Technology or Spooks! Perkins Rotary Switch

[jballard]

Been living in a 1912 vintage house for over 15 years, and this weekend I replaced a light bulb in the top of a stairwell leading to an unfinished basement. Well,the obvious light switch in the stairwell did not control that socket. I found that an old bakelite & ceramic rotary Perkins switch controlled the socket, but here is the odd thing. The switch seems to be timed somehow .. I turn it off and later I find the light back on again. Is this possible? I've found a similar switch on Ebay and other sites and it should just be an off-on mechanism, but there is a circular box that the switch is fitted to that might contain more? Anyone know more about these switches and functioning beyond on-off?

[wletson]

Is there any way it may be connected to another switch somewhere, making a three-way switch. If the other switch was in the opposite position, with the rotary switch you would be turning it on, and it would automatically turn the light off.

[jballard]

That would make sense. Odd that the switch that controls the stairwell light is located in the basement. I need to do more switch flipping ...

Thanks,

Jeff

[Don M]

That's interesting unless you can enter the basement thru a garage or door that would be near the switch. Maybe the rotory switch is malfunctioning after all these years? Can you tell what the attached box contains?

[jballard]

It is tied to a second switch on the upper stairwell. Mystery solved.

Thanks,

Jeff