Posted to News on 23rd Oct 2012, 15:29
Wiring Manual Competition finds 40-year-old manual in daily use
Eaton's Electrical Sector is announcing the winner of its competition to find the oldest copy of its pocket wiring manual. With over 500 responses and 17 photographic entries, it was Jim Gilbert, a maintenance engineer for Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council, who produced the oldest wiring manual dating back to 1972. Eaton presented Jim with his prize, an electrician's toolkit, at its Reddings Lane offices in Birmingham. When asked why he kept the wiring manual for all these years, Jim Gilbert revealed: "The Eaton wiring manual is compact with everything you ever need to know included. The manual is kept in my drawer and I still tend to use it on a daily basis. I'm still learning something new from it every day!"
The competition marked the launch of the latest edition of Eaton's pocket wiring manual, a previous version of which Jim Gilbert first received when he started a five-year electrical apprenticeship in the 1970s. Jim found the manual to be invaluable throughout his apprenticeship training, and has continued to use it as a constant reference point over the years, finding it particularly useful when working on panelboards. Although Jim has now moved into maintenance work, he is delighted that he can now pass the prize of the electrician's toolkit onto his son who is currently following in his father's footsteps and training to be an electrician.
Due to the high quality of entries, Eaton also decided to award two runner-up prizes to Jon Stephenson of Andrew Reid & Partners, London, and Stephen Hancock of Danum Electrical, Scunthorpe, who both had wiring manuals dating back to 1974. Both runners up received a prize of a universal-cable stripper.
Eaton's new wiring manual is the latest successor to the popular Klckner Moeller and Moeller Electric Wiring Manuals, the first of which was published in German more than 50 years ago in 1958, and in English in 2005. Due to the comprehensive content and usefulness of these manuals, users have often retained their copies for many years.
Copies of the new edition can still be obtained, free of charge, by emailing [email protected]. Alternatively, the new wiring manual can be viewed online by visiting www.wiringmanual.com.
