Found old ceramic octagon

[hurk27]

I found this old ceramic box, in the attic of a rewire of an old two piece modular home.
I think the home is between the 40's to may be early 50's, I have only seen maybe 2 or three of these in 35 years of wiring.
anyone know when these came out?

Markings say Knox, the cover is 8824, and the box is 8814.

It is definitely a octagon

Note the cloth covered thermo plastic wire, and the solder joints with tape. I would say the wire is mid to late 50's?

 

[480sparky]

That's a keeper!

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Sierrasparky]

one for the display case.

 

[mivey]

Neat. Don't recall having seen one.

 

[hurk27]

I forgot to mention that this was the marriage wall connection box, for tying the original two half's of the modular electric together, original service was a 30 amp two circuit 240 volt service, with add ons over the years:roll:

 

[LarryFine]

Seen them, along with ceramic wirenuts.

 

[mivey]

Seen them, along with ceramic wirenuts.

Ceramic wirenuts I have seen, and still have some.

 

[Derick]

I found this old ceramic box, in the attic of a rewire of an old two piece modular home.
I think the home is between the 40's to may be early 50's, I have only seen maybe 2 or three of these in 35 years of wiring.
anyone know when these came out?

Markings say Knox, the cover is 8824, and the box is 8814.

It is definitely a octagon

Note the cloth covered thermo plastic wire, and the solder joints with tape. I would say the wire is mid to late 50's?

NICE.Wonder if with our high tech cheaper and better mentality we got today will my house last that long?

 

[masterinbama]

Ceramic wirenuts I have seen, and still have some.

And you can still get them new. I have used these on annealing furnaces before.

http://www.akronporcelain.com/Ceramics/wirenuts.htm?gclid=CJqWz9DE_ZwCFQhV2godCA44bA

 

[Pierre C Belarge]

Wayne
I have seen a lot of the older stuff over the years, but never a ceramic box. Thanks!

 

[SEO]

I've never seen a box like that either. Looks like somebody was ahead of their time, a non conductive non flammable box made 60 or so years ago.

 

[Karl H]

That's the first ceramic electrical box I've ever seen. Thanks for sharing.

 

[iMuse97]

Also thanks. Never seen that before. As to ceramic wire nuts, I just used some on a 1000w halogen fixture, rated at 300*C max. operating temperature.

 

[al hildenbrand]

Wayne, thanks for the images! That's the first I've seen.

I like how you cut it out, intact, with the original splices.

 

[K8MHZ]

A friend of mine has a couple of those. We both have ceramic switches that came from old houses. Nuts, too.

I remember the shiny asphalt type NM cable being sold as late as the '60s.

Nonetheless, the boxes are keepers. Good find.

 

[ItsHot]

I have seen these a time or two in the past. They remind me of a lady's jewelry box.

 

[al hildenbrand]

I have to wonder at the process that resulted in the choice of that material for the box being installed in that location.

The modular home would be highly engineered and extremely competitively priced. The materials used would be sourced through a very aggressive purchasing department.

Yet, seems to me, that the porcelain box would be a premium material. After all, it's a material prone to breakage, and difficult to shape.

Perhaps the temporary weather protection of this location, while the module was in transit from the factory to the final installation, failed in some way that caused the factory to spec porcelain?

 

[480sparky]

I have to wonder at the process that resulted in the choice of that material for the box being installed in that location.

The modular home would be highly engineered and extremely competitively priced. The materials used would be sourced through a very aggressive purchasing department.

Yet, seems to me, that the porcelain box would be a premium material. After all, it's a material prone to breakage, and difficult to shape.

Perhaps the temporary weather protection of this location, while the module was in transit from the factory to the final installation, failed in some way that caused the factory to spec porcelain?

Maybe these days, but back in the '40s or '50s like the OP guesses this dates to?

 

[al hildenbrand]

Maybe these days, but back in the '40s or '50s like the OP guesses this dates to?

Phenolics were common for low cost by the '40s, no? Definitely by the early '50s. I'm thinking, in particular of device bodies. . . metal yoke, phenolic shell.

My own electrical "archaeological" work indicates that the porcelain 8B is truly rare, in the wild, especially in dwellings.

And as for business profit motive. . . I'm of the opinion that it is timeless.

 

[K8MHZ]

From here:

http://colepottery.blogspot.com/2009_01_01_archive.html