# Old Detroit crap



## Zog (Apr 15, 2009)

I worked in Detroit for 10 years doing HV work and have seen some scary stuff from that same era still in use. Sure do not miss it there.


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## RIVETER (Sep 26, 2009)

Why do you have to pick on CATHOLICS...I've seen worse at a BAPTIST place.:whistling2:


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## Lone Crapshooter (Nov 8, 2008)

It is about time someone speaks up for US

LC 

Think Listen Solve


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## william1978 (Sep 21, 2008)

Cool pic's keep posting.


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## william1978 (Sep 21, 2008)

RIVETER said:


> Why do you have to pick on CATHOLICS...I've seen worse at a BAPTIST place.:whistling2:


 :sleep1:


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## 3phase (Jan 16, 2007)

The second pic down looks like one in the 1900's Methodist church I go to. Trustee's call me to change fuses in it.


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## BrandonG (May 19, 2010)

Woah, enough belts on that motor there?


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## DEAD SHORT (May 24, 2010)

Lol last time I saw stuff like that was in rockafella center... Radio city ... And the united nations...


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## Bkessler (Feb 14, 2007)

Love that stuff, the older the better. 

Lock your truck doors and keep your tools out of sight! And be back home by dark.


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## Southeast Power (Jan 18, 2009)

100 plus years and still working!

The worst thing about taking that stuff out is those 200 lb pieces of bakelite or whatever it is they use a a back board.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakelite





















.


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## stars13bars2 (Jun 1, 2009)

RIVETER said:


> Why do you have to pick on CATHOLICS...I've seen worse at a BAPTIST place.:whistling2:


So where are your pics?


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

That motor with all the belts... looks very similar to the setup I often see for the pipe organ compressor. I'd almost bet money that's what that was, although I'm not sure if catholic churches use pipe organs. I've never been in one. 

That fuse box with the switches in it... I see that style a lot in old retail. They're normally a Frank Adams lighting panel, although the one pictured in this thread is the smallest one I've ever seen.


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## Geoff C (May 26, 2010)

6 V-belts is crazy. 

Most of the churches I've worked in with those old fused panels use them as their lighting control


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## Phil DeBlanc (May 29, 2010)

Definitely not an organ blower, just an old air exchange blower from the time before air conditioning.

The 6 belt configuration shows a quality install where the mechanic setting the blower up was aware of the horsepower required to spin the cage and the capacity of each individual belt.

Looks to be about 1970s given the cloth noise/vibration reduction collar marrying the blower to the ductwork.


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## dmxtothemax (Jun 15, 2010)

AWKrueger said:


> Heres some old equipment from a 1920's catholic church in Detroit, MI.
> 
> View attachment 3027
> 
> ...


The fact that it is still working after 90 years,
means its not such crap,
might not meet current safety standards thou!
good pics thou.


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## RIVETER (Sep 26, 2009)

stars13bars2 said:


> So where are your pics?


I won't post pictures...I am tolerant.


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## mamills1 (Jul 14, 2010)

I've got a question about the fuse panel with the tumbler switches - pic. no. 3. Is this one of those "door in door" panels (i.e., the larger outer door exposes both switches and fuses, while the smaller inner door exposes only the switches - to restrict fuse-changing to "qualified" personnel)? I have seen both versions of this panel in my time. And, yes, in most cases, all the fuses were 30's anyway! As my aunt once observed many years ago, on the occasion of replacing a burned out fuse in her house..."The 30 amp fuses cost the same as the "other" fuses, and they last much longer!" (go figure...she got mad at me when I returned from the hardware store with a brand new box of 20's. No amount of explanation would do any good...)

Love these pictures of vintage equipment. Seems like churches have their fair share of ancient equipment. One church I attended many years ago used a knife-switch/fuse panel for turning on/off sanctuary lights (makes that fuse/tumbler switch panel look very modern by comparison). They even used to keep a pair of asbestos gloves hanging on a hook beside the panel for the benefit of the operator!!


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## dmxtothemax (Jun 15, 2010)

There are some things that you just never forget!!
How about early dimmers, in Brisbane (australia) around about the time of WW2, 
The Americans built a large dance hall called Festival hall,
The dimmers for the house lights,
where just huge wirewound pots with wooden handles,
Some were rated at 10a and others 20a at 240v.
Only the house electricain was allowed to go anywhere near them,
for obvious safety reasons.
But because I was young, and dead keen on anything electrical 
they allowed me to see them WOW.

Also something else I will never forget seeing,
Working mercury arc rectifiers,
I hate to think what all that ultra violet radiation was doing to people.
These rectifiers were providing 25kv dc for the trams that used to run 
in brisbane


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## Shockdoc (Mar 4, 2010)

I guess they figured out sometime in the late 20's that switchgear in a wooden box was a bad idea.


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## Split Bolt (Aug 30, 2010)

I love all the old stuff and am fortunate enough to work regularly in a 1920s institutional building that still has a lot of that stuff, functioning or lying around collecting dust! There used to be many of those old bus bars & fuse holders mounted to bakelite boards I can't even lift lying around, but a few years ago, they had a maintenance guy who was a crackhead and he scrapped all the copper from them!


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## CJE (Oct 10, 2010)

I used to do a lot of work in a building that had been a school with nearly identical gear in it. It was built in 1932. 400 amp service. It's all still in use too. I need to stop by there and get some pictures while it's still there.


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