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Help Identifying Fitting

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CDS
CDS Member Posts: 2
in Plumbing

Can someone identify what this fitting was used for and how old it may be?

IMG_0226.jpeg IMG_0227.jpeg

Comments

  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 17,409

    looks like a gas cock, probably for a portable space heater or gas lamp. is there other evidence of gas lighting? probably from the late 19th century to the 1920's.

  • pecmsg
    pecmsg Member Posts: 7,264

    old gas cock

  • Mad Dog_2
    Mad Dog_2 Member Posts: 8,669

    Gas Pet Cock. Mad Dog

    Consulting by Mad Dog & Matt Jr.
  • pecmsg
    pecmsg Member Posts: 7,264

    high school Science class

  • Mad Dog_2
    Mad Dog_2 Member Posts: 8,669

    Very old homes and buildings in old cities used natural for lighting the rooms. Be careful, sometimes they are still live and connected. Mad Dog

    Consulting by Mad Dog & Matt Jr.
  • CDS
    CDS Member Posts: 2

    Thanks for the answers everybody. I’ll be sure to check if they’re still connected to a live gas line.

  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 17,409
    https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1897202#Comment_1897202

    i mean they usually used town gas/manufactured gas which was carbon monoxide. natural gas would have been far safer. they usually got connected to the natural gas system when it came to town in the 40's and 50's.

  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 17,409

    the op asked what connected to the barb in a private message. some people will know more than me here so i'll post the answer publicly:

    just a hose that would shove over the fitting, probably just rubber tubing but that is a little beyond my historical knowledge. gas is under very low pressure, gas piping is more like ductwork than piping, the tension of the rubber is enough to keep it from leaking. it is like a chemistry laboratory. there are engineered connectors for labs with reinforced hoses and rubber bushings that connect to the barb now but in the early 90's when i was in high school those were just becoming a thing so i don't know if there was a heavier duty connector for them in the early 20th century or if it was always rubber tubing.

  • EdTheHeaterMan
    EdTheHeaterMan Member Posts: 12,491

    @mattmia2 You are correct. it was just a rubber hose that connected a portable lamp that might be moved from a table to another room, kind of like plugging in an electric table lamp to that thing Thomas Edison was pushing at the time.

    Edward Young Retired

    After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?

    mattmia2
  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 17,409

    if you want to be technical about it hubbell invented what would become the 1-15p and 1-15r plug and receptacle.

  • markdelzell
    markdelzell Member Posts: 29

    Edison invented the screw in receptical. The cords became frayed after a couple dozen screw in and out. Think clothe covered wires. Hubble came up with a better idea.

  • retiredguy
    retiredguy Member Posts: 1,100

    We had those barbed end fittings on a gas line in the high school science lab to add a "Bunsen Burner" that could be used for anything requiring a gas flame.

    This reminds me of a night call I received at the high school in Sewickley, Pa. for "no heat". On a Friday afternoon just as school let out for the weekend a student ran a section of flexible tubing from one of these gas fittings to a sink outlet that also had a similar barbed fitting on the spout. He or She turned on the gas cock and the sink faucet and fed the water into the gas line. The water ran until Sunday when the gas company began getting no heat calls from people living near the school. The water filled the school's gas lines and continued into the gas lines of the nearby homes. ( This sounds like something any mischievous boy would do.)

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