What is this?

[sd4524]

One wire goes under the house to a water pipe ground connection. I don't It says "aerial ground" on the face of the device. I think it may be for testing that a satelite or antenna is properly grounded?

 

[Gac66610]

IMO, it looks like a single receptacle, wire run to water was for the grounded conductor

 

[tom baker]

My guess, it would be for grounding the chassis of a radio or TV. Tube radios and TVS had the chassis used as the common.

 

[sd4524]

To clarify: One wire goes to the water pipe/ ground. The other wire was not hot/ energized. I tried to research it when i first found it but couldn't figure out exactly what it is.

 

[Gac66610]

what are the numbers on the yoke?

 

[480sparky]

Single 110v receptacle, using the water pipe for a noodle.

 

[sd4524]

A ton of paint but i see:
A250
A125
Aerial ground

 

[n1ist]

It's a radio outlet for early tube AM radios; one lead to a longwire antenna, the other to ground.

Predates satellite by quite a few decades...

/mike

 

[Rampage_Rick]

It's a radio outlet for early tube AM radios; one lead to a longwire antenna, the other to ground.

Predates satellite by quite a few decades...

/mike

I concur. This would be like a cable TV outlet, but for radio. The weird part is that it looks identical to a NEMA 1-15 socket. I'm wondering if it's a different size? The uppermost prong in the first photo looks like it might be too narrow for a standard prong.

There weren't any specifications for radio sockets, so there are a few variations. Here are some other examples:

 

[sd4524]

It is very close in size to a standard outlet. I can't fit a male plug into the neutral side. i think the am radio call is a good one. This was an older home.

 

[cowboyjwc]

The technical term for that item is a "whatzit". I've seen a lot of whatzits in my time and that's one of them.:happyno:

 

[stickboy1375]

Awesome post, I've come across these before and just chucked them with out ever digging deeper into the intent of the device....

 

[acrwc10]

It is an Old tube type radio antennia outlet, one side would connect to a wire that ran through the attic and the other would go to the water ground, lightning strikes. Usually see them in houses built around the 1930's