.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Reference: Fred E. H. Schroeder, "More 'Small Things Forgotten': Domestic Electrical Plugs and Receptacles, 1881-1931," Technology and Culture 27, No. 3 (July 1986): 525-543.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2023.0177.03
label: accession number
content: 2023.0177
label: catalog number
content: 2023.0177.03
objectType: label: Object Name
content: electrical outlet
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 3 3/4 in x 5 3/4 in x 5 3/4 in; 9.525 cm x 14.605 cm x 14.605 cm