# Mystery Panel



## Dennis Alwon (May 9, 2009)

Wild guess-- Wadsworth


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## JRaef (Mar 23, 2009)

Old Square D "XO" type? That's what predates the QO system. the few I've seen were usually vertically oriented though. they date from around WWII I think.

I like the cool little bronze plates with the numbers on them. A level of craftsmanship that you no longer see.

Trumbull was kind of like that too, but also oriented the other way.

One that I always though was interesting was Colt, the same Colt that makes guns, was in the breaker panel business for a while. Theirs look a little like that too, although the name is usually more prominent from what I've seen.


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## Majewski (Jan 8, 2016)

So cool!!!!


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## LDMiller (Jul 1, 2015)

Yes, there was no name visible on the panel or cover. There is a "P" on each section between the number plates.


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## JRaef (Mar 23, 2009)

LDMiller said:


> Yes, there was no name visible on the panel or cover. There is a "P" on each section between the number plates.


Curiouser and curiouser... The only "P" name I can think of for old breakers is Pushmatic, but those are not Pushmatic breakers.

Powell is a switchgear mfr in Texas company that's been around forever, maybe they dabbled in breaker panels?

There was an old panel manufacturer here in Oakland, CA for a long time called Parker. Everything they did was hand made, beautiful stuff, the bronze labels seems like something they would have done. I used to love going in there and having those old farts make me whatever I needed. I only had them do industrial stuff for me, but there were in business since the 30s, so who knows what they did in the past. Nobody wanted to take over the business from them though so when the last one passed away in the late 90s, they company folded. Their shop is still there, empty to this day, it's too contaminated to use for anything else. 









I'd love to get inside and rummage around the leftover stuff and machinery, I've peaked through the windows and can see there's tons of stuff in there. Someone bought the property in around 2013 and had an environmental report done, that's where it came out that the cost of environmental remediation exceeds the value of the property. I tried contacting the new owners through that environmental consultant, nobody responded. Probably best for me though, I can have hoarding tendencies for old cool stuff like that, It'll likely cause my divorce some day...


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## Majewski (Jan 8, 2016)

Dude come on! Going in there would be so great!


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## LDMiller (Jul 1, 2015)

Still a mystery


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## daveEM (Nov 18, 2012)

Pull the cover. Have a look inside. Maybe the breakers have something on the.


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## frenchelectrican (Mar 15, 2007)

I am guessing it look like wadworth or Pistik if the spelling is correct.


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## JRaef (Mar 23, 2009)

frenchelectrican said:


> I am guessing it look like wadworth or Pistik if the spelling is correct.


Pistik? Seriously? I would think that's a name for a pregnancy test kit...

Looking at some old Wadsworth (really, another great name...) pictures, some of the old ones had that kind of knurled handle on them, but they (Wadsworth) don't lay as flat as those in the photo, theirs look more like everyone else.


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## MechanicalDVR (Dec 29, 2007)

JRaef said:


> Pistik? Seriously? I would think that's a name for a pregnancy test kit...
> 
> Looking at some old Wadsworth (really, another great name...) pictures, some of the old ones had that kind of knurled handle on them, but they (Wadsworth) don't lay as flat as those in the photo, theirs look more like everyone else.


So completely not related to 'Longfellow'...


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## JRaef (Mar 23, 2009)

Heinemann breakers have a knurled handle and a hole in it like those. Heinemann are magnetic-hydraulic breakers so a little different and more expensive, but used a lot on shipboard and in places with high or very low temperatures because they don't nuisance trip as often.










I'm spending way too much time on this, but I can't let a good mystery go.


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## JRaef (Mar 23, 2009)

MechanicalDVR said:


> So completely not related to 'Longfellow'...


Eh, maybe they were. The Wadsworth family was a huge New England family that went back to the colonial times and Longfellow's mother was definitely part of that clan. It's likely that the Wadswoths were "captains of industry" all across the NE and Mid West in those early years. Wadsworth Electric was founded by two brothers in Kentucky across the border from Cincinnati. You don't just start up a manufacturing company in the 1800s with 300 employees without some serious money behind you.


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## RICK BOYD (Mar 10, 2008)

One that I always though was interesting was Colt, the same Colt that makes guns, was in the breaker panel business for a while. 



I had a Colt washing machine, 
but when I washed my jeans ,they were shot !


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## sbrn33 (Mar 15, 2007)

I am with the wadsworth group.


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## drewsserviceco (Aug 1, 2014)

That doesn't look like the Wadsworth I am used to seeing. I am less than an hour from Huntingdon, PA. If I can remember, tomorrow when I'm playing in the shop I'll snap a few pics of the Wadsworth panels I've saved. The last one was in mint condition.


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## varmit (Apr 19, 2009)

JRaef said:


> Eh, maybe they were. The Wadsworth family was a huge New England family that went back to the colonial times and Longfellow's mother was definitely part of that clan. It's likely that the Wadswoths were "captains of industry" all across the NE and Mid West in those early years. Wadsworth Electric was founded by two brothers in Kentucky across the border from Cincinnati. You don't just start up a manufacturing company in the 1800s with 300 employees without some serious money behind you.


At least some, of the old Wadsworth plant in Covington Kentucky, is still standing. It is the city of Covington maintenance garage these days.


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## varmit (Apr 19, 2009)

I am thinking that the panel is a Frank Adam. This brand was common in commercial work many years ago.


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## Grounded-B (Jan 5, 2011)

There is a P logo on the center of the breaker, so I'll guess Pistik .


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