Receptacle?

[BARRY ADAIR]

ever see one of these?

what would it supply?

[Jim Zborowski]

saw one years ago..never did find out what the deal with it was.

[Jerry Peck]

ever see one of these?

what would it supply?

"Nope" and "I don't know".

Not even in the NEMA chart.

What voltages did you measure with your multimeter?

[Jim Zborowski]

The one I found long ago measured 110V and was near an old HAM radio bench. No clue if that had anything to do with it or not. Possibly a primative attempt at polarization?
Wish my grandfather was still here, he was an electrician at the time these would have been made. Then again, he would be somewhere about 122 years old now....oh well.

[John Kogel]

Got pliers and an extension cord? It's an easy fix. :)

[Michael Thomas]

Normally, those were antenna jacks for radio receivers or televisions (back in the day, when television was analog...)

[Jerry McCarthy]

Michael nailed it. For the old tube radios. We had one in our hose, circa 1930. Edward R. Murrow, Amos & Andy, Bob Hope, Jack Benny, etc........

[Jerry Peck]

The one I found long ago measured 110V ...


Normally, those were antenna jacks for radio receivers or televisions ...

You two on the same page?;)


(back in the day, when television was analog...)

You mean like "w-a-y back there two days ago?" :D

[Bill Kriegh]

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/itsunclebill/recept2.jpg

They are usually found like this. Pretty common in installations from the 20s into the 50s

[Ken Lyons]

Could be worse... 2 years ago found a house where someone 'had' a jack like this, and back in the 60's replaced it with a outlet... I discovered someone skipped running a new wire, a 15 amp outlet was running off 300 ohm arial wire, for over 40 years... good thing it wasn't a popular outlet, being next to the door.

[Jim Zborowski]

Yep, I'm on this page Jerry. Like I stated before, the one I encountered was 110 V and wired with knob and tube. Back in the old days ( before this Friday ) tv jacks took on a few forms. In the 50's through the 70's though, they were typically 2-prong with the prongs being roughly 1/8" in diameter. In the 70's, those with a tower ( for those who still remember them ) many went with either a Channelmaster coaxial amp or a Blonder-Tongue coaxial amp with a standard phone jack similar to what you find on the end of a pair of headphones. These very early plug ins for TV were designed so the could in no way be mistaken for an electrical outlet. The other reason for their small prongs was to reduce the impedance at the plug, which prevented excessive signal loss. Later they went to the "F" fitting as used by cable TV providers.
By the way, I did find a home owner once that used a standard duplex outlet as a jack.

[John Steinke]

Don't feel bad, Jim .... there's plenty of folks arouns who only know what they heard at the last seminar they attended ...

For example, while the plug shown is most often associated with antenna systems ... I've also encountered it inside kitchen exhaust ducts, providing 120v to the fan.

We need to keep in mind that there was virtually no 'standard' plug patterns until the '70's - and even today there are plenty of 'non-standard' plugs used.