This was the only plug/outlet in one of the Sheridan House bedrooms.
At first glance, I had assumed that it was an old phone jack, but when I took it out, it appeared to have been connected as some sort of electrical outlet. It’s hard to read what it says, but it appears to say “woodwin” “50V 10A.” There could have been a number before the 50, but the bakelite chipped off so it’s hard to tell.
Any ideas what this was used for? The room it was in is a bedroom which used to be a back porch off of the kitchen. Now it’s part of the new master bedroom. I’m really stumped because there are 4 prong openings, but it only had 2 wires connected to it. Let me know if you have any ideas – humor is always welcome too.
It’s so weird that you just posted that picture! Today I was sifting through some architectural salvage (a favorite pastime) and I ran across a pair of wall sconces. They were pretty average, but on the bottom of one was an outlet just like that with the four crazy holes in it! I wonder if it was some kind of alternate plug from the earlier days of electricity that just never cought on.
Interesting…hopefully someone will come across this who can shed some light on the mystery.
I sent this page-link to our (City of Richmond) Electrical Dep’t…our oldest Sparky has just retired, and he loved historical reno’s…involved in some Heritage Home-type restoration, around B.C. so i sent this to him as well – hope you get a response…hey, Shawn – in all your spare time, you wanna come be part of OUR little home reno? floor tiles;ceiling tiles; laminated flooring;and that’s just the inside…guess what I did for holidays this summer…while Dawn & Sheri were on their “girls-road-trip-to-Illinois”
I love this site, Shawn…you guys are amazing – Keep On, Keepin’ On – Uncle Jay
Hello,
I saw one of these at my friend’s house (probably also 1920s) in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It said “250V 10A”. I never found out what it was either, but I did find this: http://www.jkem.com/pictures/NEMA%20Non-Locking%20Plugs.gif
The outlet looks like a combo of 1-15R and 2-15R, so maybe it’s for an old oven or dryer with 120V controls and a 250V heating element? If just the two parallel blades (1-15R) were connected then it was probably just being used as a regular ungrounded receptacle.
we have a working outlet just like that in our house (1920s). It still works like a regular plug, but we have yet to figure out the other two openings. we discovered that the man who built our house was an electrician by trade. so perhaps it is some sort of inside joke that only electicians know….
Odd, we also have one of these in our Circa 1915 home (tube & cylinder wiring), just the one, also in the master bedroom. Sorry, but I too have not been able to come up with an explanation for it, although the alternate form plug theory seems reasonable, still odd that mine too is in just the one, and same, room of the house (will keep at it and let you know if I get a solid answer. My favorite part of the old house is that most of the older outlets are the “twist and lock” type, actually pretty handy for vacuum cleaner use, and a solid gaurantee no loose plugs will be hanging halfway out of the outlet (safety +), it’s a wonder why they no longer make them!
The sockets you are mentioning are Combination parallel and tandem duplex outlets. They were used to connect regular NEMA plugs and also the tandem NEMA 2-15 plugs, and so the two sets of slots are both powered from the same two wires. These sockets are often marked “250V 10A” but are generally used with 120v. They were later replaced by the T-slot outlets which combine the two plug types in a different manner. For more information check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unusual_and_obsolete_plugs_and_sockets
I just saw 4 of those this weekend at a house I was planing on buying. 2 were in a bedroom and 2 were in the front porch. The old man lived there for 60 years (decatur il) and he was a dentist. I thought it might have been some serious plug for something for a specialty but seeing this thread makes me wonder. if these were all bedrooms with the exspetion of the front sun room/porch of this house. it makes me wonder if it was for fans, or maybe some swiched thing. odd I will have to look else where.
How funny! I am living in an apartment in North Carolina that was constructed in the early 1950s (I want to say it was completed in ‘52), and I have something very similar to that in my hallway. There is only one in the whole apartment, in the whole house that I know of. My landlord is an 80-something year old lady, and has no idea what it could have been–just tells me that her husband was very technical. My grandfather, who is a retired AT&T worker, said that it looks like an old telephone jack. PLEASE e-mail me if you get a concrete answer, I would LOVE to know.
I am late here…..but….
We had those as well as another mystery type plug in our house. Someone mentioned that old window units used them.