Button Identification?
I recently moved into a ~1900 rowhouse and found this oversized “button” near our old dumb waiter shaft. It extends through the wall to the other side. A friend who lives in a similar building has the same button, but it is not near any (extant) dumb waiter. Can someone help us to identify this?…
I recently moved into a ~1900 rowhouse and found this oversized “button” near our old dumb waiter shaft. It extends through the wall to the other side. A friend who lives in a similar building has the same button, but it is not near any (extant) dumb waiter.
Can someone help us to identify this? Is it a call button for the dumb waiter, or for a servant? It’s been painted over so many times at this point, it’s hard to identify. Originally I thought it was an old, sawed off post!
Not that you should be stripping this and certainly you should not detach it from the wall — it’s there for a reason. You want the gas line capped off.
But if you’re stripping hinges, say, and you can get them off — I thought boiling them in vinegar did the trick. Wasn’t there a post on here about that?
Slopette,
I use JASCO EZ-Strip exclusively. The only place I found it is Lowe’s. It is toxic (you need chemical proof gloves). Buy the small can. The gloves ($5) are nearby. If you’re just doing some hardware, pour the goo into a metal pan or glass jar. Gob it into the hardware with a cheap chip brush and leave the room for fifteen minutes so you’re not breathing the stuff. Go back with a cheap scraper and wire brush and the paint will sludge off. You probably want to scrub it with some mineral wool also. It is pretty easy to get paint off metal.
Be careful not to get any on your skin as it will burn you.
They are definitely gas line nipples. I have them all over the house, and a speaking tube besides. The best way I have found to strip hardware is Peel Away stripper. Remove the doorknob or hinge, cover in PeelAway and wrap it up in newspaper. Leave it for 24 hours. Unwrap, most of the paint will stick to the paper and the rest of the softened residue can be washed off with hot water. No fumes.
FYI. Please note sometimes they still are live gas lines. I did a job in Bed-stuy replacing a old ceiling light fixture and there was a live gas line (gas light fixture) capped right next to the electrical wires for the light. I had to go, trace the line to the basement and cut and cap it. Good luck.
We have an electric call button at in the front hall on the parlor floor which was wired to a bell at the base of the cellar stairs. This seems to have been used to summon a servant when the owner entered the front hall. It no longer works, and I have searched everywhere for the sevant to no avail.
MM has a set of speaking tubes in her kitchen.They are very cool and I think are enamel over metal.
“mopar, you have servants?
*rob*”
Sure, she’s married.
Speaking tubes were mostly for the butler or upstairs staff to communicate with the kitchen staff. I don’t think the lady or lord of the manor would use speaking tubes unless they had laryngitis.
mopar, you have servants?
*rob*