# Old fuse holders and switches



## kuma (Aug 4, 2011)

Hi all , hope everybody's OK!
I came across these old fuses in holders with some switches the other day in a skip and brought them home for a ganders.
As I'd read that there might be a chance of silver in them I thought I'd share some pictures with you guy's to see if anybody had a take on them.
Below is a picture of the bits that I found , after I'd already taken two of the switches apart ;




This is a picture of one of the switches with the components still in place ;




The next picture shows one each of the different connections from the switches. As you can see some are yellow in colour and some were silver. 
The green circles in the picture show what I believe could be (from reading here and on google) silver alloy contacts.
I'm thinking that maybe the silver coloured components , front row bottom left , are silver plated brass. 
I have scratched into them and under quiet a thick plating there is a very light brassy colour.
Most of these silver coloured contact components display a dark brown tarnish , which I believe could be silver sulphide.
I was thinking that to test for silver I could make up an electrolyte solution (NaCHO3 [bicarb] + NaCI [salt] + H20 [water] ) , and set up the the contact as cathode and some copper as anode then run a few volts through.
If the tarnish 'goes' , I'm guessing it would demonstrate that it was indeed silver sulphide (silver sulphide converting back into elemental silver due to negative charge being applied) , confirming my silver plating suspicions. ( :?: )
I have also circled in blue what looks a lot like a small 'blob' of gold. Directly underneith this is where copper braid was attached. This didn't seem to be soldered on , a roofers torch wouldn't touch it so I had to use pliers.
This led me to believe that maybe the copper braid was arc welded on , I wonder if a dab of gold could aid this process?
I have no idea. :mrgreen: (Happy greenhorn ;-)




This picture is a close up of the gold looking 'blob , magnified 40x ( By the way , I can't believe how much easier it is to get magnified images of electrical bit's 'n bob's , the're generaly much flatter than rocks!  ) ;




For the sake of space , I will describe the fuses and their holders in another post.
I feel that at this point I should say that I don't actualy have a clue when it comes to this (I'm a noobie , I am only making assumptions based on what I have read!!
Any and all input will be greatly appreciated!!
All the best and kindest regards , 
Chris


----------



## kuma (Aug 4, 2011)

Hello again!
Below is a picture of one of the fuses in it's holder. These fuses have the date on them 1967.
I am thinking that due to their function , the large silver coloured contacts either side could be silver plated ? 
I did scratch into one and it shows copper underneath , the plating on this was also very thick. There are no signs of the 'silver sulphide looking' tarnish on these ones.
Again , I have no idea what I'm looking at , I guess I'm just trying to find out what I should be looking for! :mrgreen: 




Below is a close up (30x mag) picture of the area that I scratched on one of the contacts. I think the picture demonstrates the thickness of the plating ;




Well that's that then , thanks for reading and please feel free to let me know what you think!
All the best for now and the kindest regards , 
Chris


----------



## Barren Realms 007 (Aug 4, 2011)

The items you are referring to as switches are actually breakers. The picture of the blob should be a copper silver combination brazing alloy. It is possible that your fuses have a coating of silver on them but probably not enough to justify the expense of recovering the silver.


----------



## kuma (Aug 4, 2011)

Hi Barren and many thanks for the reply!
I should have known they were breakers , at least I know what I have now , not to bother then , lol's
Off I go back to working on my small pile of pins , :mrgreen: 
All the best for now and kindest regards , 
Chris


----------



## Barren Realms 007 (Aug 4, 2011)

The point's on the breakers where contact is made should be silver or s silver alloy. Save them till you have enough to process.


----------



## Claudie (Aug 4, 2011)

The Brass that the Silver contact is soldered to is commonly Silver plated also. I think Boardsort.com buys Silver plated Brass.


----------



## kuma (Aug 4, 2011)

Hi guy's and thanks again for the replies!
That's cool to know , I'll keep an eye out for these in future then , one of my mates is an electrician so I'll get him to keep any of these he dumps in future and start saving! :mrgreen: 
Many thanks again for the replies and kindest regards , 
Chris


----------

