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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
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    McKinney Texas
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    501

    Default Look at this old outlet....and TV

    (1) I inspected a house today built in 1955. The elderly lady passed away and the house is for sale. I was told she never updated anything and they were right. This was her TV. A 1951 model television…maybe one of the first TV’s in out town. This one has a round tube, which means it is a very early model. The put a bezel around them to make them look flat on the bottom but the tube was round. I am sure there was a lot of “Gunsmoke” and even earlier shows watched on this TV. It still works.

    (2) Look at this old outlet. The bottom socket contained normal 120 volts and was used to power a lamp, but look at the configuration of the top socket. No power was detected on this top socket. Look at the configuraton of the top prongs. I have seen similar different types of odd looking outlets from the 1940's but this is a new one on me.

    What say ye....experts?

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  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Chicago
    Posts
    164

    Default Re: Look at this old outlet....and TV

    Quote Originally Posted by Gene South View Post
    (1) I inspected a house today built in 1955. The elderly lady passed away and the house is for sale. I was told she never updated anything and they were right. This was her TV. A 1951 model television…maybe one of the first TV’s in out town. This one has a round tube, which means it is a very early model. The put a bezel around them to make them look flat on the bottom but the tube was round. I am sure there was a lot of “Gunsmoke” and even earlier shows watched on this TV. It still works.

    (2) Look at this old outlet. The bottom socket contained normal 120 volts and was used to power a lamp, but look at the configuration of the top socket. No power was detected on this top socket. Look at the configuraton of the top prongs. I have seen similar different types of odd looking outlets from the 1940's but this is a new one on me.

    What say ye....experts?
    Hello Gene,

    I'm pretty sure that is for the antennae connection.

    Sincerely,

    Corey


  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    McKinney Texas
    Posts
    501

    Default Re: Look at this old outlet....and TV

    Corey, thanks. My guess however is the odd socket is not for the TV, since it was not in the same room as the TV and also since it is built into an electrical device (the outlet). I could be wrong however.....!


  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Southern Vancouver Island
    Posts
    4,607

    Default Re: Look at this old outlet....and TV

    Quote Originally Posted by Gene South View Post
    Corey, thanks. My guess however is the odd socket is not for the TV, since it was not in the same room as the TV and also since it is built into an electrical device (the outlet). I could be wrong however.....!
    Maybe for a radio antenna but there's no way to be sure without pulling the cover. One thing we're sure of, it's obsolete.

    That TV's a collector's item. We should watch for it on ebay.

    John Kogel, RHI, BC HI Lic #47455
    www.allsafehome.ca

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Oregon
    Posts
    2,365

    Default Re: Look at this old outlet....and TV

    Cool stuff for sure..... IMO it's bordering on poor taste and an invasion of a person's privacy to come into their home, take pictures of their family and post them on the internet.


  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Rockwall Texas
    Posts
    4,521

    Default Re: Look at this old outlet....and TV

    Matt,
    You need to lighten up a bit.
    He didn't post anything out of the norm or anything that would even identify the home.
    No address is furnished, homebuyers name, no pictures of credit card numbers, social security cards.

    NO harm done.

    rick


  7. #7
    Philip's Avatar
    Philip Guest

    Default Re: Look at this old outlet....and TV

    I'm thinking factory mistake and the original sparky did not want to go back to the shop or supply house.


  8. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Oregon
    Posts
    2,365

    Default Re: Look at this old outlet....and TV

    Not trying to be a stick in the mud..... just my opinion... I'm entitled to it.


  9. #9
    Scott Morse's Avatar
    Scott Morse Guest

    Default Re: Look at this old outlet....and TV

    The upper portion is for an antenna. I have seen these odd ball antenna connections as single, stand-alone outlets, and even have a wired one in my house, but never one with a 120 volt outlet connected below. They were used in the 1930's for radios.

    Back in the early days of radios, an external antenna was required. There was no such thing as a radio set with a built-in antenna. People would entertain themselves by trying to pull in as many stations from as many cities as possible. Sometimes weather conditions would bring in a station from hundreds of miles away. People hearing these long distance broadcasts sometimes wrote the stations, saying when they were listening, and describing a short section of the show "... Several musical selections were played, followed by a comercial for Village Stuedbaker, and then there was ...". The station would check their records (they still keep them) and if the time and description were correct, they would send the listener a postcard with the stations call letters and city, verifying that the broadcast had been intercepted. From what I have been told, the greater the number of these post cards, the more highly regarded your radio equipment was considered.

    Getting back to the plug, it was made purposefully goofy, so a homeowner could not accidentally plug the antenna plug into a standard outlet. One prong (the angled one) was connected to a "long wire" antenna, usually in the attic, or strung outside. The other one was for a "true earth" ground. This was usually either a driven rod or connection to a burried water or gas line. Outside antennas were often not protected against lightning strikes, and more than one person's house burnt down when a bolt of lightning hit the antenna wire.

    If you ever come across an antenna plug which fits this outlet, let me know. My house, built in 1911, has the antenna outlet, and I have a great old Montgomery Ward multiple band radio which still runs great. It would be nice to use the proper plug, and not one I made myself from a couple of broken lamp cord type plugs, epoxyed into a prescription pill bottle at the right angles.

    Scott


  10. #10
    David McGuire's Avatar
    David McGuire Guest

    Default Re: Look at this old outlet....and TV

    QSL cards is what they sent back to the listener, and the radio stations and TV stations still do today in the digital age. We can pick up a TV station from Wichita KS, some 200 plus miles away with our DB-4 antenna I made for less than $15.


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