Natural Slate Electrical Panels

We’ve already had some great reader suggestions for Natural Materials month. The first that caught my eye this morning is from MAKE pal and Flickr-pool-roundup regular John Honniball, aka anachrocomputer, who directs our attention to the use of natural slate panels as insulators in vintage electrical equipment. Above, a beautiful example from the Canada Science and Technology Museum: The switchboard control panel from the Sault Ste. Marie canal power house, manufactured in 1895 by Canadian General Electric.

And this is a set of wonderfully “mad science” knife switches on natural slate baseplates. I’m not sure if these are antiques or reproductions, but John photographed them at Maker Faire Newcastle 2010. If anyone has more info about their provenance, please do let us know, below.

Artifact Spotlight – Switchboard Panel from the Sault Ste. Marie canal power house
Maker Faire 2010: Knife Switches

[Thanks, John!]

5 Responses to Natural Slate Electrical Panels

Rob Cruickshank (@robcruickshank) on March 8th, 2012 at 10:04 am said:

Blackboards and pool tables considered at risk from steampunks in 3…2…1…
(I kid. This is awesome)

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- John Honniball on March 8th, 2012 at 10:23 am said:
  
  No blackboards or pool/billiards tables were harmed in the making of my slate base-plates! In fact, I used offcuts of slate floor tiles, which I cut to size using a special abrasive blade in a jig-saw. A good tool shop should be able to supply slate-working blades for hacksaws and jig-saws.
  
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  Rob Cruickshank (@robcruickshank) on March 8th, 2012 at 12:13 pm said:
  
  Cool! I may have to get one of those blades. Also this reminds me that mica was also used as an electrical insulator- I’ve also seen old wood stoves with mica windows. (the popular plastic laminate Formica, was originally sold as a substitute “for mica”
  
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Ken on March 8th, 2012 at 12:42 pm said:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/simplesimon/491891255/ still in place in a power station which operated up to the 2000′s

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- carlo on March 12th, 2012 at 2:08 pm said:
  
  The Chaudière Falls station in Ottawa is still operating and gave tours last year:
  http://www.ottawa.ca/en/rec_culture/museum_heritage/celebrations/doors_open/buildings/index.html#39
  
  They have a ton of old gauges like that. They were unhooked 10 years ago (and replaced with computers) but it’s still impressive to look at.
  
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