Antique electrical vault - Pictures

It's at times like that, one starts to appreciate OSHA, isn't it?

Just curious, why were you working there today?

Yes, exactly. This vault is clearly well made with good, expensive components, but without the modern approach to electrical safety.

the rigid conduit looks quite modern.

The 3-phase switches would go well in a movie set with an electric chair scene.

Paul

But the cable inside looks very old, insulation has all hardened and cracks, like very old asphalt.

They looked so polished and beautiful.

Do you know what the voltages were on the busbars, etc?

We had some stuff at Washington University that looked like they dated to the 1904 World's Fair, which they inherited some of the buildings from. That live-front switchboard stuff ran 1040 V.

Jon

That would be a lot scarier than 240, as it can jump farther through the air.

That one went PSA on ya, did it, Ig?

Ignoramus22662 fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

Employee -- "Boss, I might git kilt, if'n I touched one o' them bus bars!" Boss -- "Then don't touch 'em."

It was a whole different philosophy -- one about people's being responsible for their own actions. Yeah, it was a more dangerous existance, but at least we didn't have 'govenanny' breathing down our shirt collars all day.

I love the fact that those rivetted bus bars 'floated' on rollers to manage expansion with heating from higher current!

LLoyd

Lloyd, while I loved the antique appearance and the stimulating apprehension of imminent danger, I would prefer modern equipment any time, thank you. People make mistakes from time to time acd one mistake should not cause death.

That is so true. Sometimes safety requirements may seem over the top but it is so easy to stumble against something or to misread the bottle or make some other mistake. Someone dying or being suffering severe injuries shouldn't be the the price of a simple mistake. Eric

Lloyd mistakes lucking out in who he was born to, and when, and where, with virtue.

It's a much better world, of course, when people should be doomed to working highly dangerous jobs just because they have the wrong parents. And of course, it's a much better world if, when they die, their children and dependents all starve.

Exactly. I spent about 3 more hours there today. It was very clear to me that only one inept body movement or mistake would lead to my death.

This is a separate issue. I am very happy as to who I was born to and how my life turned out. And yet, I am glad that I live in a less dangerous world compared to when this vault was installed.

why would you spend 3 hours in an electrical vault? It's not a break room.

...

Two words: Ebola Pandemic

:)

...

There are lots of places in many industrial facilities that meet that description; this looks like a fairly benign one to me compared to some of the places I've seen/been...

Indeed, it would, one would think, be off limits and only entered when absolutely necessary. What surprises me more than the facility itself is the being there...but, we've been given no klew of what iggy was up to so hard to judge.

Ohmigodwe'reallgonnadie!

Hey Iggy,

What building was this in, and do you know for what purpose?

The switch gear appears to have some carbon-to-carbon contactors, and some copper-to-carbon.

The buss overhead is reminiscent in structure and size with telephone central exchange equipment. Were there any MG sets or motors or BBBBIIIIIGGGGGG batteries nearby?

Take care.

Brian Lawson.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

You can google "aporkalypse" to read about a terrifying epidemic decimating the population of pigs. If something like that pig virus appeared that affected people...