"Puddin' Man" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 25 Jun 2007 10:51:01 -0400, "EXT"
wrote:


"Puddin' Man" wrote in message
. ..
On Mon, 25 Jun 2007 00:26:26 GMT, Bob wrote:

Puddin' Man wrote:
'allo,

I belong to a little brick bungalow in a midwest city, built in 1954.

It came with a single-gang box with a standard 2-position switch to
control a ceiling fan/light assembly.

Whilst replacing the switch, I noted the usual red and black wires.
One of the black wires was stripped about 1 " in the middle (where
the wire was not cut), kinked, and wire-nutted (nothing else in the
nut, just the kink). Both the strip and the wire nut serve no
purpose whatsoever that I can see.

Just about anything could have been done in the past 53 years. Is this
midwest city anywhere near Chicago, where wiring is in conduit? If so,
you can check the other end of the run (the fixture box would be the
first place to check).

St. Louis.

From your description I would infer that it may
have at one time been the source feed for two switches in the box.

Single box. No room for another switch.

Are
the fan and light separately switched?

No.

Probably was a double switch that installed in a single gang box, they
used
a receptacle cover plate with one switch in each place where an outlet
would
normally be.

They had those back in '54?

There is only one hot wire running from the box to the ceiling
fixture. Can't imagine how/why another switched circuit
would've been crammed into the tiny work box.

Probably someone replaced it with a single switch or couldn't
find a double replacement. They are still available if you look. In Decora
style you can even get a triple switch, although wiring them must be
difficult and cramped.

Thanks, but this explanation doesn't seem to fit the circumstances.

P

"Mit der Dummheit kaempfen Goetter selbst vergebens!"
-Friedrich Schiller
If there is a neutral in the box it seems likely that there was a
combination switch and receptacle or a combination switch and pilot light.
These combination devices to fit single gang boxes were definitely available
at the time your house was built and I believe probably 10 years or more
before then. Stripping in the middle of the lead and wire-nutting as you
described is not terribly unusual, nor is stripping in the middle and
fastening that section under a terminal screw and the end under another
screw, especially where space is limited as it would be with the combination
devices in a single box. It seems to me that the latter is most likely and
someone just squeezed the wire together and installed the wire nut for
insulation after removing the second device from the box.

Don Young
Started wiring houses in the 40's