General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

1

Total Parts

2

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

porcelain shell/ brass/ glass/ metal parts/ wax

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

6.8 cm

Width

4.0 cm

Height

9.1 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Energy-electric

Category

User site

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Unknown

Country

Unknown

State/Province

Unknown

City

Unknown

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Unknown

Period

1910s-1930s

Canada

An example of a fuse cutout of a type used in Canada. Part of a large and varied collection of over 7500 electrical items acquired and documented by Ontario Hydro in the1960s. The collection was thought to be the largest and most comprehensive of its kind in Canada and was donated to the National Museum of Science and Technology in 1992.

Function

An electrical device which interrupts the flow of electrical current through a piece of apparatus or equipment.

Technical

An example of a fuse cutout. In the period 1880 to 1889 Edison invented a device to protect wiring from over-heating. In 1880 he patented the use of a fuse. The early fuse block was first made of wood with brass fittings. Lamps were individually fused until the early 1900s. In the period 1890-1899, fusing was often done using fuse wire in an open porcelain cutout with a cover of sheet mica or porcelain. These cutouts were made of porcelain as were the fuse plugs. These links consisted of lengths of fuse wire with copper terminals at each end. In the latter part of this period, the cartridge fuse was introduced. It was most common in industrial settings but was the only type that could be used when the current was more than 30 amps (Ref. 2).

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

none

Missing

appears complete

Finish

glazed white porcelain/ metallic parts

Decoration

N/A