When you're working in a 20's, 30's, 40's "old money" home, you often come across the old pushbutton switches. When a switch goes bad, people often want the same style switch. When they're adding switches, they often want more pushbutton switches. Until recent years, you had to salvage these switches from other jobs.
Now, there are a few companies that I know of that is making reproductions of them. They didn't used to be UL approved (the repro's, that is), but now I see that some are UL approved. They are a bit pricey. I think the last one's that I sold to a customer I had to retail for about 40 or 50 bucks each.
This style of switch was most popular from the mid 20's to the mid 30's. Earlier than that, and they used the round key type switches. Much after that, and they used traditional toggles.
Here's a link to some places that sell them:
http://www.vintagehardware.com/catalog/home.php?cat=9
http://www.classicaccents.net/cgi-b...+Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=CAI&Category_Code=PBS
Now, there are a few companies that I know of that is making reproductions of them. They didn't used to be UL approved (the repro's, that is), but now I see that some are UL approved. They are a bit pricey. I think the last one's that I sold to a customer I had to retail for about 40 or 50 bucks each.
This style of switch was most popular from the mid 20's to the mid 30's. Earlier than that, and they used the round key type switches. Much after that, and they used traditional toggles.
Here's a link to some places that sell them:
http://www.vintagehardware.com/catalog/home.php?cat=9
http://www.classicaccents.net/cgi-b...+Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=CAI&Category_Code=PBS