General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

1

Total Parts

1

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

slate base/ metal switch, including copper/ synthetic parts/ metal parts

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

11.7 cm

Width

8.3 cm

Height

4.6 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Energy-electric

Category

User site

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

General Electric

Country

Canada

State/Province

Unknown

City

Unknown

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Unknown

Period

circa 1920+

Canada

A Canadian made switch of a type used in Canada. Part of a large & varied collection of over 7500 electrical items acquired & documented by Ontario Hydro in the 1960s. The collection was thought to be the largest & most comprehensive of its kind in Canada & was donated to the National Museum of Science & Technology in 1992.

Function

An electrical wiring device used to make or break a connection in an electrical circuit, specifically to disconnect or isolate the entire building from its source of supply.

Technical

Example of a knife switch. At first, all knife switches were mounted on wood or slate panels (later on porcelain) but although these bases were fairly efficient electrically, they were not really suitable for house service work. They were replaced in distributing panels by pull-out fuse-block switches but were still found in catalogues around 1950 (Ref. 1). This is an entrance switch, a device installed at or near the point where the service wires enter a building, to disconnect or isolate the entire building from its source of supply.

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

raised lettering on base reads "CGE CO. LTD./ 30.AMP. 125.VOLT."/ raised lettering underside of on base reads "SYM 13623"

Missing

appears complete

Finish

black base/ copper & gold coloured metal/ black synthetic

Decoration

N/A