What do you all suppose this is? It is obviously some sort of weight. A plumb bob? A sacrificial plumb bob? It looks pretty close to home made.

I found it log-jammed at the opening of my shop vac's wand, as I vacuumed out the pockets of an interior wall which is down to its bare studs, but is still blocked at the bottom by a terrazzo floor with coved baseboards.

The house was built in 1910, and I suspect it was fully gas-powered with no electricity. I think that electricity was first added sometime in the next 5-10 years, probably by the second owner. Then sometime probably in the 1980s, it was converted to modern Romex grounded wire.
The area where the object was found had only Romex wiring on that wall. So I'm thinking that this object could go back to the house's original construction.




My county library has city directories online going back to the 19th century, so it was easy to see who lived here. The first owner was a city Plumbing Examiner, and had his own shop, hence the house has, and probably always has had, gas hot water heat, a gas water heater, and gas oven, plus the old gas lighting.
He moved several blocks away, closer to his shop, in 1916, so I suspect that the second owner is who first added electricity. Plus, I looked at one of the *****, and it has "IMCO" cast into it. Google shows a few trade publication hits from 1918 to 1922 or so, and those say that Imco was in Detroit, Michigan on Wesson Avenue. Insulation Materials COmpany?
The second owner sold the house in 1926, and the next family owned it until 1973!
Its also kind of neat seeing the three generations of lighting, now that the wall is open: The gas pipe for the original gas light, the old **** and tube wiring from the first round of electrification, and then the still kind-of-old Romex currently carrying the power.

 

I wonder if they tied the wires to that , then dropped it down the wall from the attic to the switches and recepticals..
I don't think fish tapes were invented that early,soit seems feesable to me that dropping a weight would be the way to do it back then.

 

Window sash weight.

Dang whippersnappers! And you get off my lawn!!!

 

too small to be a window sash weight. i think 2 fords got it rite with a drop weight for pulling wires. it is a simple homemade item with a nail and some melted lead.
i doubt it was a home made plumb bob, because a contractor would not just leave something he used every day.

 

This sounds plausible, although the weight isn't all that heavy - certainly not enough for Romex. I'd say that it only weighs a few ounces at the most.


Perhaps for a small dog's house... I guess the pic is a little lacking in scale for perspective, let me snap another.

My friend thinks it's more recent, due to the knurling or whatever, near the head of the nail. He thought it was a drain stopper when I texted him a pic, and then was surprised at how small it actually is.


Here's where I found it, down in one of those first two pockets to the left of the door:


Another oddity I found in this house is this weird 'outlet box' in a baseboard. It has a nice brass cover plate with a little round door, so I expected to find an old four-pronged phone jack or perhaps an electrical outlet inside, but no. There is a light bulb socket inside! I'm guessing that it had been put there so someone could screw in one of those old adapters which converts a light bulb socket to electrical outlets? But there was another nearby baseboard outlet in that room!

That bulb socket looks like it's meant to be installed in a box! The socket is made by CEMCO and rated at 250V and 660 watts, and I guess it's bakelite. The box is made by Austin, and is metal.

You can't make this stuff up! Much like some of the stuff we find in our old trucks...

 

Maybe he had a bucket of them, and they were something to be left behind if necessary? I can't really tell if the string was cut, or torn. But it's kind of neat to hold it in your hand and think that that knot might've been tied 100 years ago! I might know some of his descending kinfolk.

And what about the string? Does that catch anyone's eye as being really old? It's three main plies which are spiraled together. Not having a CSI lab at my disposal, I cut off a small piece, and it burned pretty easily.

 

looks like an old night light socket. put the bulb in at night, and take it out during the day with the cover over the socket.

 

I think that was the way homes were wired for electricity, before the two and three pronged plugs became standard. Sometimes find antenna outlets, for radio use.

 

Look at the hieroglyphics on the side. It is Tut Dynasty, 2300-2550 BC, a tomb lock.