[robmac85]

Anyone ever use "circle F" devices back in the day? I have boxes and boxes of devices I got from an old timers garage. Now there gonna sit in my garage for the next next 50 years haha. They seem pretty tough and I like their logo haha I'm guessing they're out of business.

 

[TOOL_5150]

Yeah, Ive seen them. Usually removing them though. replacing them with chinese crap that isnt going to last a year.

 

[ponyboy]

Was this a failed spinoff of square d?

 

[robmac85]

Yup, I've pulled out many myself. These are from a time when there was dozens of manufacturers of wiring devices, all of em with MADE IN USA stamped on them. What do we have today maybe 4 brands? Hubbell and Pass & Seymour barely make anything in US. The only ones still making some things here are Leviton and Cooper. Yeah I'm anal and try and use US made stuff whenever I can.

 

[robmac85]

I actually did a quick search on them. Started out as E.H. Freeman Company around the turn of the last century in Trenton NJ. I'm not sure when they banged up shop.

 

[ampman]

nice can you show the auctual device

 

[Shockdoc]

I've replaced many of their snap switches and three prong grounding outlets in my teenage years. Many sub divisions in my hometown used that brand.

 

[MTW]

Was this a failed spinoff of square d?

I believe that was Bell wiring devices.

 

[macmikeman]

I used to install those, lots of those.

 

[Going_Commando]

I think I have some new in package down in the shop somewhere. They look great with Uni-line plates.

 

[papaotis]

i remember seeing them , but dont remember when!

 

[retiredsparktech]

i remember seeing them , but dont remember when!

I remember seeing Challenger-Circle F breaker panels. They looked like the generic type panels, that everyone seems to use competitive type breakers in, even though it's against the code.

 

[drhalleron]

Kind of old thread, but I installed many of those in the early 1980s. My boss must have bought a truck load. I remember the switches had a problem of the plastic cracking when I tightened the wire under the screw and I had to be more careful with them than any other brand we used.

 

[Meadow]

When did those stop being produced btw?

 

[TOOL_5150]

Was this a failed spinoff of square d?

Yeah, right between hexagon E :brows:

 

[MTW]

When did those stop being produced btw?

Not soon enough. :laughing:

 

[Meadow]

Not soon enough. :laughing:

they look a lot like those Bryant wiring devices.

 

[robmac85]

When did those stop being produced btw?

Well I was working on a house the other day that was built in 1989 and they had them in there so some time after that I guess. I do know that the factory where they were made in Trenton NJ is now apartments.

 

[MTW]

Once upon a time, New England, New York and New Jersey was the epicenter of wiring device and wire and cable manufacturers. T&B, Lightolier, Leviton, Eagle, Murray, AIW, Colt, GE, Hubbel, Bryant, P&S, and long defunct wire and cable brands were here. Some of the headquarters remain (Leviton, for instance) but the manufacturing is long gone.

 

[TOOL_5150]

For the record... theres nothing wrong with Hubbell.