VERY OLD ELECTRICAL ITEMS-1 Today my posting isabout some of the electrical items and miscellaneous information related to EB powersupply connection. This may give some nostalgic reading to my friends above 60years. Hope an interesting reading. I have used simple language.
Sincerely, Gopalakrishnan 23-1-2022 1. Tumbler switches. When electricalwiring was done in homes during 1960’s the switches had a porcelain base where electrical wireswere connected in brass screws and put through using aswitch which had a spring movement forconnection and disconnection. The switch and top cover were in Bakelite. Onthose days other than main switch maximum three or four points were only wired. Phasewas put through using switch. Neutral wire was compulsorily looped in switchbox. I was thinking the switch I described was obsolete now. But on Googlesearch I found in Delhi markets it is available for about Rs. 40-00. The wooden boxremains till date. Only thing now it is embedded in wall and switch panel is inplane with the wall. The earlier wooden boxes were of teakwood only. Now we getin other woods also. The switches of thepresent day are of piano type having more width. At one time, the switches hadmarkings of fan, light etc. were there on it. However it faded after someperiod. 2. Plug point. Plug point wasprovided in the same switch box in which switches were fitted. It had no separate switch as we have now. Thesocket was provided in the switch box. With caution we had to use plug point.Mostly during functions, light was extended to the temporary kitchen, verandaetc. About 7 metres length of wire with rubber insulation was used to extendlight. One end of the wire was connectedto a holder and a bulb was fitted in it and other end was connected to a 3 pinplug. Using local wireman, the wire was erected to the area where light wasrequired. After the function the set was removed and kept safe in a small box.The material used to cover 3 pin sockets, plug and holder were Bakelite. Gradually additional plug point and controlswitch for plug got introduced. Most homes had only light. Maximum voltage ofthe bulb was 45 watts. 100 watts bulbs were rarely used. 60 watts bulb gavemore brightness. But high current charge bill (?!) was expected. Tube lights were not known. However in cityareas tube lights were there even during the period. It was called Banana stemlight. 3. Extension of power supply to working table I still recollectusing plug points to put through supply from working table for spectrometerexperiments in my college lab. On those days there was no fear, there was nocontrol switch to plug. Our class roomshad 4 bulbs suspended from RCC roof. No tube lights where there even in 1964’s.There was shade above bulb to concentrate light from bulb/reflect light. The shadeswere white in colour. Somehow shade disappeared in due course. 4. Street lights Streetlights wereprovided using insulated power wire connecting from the bare distribution wire,to the bulb through a bend pipe to Holder. Shade was provided to protect thebulb from rain. Now only waterproof tube light fittings are provided havingwater proof cover. 5 Compound lights It was common toprovide in homes, temples, churches etc. compound lights. These were bulbsprovided in a water proof transparent case and extended via bend steel tubefitted on tiles. The bending made water slipping out from the top of the tubeand not much falling on tube. In homes mostly it was switched on while people movedto toilet etc. 6. Leading in of single phase current. If the top level ofthe house was above 10 feet from road level, for leading in of single phasecurrent, weather proofwire was used and it was lead in to the home through a smoke tile hole to themain switch. A protection fuse was provided in the post on a wooden plank. Ifoverload occurred, this fuse was blown and EB staff had to replace. In Keralamost of the poles were of teakwood on those days. The poles appeared lightgreen colour after weather treatment. Including transformers were erected onteakwood pole structure. These poles were earthed while used in transformer erection. I am not sure ofKerala, but in Chennaiafter the last Tsunami, all damaged wooden planks are removed, the EB staffalso checks for blown out fuse in the control panel at homes now. 7. Long steel pipe with a bend like walking stick handle If the height ofthe building was less, a steel pipe with bend was erected on top of tile/ RCCand leading in wire was taken in through it. This leading in method prevailsnow also. Most of the present connections are carried to control panel of thepower supply through power cable now in Chennai. 5 Teak wood batten wiring The oldest form ofwiring was on teakwood batten. The wires were exposed in this type of wiring. UsingLink clip the wires were fixed to batten. The other was cappingand casing. In this type of wiring the power wire was drawn through grooves inthe batten and closed with a thin batten. Now too capping and casing is used,but instead of teakwood, PVC battens are used. Later came conduit wiring. Earlier conduit wiring was using steel pipespainted black. Later aluminium conduits appeared and nowadays PVC conduits areused. For concealed wiring also PVC conduits are used. I will continue in next part of the posting -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/1265223385.828681.1642939820983%40mail.yahoo.com.
