Old electrical books

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Ed MacLaren

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An elderly gentleman (older than me) who was a contractor, and later our chief inspector, recently gave me his collection of old electrical books. Most of them were published in the twenties and thirties, and make very interesting reading.

Has anyone seen any of those "tree insulators" lately? :)

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Ed
 
Re: Old electrical books

Ed: Those connectors are still available, design may have changed a bit.

The Dossert Connector Company is in Waterbury, Connecticut.

Check out Dossert Connector Company website, by using keyword.

[ June 23, 2003, 08:37 AM: Message edited by: bennie ]
 
Re: Old electrical books

Ed last year I was given as a gift, an old electrical book dated 1927. What make this book so unique is the fact that it is a correspondence course on Electrical wiring. It is setup top binder style. Remove the binder screws from the sleeve (after sending in your monthly dues) and insert your new lesson. Send in your test for correction (with your testing fee)and you will receive your grade with corrections in the mail. After course completion you will receive your certificate in the mail. (after postage paid of course).
I get a chuckle from the old methods on how to cut in an old work box for BX cable. Oh! The section on motors is quite informative.
Speaking of old documents. I recently purchased an old Coloniel home built in 1885, in R.I.
Upon passing papers the seller gave me the original hand drawn architectual drawings and the job specifications for the proposed building of the house. The only mention to wiring is the doorbell. I am assuming that they were battery powered. By the way the penmanship in both documents is impeccable.

Also, my old boss at Mass. General hospital had removed old splices with those conectors on them. They were still intact and showed no signs of discoloration due to heat.

[ June 23, 2003, 12:48 PM: Message edited by: nosparks ]
 
Re: Old electrical books

Hello Nosparks!

I have several books very simialr to the one you describe. Correspondance books always seem to be the most interesting.

My favorite is a top binder book called, "Electricians Notes." This correspondance school is from L.L. Cooke, Chief Engineer of Chicago Engineering Works dated 1923.

Lower on the coever it states:

"The "Cooke" Trained Man is the "Big Pay" Man"

There is even a section on becomming a door-to door electric salesman!! Vintage electrical books are a great read. :D
 
Re: Old electrical books

There may be some younger guys that have never seen knob and tube wiring. These are from the 1928 book - Standard Wiring for light and Power.

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Ed
 
Re: Old electrical books

Thanks Bill! I will see about posting a few of the pages from this chapter.

Here is one part of it that is quite funny:

".....The shape of a man's face, the color of his eyes and hair, his handwriting, in fact nearly everything about him tells something of his character, if we know how to read them. For example:

The blond type are as a rule very active and energetic, while the bry=unette is less active and more thoughtfull. A person with convex type face, is keen, shrewd, and energetic, while one with a concave face is usually opposite. A person with a high forehead, or large upper portion of head is a thinker, with such a person you must be able to reason, nothing else will do. Again he may be a round faced, round bodied man, who will enjoy a good meal more than anything else, and of course, you must be careful not to place too much importance on any one characteristic........" (Electrician's Notes, by L.L. Cooke)

It goes on and on. Things were certainly different in the Twenties!!! :D
 
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