Ok, so yesterday I went thru the process of fixing up our outside light on the front porch. It has been messed up for about the last three years. When we had the new windows installed they placed trim around the windows that did not allow the light to stay where it was at. At the time I didn't know what I wanted to do and just let it sit, until a week or so ago when the light died. It ended up on of the wire nuts just came off, but I decided it was time to do something about it. This is what it looked like:
So what I decided was to make a spacer out of the same size material and mount it on that. Unfortunately I didn't take a pic of it but the point was that I also decide to replace the old light switch. It was two single switches and one sent power to the light and the other controlled an outlet under the front window. This is what it looked like removed but with the cover plate on:
It doesn't seem to look much different but it really is. This is what it looks like under the plate:
What you see here is a frame that allowed you to place anywhere from one to three individual switches. All you had to do was get the proper cover pate for it. I didn't really think too much about it at first but when I tried to mount the old plate to the new switch it didn't fit. If for no other reason than because the switches are actually farther apart than what a new double switch would be. To my knowledge you can't buy these anymore, and probably for not for at least the last 30 years or more. This house was built in 1962.
If you wanted to run power to both switches you actually had to run a jumper to both of the screws. Done in this case by removing about a half inch of insulation from the wire about three inches back from the end and looping it over the top screw and then stripping the end and wrapping it over the bottom screw. Of course nowadays the switches come with a bridge built in the you can either leave there or remove it depending on your use. I just thought this was interesting.
