✅ SOLVED An Old Whatsit: Heavy Copper/Brass Hardware

[mcl]

Hey All,

I posted this once a long time ago, never was able to figure out what it is. Just about all the info I have is what you see in the pictures. A solid, heavy piece of copper/brass hardware, probably circa 1880-1910 based on the place I found it. Has a bunch of prongs coming off it that I'm assuming are bent from their original configuration. There are three screw holes, one that goes all the way through and two on the back that do not. If I had to guess I'd say something electrical, but I've looked through all kinds of old catalogs for phones, telegraphs, home improvement, etc and not found what I'm looking for. Hopefully you can help. There aren't any markings on it, what you get is what you see -- I don't think more detailed pictures will contribute to this one but let me know.







Thanks Everyone,
-mcl

 

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[nhbenz]

I'd think the most likely electrical part it may be is a ground block?

 

[bradyboy]

being brass or copper are two separate animals
it would help if you could find out what the material is due to conductivity of said materials
IMO
Brady

 

[mcl]

being brass or copper are two separate animals
it would help if you could find out what the material is due to conductivity of said materials
IMO
Brady

Well in my defense, technically brass is used in electrical applications for some things these days, such as terminals, connectors, and hardened wire. But I see what you're saying. I'll go see if I can figure it out here quick by the color, which obviously isn't great for a lot of reasons (brass, bronze and copper can all look the same color sometimes depending on the alloy). However that's the only way I can think of unless, maybe I could somehow use a multimeter to check the resistivity of this piece vs something I know is brass/copper? If you have tips on that, let me know. Either way it sounds like I will need to make a scratch or two in the surface.

Be riiiiiight back..

 

[mcl]

Okay so that took longer than I expected. I tried to get to the metal under the corrosion the nice way first (scrubbing) then doing a scratch. It's definitely not pure copper, and judging by the shiny golden color, I'm calling it brass. Tried to use a multimeter to verify but.. I failed to consider how low the resistance of just a piece of metal is. The resistance of both copper and this piece were reading the same as touching the leads together, so obviously I don't have a sensitive enough device. Either way, brass brass.

One little thing I noticed, the tips of those prongs are wedge shaped, like a flathead screwdriver, not square (i.e., flat).

 

[mcl]

I did some further cleaning and discovered that the prongs are a different material than the base. The prongs are copper, the base is brass. I posted this to another website and got it identified to my level of satisfaction -- may never know exactly what it is from but it is the mounting block for and containing the contact jaws for a late 19th/early 20th century linked knife switch. Here is the closest picture I could find: