13 amp plugs - memories

I've got a similar universal plug with screw terminals. It was very useful when doing stage lighting with a 13A socket on the other end.

The other old thing that has come in handy and is probably banned now is a 2:1 bayonet light socket adaptor with one of the sockets switched.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Hodges
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I am sure other makes incorporated a recessed fuse cradle underneath held in by a removable clip showing in its window the fuse's colour/rating value. The plug improved considerably when makers also added..... a) non-return, tension-funelled nylon, barbed, cable grip inside entry (MK?) b) L and N pins insulator-gaitered near body, about 15 years ago for safety (it is now standard but conductor x-section is therefore smaller) c) loop puller on some red plugs - for rheumatic /geriatric hands d) translucent top with "live" neon indicator option The -worst- thing is..... over 75% of their ignorant users only ever fit a

13A fuse instead of the lowest possible rating for the load!! If all plugs in use were drawing 12A, the National Generators + reserve would be vastly overloaded and would not cope!! Now were there some more enhancements /ideas?....please fill in.... e) f) g)
Reply to
Jim Gregory

I suppose the correct fuse for the purpose is a good enough justification for the factory fitted plug. I never understood why they didn't include a fuse in the price - and let the customer select the size for the purpose - instead of them always having a 13A fitted.

I recall our Hoover used to have a two pin plug - to do the bedrooms we had a bayonet adaptor that had a 2 pin socket in it. It was a brown Bakelite thing about 2 inches long. The plug had to be a tight fit or it kept falling out.

Thinking back to the original note about getting home and fitting a new plug - how often did we end up stuffing the wires into the socket because we didn't remember to buy a plug? Learning to open the shutters was essential early learning.

John

Reply to
john

In good shops (and even Woolies, AFAIR) you used to be able to buy them with various ratings of fuse fitted.

Reply to
Bob Eager

I think bayonet adaptors are banned full stop.

I have a bayonet plug that my mum used eons ago to power her vacuum cleaner (!) It's marked "Empire made"!

I now use it for Xmas lights.

sponix

Reply to
sponix

Some old electrical fittings here:

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Reply to
sponix

in a bayonet lampholder. I think I still have one somewhere. It was very useful.

Reply to
<me9

Some of the dates are wrong though -- 13A plug was introduced in 1946, and BS546 round pin plugs go back well before WWII. Also, there were 4, not 2 ratings of BS546 plugs; 2A, 5A, 15A,

30A (which you would not find in the home, but was used in industry).
Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

That is my recollection regards the flex grip too. I did have one which was paired with a BC adaptor (as shown a couple of pictures below), which had a short length of string coupling the two together, so although you could unplug it, they didn't fall apart more than a couple of inches. I assumed this was for switching off the associated appliance (perhaps an iron or table lamp) without the appliance cord falling away from the lampholder.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

snipped-for-privacy@privacy.net explained on 07/01/2006 :

It did - The flex came in through the hole in the cover and was gripped by a conical peg on the base. The problem was that the top had to serve the dual function of both gripping the flex and applying pressure onto the brass pins to make a good connection - it didn't always suceed. The brass pins were rather like a fat split pin, with the flex through the hole trapped as you tightened the cover.

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield

was rotated to indicate the fuse rating

and, not an enhancement but I had A universal plug top which had pins which dropped down and you decided which ones you wanted to use. It covered 2A, 3A, 5A, 15A, 13A 2 pin and 3 pin and it was fused!

Whilst on my nostalgia trip...who remembers Revo cookers? These had a transformer to boost the voltage for the high speed [higher voltage??] Rapid Ring. We used to sell these transformers to the local Water Board for use in thawing-out frozen pipes! Tell that to the youngsters nowadays and,...

Reply to
Grumpy owd man

Remember wiring those in the late '60s. They rattled. Lots of loose pin parts held in check by a perforated template, and you tapped on its shell to loosen the three (or two) pins for the gauge you needed! Then you "unscrewed" them outward, locked them with a 3-way lever! But had no fuse!! They was marketed for running portable equipment when you were visiting various premises but were unsure what wall socket types to find at the destin. So catered for 3 or 4 common formats. BS1363 13A oblong pin sockets took off reasonably quickly in industrial and business premises, but stretched over three decades to become universal domestically in UK.

Reply to
Jim Gregory

My Mum had the Pifco Princess hairdryer - slightly different version that that shown - longer nozzel and a very well made pink patterned proper box with slide-up lid for storing the dryer and all the bits.

The plastic stand shown is unmistakeable and the little black and red toggel switches.

I wish things still came in well made boxes that you could actually store the thing in!

Tim

Reply to
Tim S

Hmm - I feel old. I remember most of those!

Still have one of the MK plugs with no sheathing on the LN pins (out of reach of the kids). Excepting the sheathing, or lack of, the damn thing is still more robust and better made that many of the cheap new plugs you can buy now. MK always were my favourite for a decently made plug.

Tim

Reply to
Tim S

When I were a lad (70's) we used to have our fairy lights for Christmas on a BC plug. Usually into a spare table lamp on the ground, but sometimes IIRC off a BC 2 way adaptor on an in-use table lamp.

Ah the memories. The BC 2 way was also used on our landing - had a night bulb and a regular bulb, Dad would turn off the full power bulb leaving the night light on.

Tim

Reply to
Tim S

Those were available in the mid 80's - popular at University. Horribly made - wasn't uncommon for the top to come off in your hand whilst still plugged in.

Tim

Reply to
Tim S

I remember. Quite ingenious, if a little unconvincing.

Has anyone noticed that we mostly managed to avoid killing ourselves with unsleeved plugs, clix, light switches that hand unscrewed to reveal the gubbins, bar fires etc etc.

Tim

Reply to
Tim S

That was the "Fit-All" plug, made in Northern Ireland, IIRC. Actually it *did* have a fuse, but ISTR it was totally inside the plug, so you had to dismantle the lot to get at the fuse. Because of its vast size it often wouldn't fit into sockets mounted close to the floor, as most were in those days!

Reply to
Frank Erskine

MK - but theirs wasn't barbed - quite smooth in fact. No good if you had arthritic fingers - as a child I had a hell of a job getting a 13A flex into these, but could manage every other aspect of fittign the plug just fine.

e) Pins and convincing fuse holder that didn't fall out when the top was off (MK and poss others)

f) MK's mushroom screw twerminals - wrap the wire around the stud and screw a female threaded screw down with floating grip washer - better surface area of contact.

h) And MK again - equal length of cores when fitting.

IMO MK innovated a lot with the 13A plug and did come up with good robust designs.

Reply to
Tim S

You're right. Ah, the hidden fuse in the FitAll - it all comes back to me now, as well as those pesky surface sockets that were sited too close to the carpet. Once or twice had to re-install them rotated by 90 deg - to be able to accommodate an awkward plug! Jim

Reply to
Jim Gregory

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