Oldest domestic dimmer switch

[brianmoooore]

I have a soft spot for the edge-thumbwheel-controlled MKs of the 70s-80s with the separate switch. I don't think we have any in the collection though.

These?

 

[Lucien Nunes]

Those!

morewords morewords

 

[Resu]

These?

I've got to remove a couple of those soon from a commercial property, unsure if they still work as the switch wires have long been removed!

 

[Dustydazzler]

You can often pick up stuff like this on Ebay

Mk 9856 - Grid Switch Dimmer (Old Original Style Grid) - 360 Watts | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Mk 9856 - Grid Switch Dimmer (Old Original Style Grid) - 360 Watts at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products!

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[brianmoooore]

Back when these were current, I was given a large box of MK 'returns'. This neighbour had a best mate who was a foreman on the local council's refuse collection operation, so it was probably trade 'waste' from one of the local wholesalers, that MK had told them to dispose of.
The box contained several of these dimmers, several bathroom shaver sockets, and loads of less valuable bits like sockets and switches.
Extensive testing showed that a lot of it had no faults at all - in the case of the dimmers, I expect the problem was that they flickered because of insufficient load.
Anyway, Lucien, yesterday, I turned out the box, from it's place at the back of a high shelf in the workshop, and there are two there, complete with (somewhat tatty) boxes and instruction leaflets, which are yours, if you want them. I don't know if they are in working order or not, but I also have a third one, definitely in full working order, that I fitted, a very long time ago, in the bedroom that I grew up in. This is now part of the farmhouse I have spent the last couple of years extensively upgrading and re working. Most of the original wiring has been ripped out, but I've kept some of the lights in service as work lights, with the cables strung up with bits of string and hanging like washing lines across the rooms.
LED lamps were been fitted everywhere when I started work, and the dimmer section was taken out of circuit, just using the switch section. You can have this one as well, if you want it. It would only take me a couple of minutes to swap it for an ordinary switch.

 

[Bob Geldoff1234]

My father rewired Blackpool Town Hall in the 1980's.The building was one of the first to get electrics in 1900 and was wired in lead with waxed paper as the insulator.The joints were put into a metal box,the lead clamped and the wires stripped bare and jointed with porcelain screw it joints.The whole joint box was then filled with hot bitumen to seal the box for life.
Anyway,the reason for this post is that they had a chandelier in the main entrance which had a very high ceiling and beneath was a statue of Queen Victoria.As it was near impossible to get to the bulbs to replace them,they needed to lower the voltage to the bulbs so that they lasted longer.Dimmers didn't exist I dont think in 1900 so they wired 2 bulbs in series with the chandelier.These bulbs were placed in the gents toilets nearby so, when the chandelier was on,so were the bulbs in the toilet.The chandelier bulbs run at a much reduced voltage and fulfilled the purpose of a dimmer.

 

[brianmoooore]

You can often pick up stuff like this on Ebay

Mk 9856 - Grid Switch Dimmer (Old Original Style Grid) - 360 Watts | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Mk 9856 - Grid Switch Dimmer (Old Original Style Grid) - 360 Watts at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products!

www.ebay.co.uk

You'd think so, but I couldn't find a single image of the dimmer switch in question anywhere on the web. The link you posted is the nearest, but that's the grid version. Doesn't help that MK have 'recycled' the part number several times.

 

[Lucien Nunes]

@brianmoooore that's a very kind offer that I will take you up on, and thereby tick off one of my 87 million must-haves from the museum list. Of course it's part of the bigger picture of making up a complete set of MK accessories in each of their hallmark styles, but as I mentioned it's a personal favourite because when I was young and first saw one, the edge-control struck me as being much neater and more in keeping with the general style of light switches than a sticky-out rotary knob.

I'll PM you about postage etc and how to reimburse for same.

@Bob Geldoff1234 I wish we could have saved some of that gear!

 

[brianmoooore]

@Lucien Nunes : Been looking through the rest of the box, and found this, which must be almost as old as yours.
Again, condition unknown, but yours if you want it.
Send me an address and I'll get it all posted to you, although it might take a while, since I'm still isolating from society, on account of my wife, so will have to get my son to post it, and his partner has just tested positive for you know what.
Do you want both boxed dimmers, the known working one and the one in this post?
Don't worry about postage costs. I'm sure the business can stand paying for that.
Just get on and get the museum up and running, so that I can visit it, meet you, and hopefully see my dimmers on display.