Posted 16 years ago
VikingFan82
(373 items)
This belonged to my grandparents for years. I always loved the look of it, it reminded me of the old black and white movies I used to watch...an old cop trying to figure out a case, drink in one hand, cigarette in the other and the only light came from his old desk lamp.....
Only Markings On it are on the switch on the light bulb that says EAGLE....and on the plug that says GE and UL (underwriters Laboratories). What is that little knob on the plug in for? How old is this lamp? Any info is welcomed and appreciated! Thanks for lookin!
Yeah, looks like it should be in a law office, Perry Mason.....
It's most likely from the 1940s, that "knob" on the plug isn't a knob, it's a locking latch. You need to press it down to lock the plug onto the wire otherwise the plug can, and most likely will work loose from the wire which could result in electrical shorts or worse.
It was designed that way so the user could shorten the cord to any size they want by simply flipping up that latch and pulling out the cord, cutting to desired length then placing the cord back into the plug and locking it back. When you put the cord in there and press the latch back down to lock it in after trimming it there are 2 little metal prongs inside there which stick into the cord making contact with the wire allowing it to function.