What is it?

[Tony S]

 

[Andy™]

looks like a nodding donkey been modified to suck electricity out of the ground instead of oil?

 

[Davethsparky]

An early HV ring main switch? 

 

[Manator]

Bloody hell that's old. The pendulums use to stick and did not work properly. Most people did not like to tap off them. That's if I am on the right track.

 

[Evans Electric]

I think its a high voltage switch ,  possibly oil filled . 

 

[Tony S]

Only to be operated by a suicidal maniac should be painted on the front. It is a Reyrolle TOI/TO12 11kV fused tee switch. 300A feeder isolators with a 100A fuse switch.

We still had three in service in to the 90’s. Live operation? forget it!

There was a unit on the old MEB network still live in 2003. I used to drive past it every day thinking “rather you than me!”

The 11kV fuses were only ½” long enclosed in bakelised paper tubes  :innocent

 

[misssweden]

Don't fancy doing a breakdown and remake on that. Burning those boxes out would get messy!

 

[Manator]

We had one in the late 1970's outside a cotton mill, no one would go near it.

 

[Andy™]

I think its a high voltage switch ,  possibly oil filled . 

i think my answer may be somewhat close after all...

 

[Manator]

The problem is Andy if the fuse blew the pendulum was supposed too drop indicating the fault, in bad weather they often got stuck in the open position.

I do not know much about them as I was only a young lad at the time but I know enough that no one liked going anywhere near them.

 

[Andy™]

apart from it looks like an HV switch of some sort... i dont have a clue

 

[Evans Electric]

I remember some similar ones in the Round Oak steel works , Specs will remember the place .  A lot of stuff installed in the 1950,s  ( Probably by Stepps  :innocent )        The DC sub station was a particular nightmare as I remember , with open switchgear .  Behind which was a tunnel of live busbars coming off the top of the gear , then down the rear wall where cables were bolted on and left the building to various destinations. 

 The engineer would open the safety cage and we walked through the tunnel to ..say...where our new cable entered and , making sure  our three bars were dead,  proceeded to potend the cable and connect to the bars.    On either side of you were live bars from adjacent switches.

Nightmare !!!!!!

 

[Manator]

Interestingly I was looking through some old copies of The Engineer and found this report from the IET annual meeting in 1954.

http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/images/e/e7/Er19540326.pdf

it will of course only be interesting to those with a nostalgic engineering bent. The topics and the engineering is amazing.

 

[Evans Electric]

Is there a prize then ?

 

[Manator]

Yes Canoeboy has to travel upnorth and turn it off

 

[Evans Electric]

Miss SSS  would like to win that  I'll bet .  :innocent

 

[Andy™]

Yes, night in the dungeon with Steps.......

well, like you said, you were closest. go spend your night with Steps

 

[Evans Electric]

I tried to show what the sub was like , not very good drawing I'm afraid ,  a wire cage normally prevented access to the rear of switchgear , but even the switches on the front were open blades with Tufnol handles.   Only the bars you were connecting to were dead so there was no waving spanners about or armour wire . 

It was rubber gloves and brown trousers!                   Sorry if my stick man looks like Gollum !

 

[Rob_the_rich]

I don't have a current SAP so cant oblige sorry.....

is a "sap" the apprentice you tell to go switch it off?

 

[ProDave]

I used to be a SAP in a previous employment. Not any more.