Paulding receptacle outlets.

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nizak

Senior Member
Rewiring an older home( possibly late 40's) and removing the 2 wire Paulding receps throughout.

Was surprised to see that the body of the device came apart with 2 small machine screws.

I took a few apart and noticed how well these were constructed.

The contacts were quite heavy gauge construction. It was built so every piece internal could have been replaced(impractical to do so)even the mounting ears came out.

It gives one a glimpse as to the quality that existed in products produced 60+ years ago.
 

K8MHZ

Senior Member
Location
Michigan. It's a beautiful peninsula, I've looked
Occupation
Electrician
Rewiring an older home( possibly late 40's) and removing the 2 wire Paulding receps throughout.

Was surprised to see that the body of the device came apart with 2 small machine screws.

I took a few apart and noticed how well these were constructed.

The contacts were quite heavy gauge construction. It was built so every piece internal could have been replaced(impractical to do so)even the mounting ears came out.

It gives one a glimpse as to the quality that existed in products produced 60+ years ago.

Are they made of porcelain, or bakelite?
 

Jraef

Moderator, OTD
Staff member
Location
San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA
Occupation
Electrical Engineer
Are they made of porcelain, or bakelite?
The old Paulding receptacles I remember were thick brown bakelite surface mount duplex receptacles that were mounted to the baseboard and Romex was run on the outside of the board from one to the next. If you wanted to add onto the string, you busted out a little semi-circle of thinner bakelite on the cover to accommodate the Romex.

A lot of that old bakelite stuff has asbestos fibers inside. I imagine that might be what killed Pauldling, looks like they died in the 70s. The company technically still exists, but probably just to service pensions for old employees though.
 

norcal

Senior Member
I took out a large number of Eagle backwire only receptacles dating from 1964 & 1968, the contact points were much more robust compared then what is sold today.
 

user 100

Senior Member
Location
texas
Rewiring an older home( possibly late 40's) and removing the 2 wire Paulding receps throughout.

Was surprised to see that the body of the device came apart with 2 small machine screws.

I took a few apart and noticed how well these were constructed.

The contacts were quite heavy gauge construction. It was built so every piece internal could have been replaced(impractical to do so)even the mounting ears came out.

Some old Leviton receptacles were like that, with screws that held the thing together . Probably even then those devices were never repaired, most likely junked as they are today.



The old Paulding receptacles I remember were thick brown bakelite surface mount duplex receptacles that were mounted to the baseboard and Romex was run on the outside of the board from one to the next. If you wanted to add onto the string, you busted out a little semi-circle of thinner bakelite on the cover to accommodate the Romex.

A lot of that old bakelite stuff has asbestos fibers inside. I imagine that might be what killed Pauldling, looks like they died in the 70s. The company technically still exists, but probably just to service pensions for old employees though.

Paulding also had trouble years ago in the '80s with their porcelain keyless light fixtures. That, along with the possible asbestos liability you mentioned, and the growing big players like Hubbell , Leviton etc likely meant the effective end of that company- death by a thousand cuts.

One other thing that tends to stand out about Paulding is that even their later devices always seemed a little dated- IIRC, they were still making 2 wire t-slot devices with the intricate art deco type faces up until just before they seemed to go belly up.
 
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