Has anyone seen this type of switch before?

[Dennis Alwon]

This is the strangest switch I have ever seen. It appears the neutrals are connected thru the yoke and the hot wire passes thru to the bar at the bottom right and presumably is switched to the switch leg on the bottom left.
Anyone seen this before.

 

[jaggedben]

Leviton though.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

Yes it is Leviton but notice that all the switches are off yet Leviton is on the left side on one switch and the right side on the other tw.

 

[infinity]

Those look like Leviton surface mount switched that were designed to be cut into an exiting cable with very little slack required. Similar to these:

Vintage Leviton Surface Mount On Off Electric Switches Bakelite NOS | #1829344032

Please see all pictures.

www.worthpoint.com

 

[roger]

I wonder if the switch yoke was actually designed for connecting the neutrals or if it's the work of a DIYer of times gone by.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

Why would someone go thru the trouble of drilling the yoke and installing screw, btw, that totally match the others. I tend to think this switch is what it is---bizarre

 

[roger]

Good point and now I see the mounting screws at the bottom.

 

[norcal]

Looks like surface mounted switches for Romex, a oddball system.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

Good point and now I see the mounting screws at the bottom.

It seems that box is a specialty box for those switches

Btw Roger, If you highlight the text you want to quote there is a reply message that appears. If you hit that you will get a quote as I did here

 

[roger]

Thanks but the "Reply" at the bottom isn't working.

 

[ramsy]

but the "Reply" at the bottom isn't working

The reply tag may be a Java script popup, disabled by some browser security settings.

 

[Jraef]

I agree, there is an old town near me where I have seen these used extensively, because many of the houses were built pre-electricity, so they had a lot of surface mount wiring and devices used, especially where they had used old gas piping for running wires into light fixtures. Since the entire box was Bakelite it was non-conductive, so no ground wires back then and no real risk of that neutral yoke contacting anyone once the cover was on. First time I saw one I was confused too, but my old J-man who had started working in the 40s explained them to me.

 

[Jraef]

Reply button didn’t work for me either, also the Edit function gave mgr an “Oops…” message pop up. Must be a glitch in the matrix this weekend.

 

[James L]

Looks like they're meant to feed through neutrals, but theyre actually switching the neutrals.

The strap on the right side seems to tell me that.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

Thanks but the "Reply" at the bottom isn't working.

Roger I didn't say to hit reply at the bottom. Highlight the text you want to quote and at the end of that highlighted quote the word reply should show up. Just click it

 

[Little Bill]

Roger I didn't say to hit reply at the bottom. Highlight the text you want to quote and at the end of that highlighted quote the word reply should show up. Just click it

This works!

 

[Dennis Alwon]

Yeah but try the edit, delete, report buttons.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

Btw, to edit your post right click on the edit button and then open in a new window , edit and save it

 

[Little Bill]

Looks like they're meant to feed through neutrals, but theyre actually switching the neutrals.

The strap on the right side seems to tell me that.

Looks to me like the hot is on that strap, at least on one. So I don't think the N goes there.

 

[Little Bill]

Yeah but try the edit, delete, report buttons.

I was just trying the "reply" as you said. That's what was being discussed with you and Roger.