So I finally found it: the (near) perfect plug.
I needed a 2-prong plug for a lamp I was making, since I had a length of
18/2 lamp cord without one. Was resigned to getting the usual semi-funky plug at the store (Orchard Supply), when I saw a new type I hadn't seen before. Bought it, took it home, and when I opened it up, I realized it was a vast improvement over the other ones.Up to now, there have been basically two types of plugs available (I'm talking about 2-prong ones, now, not bigger grounded ones): you could either buy the type that was made out of soft vinyl with screw terminals, or the hard plastic type that pinched onto the cord.
The vinyl ones were OK, sorta: they had screw terminals, which is a Good Thing (solid electrical & mechanical connection), but they had two problems: they were an absolute bitch to take apart and put back together, as the plastic cover wasn't quite stretchy enough to fit over the plug body easily, and they left a big empty space where the cord came out of the cover if you used "zip" cord (the hole would be nicely filled if you used round-jacketed cable).
(These are similar to the older type which were kind of bell-shaped, with screw terminals on the *bottom* which were supposed to be covered by a punched piece of cardboard--which, of course, always disappeared, exposing the terminals and wires underneath.)
The little "pinch-on" types are horrible. I probably have half a dozen or so in use even as I speak, but I hate them. What a cheesy way to make an electrical connection: little prongs that bite through the insulation into the wire. Yecch! (However, they do look nicer than almost any other plug type. Oh, well.)
So this new type sort of combines the best of both worlds. It's very cleverly designed: there's a two-part clamshell-type cover that's held together with a single screw into the body. The body has screw terminals, and they're mounted on the *side* of the body and get nicely covered when the thing closes up. And best of all, the clamshell cover makes a nice built-in pressure relief on the cord (you can only use zip cord with these, not round cord). My only complaint is that they're a little on the big side.
And cheap, too: only $2. Made by Leviton. I highly recommend them.