This bizarre thing appeared eBay recently. You might wonder what is it...? This is the lower lamp hanger insulator from a George Cutter street lamp cut-out pulley. How these devices work is that you lower the lamp from the pole arm or structure on a rope and as you lower the lamp this device disconnects the lamp electrically and mechanically from the line and then reconnects it when it is raised back into position. Inside the upper portion there is a contact switch that automatically closes and short circuits the series pole line as the lamp is lowered. I wish I had the upper portion of one of these! This unit dates from about 1904-1911 here is a catalog cut of the complete unit from 1909 [id=748210501]