On Sun, 08 Jun 2008 05:15:22 GMT, "Leo Lichtman"
wrote:


"Steve W." wrote: (clip) My building
is 100' long, and I am constantly walking back and forth to my phase
convertor to turn it off and on,(clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I actually saw this in the basement of an old Berkeley house: A bare light
bulb with a pull chain, mounted under the floor joists, half way between the
side door and the rear door. Ropes, levers and pulleys made it possible to
turn the light on or off from either doorway.

Which reminds me of a cartoon I saw once, of a guy sitting on a scaffolding,
in the middle of his living room, reading the paper under a single bare
light bulb. His wife is telling a neighbor: "He's not good at electricity,
but he's a pretty good carpenter."

When electrical power first became available in our area (1948) there
were a number of "electricians" competing for the business of wiring
houses for people who had never had electricity. One particular
"electrician" was cheaper than all the rest - his version of an
electrical service consisted of a 30A. fused disconnect feeding a four
circuit fuse panel from a two wire 120V. drop. Stairway lighting was
controlled by a long string on the pull chain of a keyed lampholder.
Needless to say, when the owners started to discover the convenience
of electrical appliances, they soon found out what a "bargain" they
had got in their wiring job. Electrical inspection became much more
stringent and several inspectors "retired"
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada