On Sun, 28 Jun 2009 12:34:06 -0400, "RBM" wrote:



When I started in the early 70's we still had a few electric soldering irons
in the shop. I don't think they used them since the 50's. The splices were
wrapped in rubber tape, then covered with friction tape. Unless they made a
"cold" joint accidentally, those splices lasted forever, or at least until
the next guy came along to add to it

That practice went out with knob and tube wiring. A "western union" or
"lineman's " splice was used. This was all well before a unified code
was in existance, IIRC.
Maximum load in those days was about 50 amps for the whole house -
with a "ring topology" meaning the load was shared over both ends of
the circuit - totally different system in North America today - with
single loads often exceding the total house load of years gone by.