13 amp plugs - memories

[mike]

sponix wrote

all the bingo links seem to get back to the real world.

Might have been nice to read about the bingo

[Jim Gregory]

Sorry, thought it was! But it tightened on the cable if pulled by a lay person to protect terminations.

Point of interest Who made (or still makes) the low-profile 13A plug? - Tidy, only half the horribility of a normal plug, I believe it was also available in a luminous pastel-green.

[Andy Wade]

Jim Gregory wrote: [...]

And anyone remember the feature on some Crabtree round-pin plugs? A turned groove in the earth pin into which would engage some sort of pawl or dog mechanism linked to the switch in their sockets, the idea being to make it impossible to remove the plug if the switch was in the ON position. Something which no doubt originated while DC mains were still around.

Oh, and pear switches...

[Tony Bryer]

Another innovation, before half shrouded pins appeared, was a plug with spring loaded mouldings round the pins which retracted into the body of the plug as you inserted it into the socket.

[Frank Erskine]

The pitch of the pins between L-N on both 5A and 15A differed slightly for 2-pin and 3-pin versions, so the plug would actually flex a bit to enable the plug to go in...

In those days I worked for the GPO and we had official instructions to not use these plugs for appliances which drew more than 5A or needed an earth connection.

[Tim S]

Perhaps an earlier version I haven't seen. I do recall other manufacturers having a go with screwless cable clamps and theirs often featured barbs. Never as good as the MK.

I'd completely forgotten about about the 13A plugs with neons and switches - we never had one, but my great aunt did.

Cheers

Tim

[<me9]

Which didn't take into account what I'd been taught, to make the live the shortest, and the earth the longest, so that when the flex was yanked out there was little risk of any exposed live metalwork.

[Sadly]

I remember them!

[Richard A Downing]

This thread is beginning to worry me. I have some of the plugtops referred to here still in use.

Have the regulations changed in this regard? For instance, unshrouded L-N pins - I still have some of these in use (BS 1363/A). It would be no problem to replace them, as I have a draw full of spare plugtops.

R.

[Bob Eager]

They would fail a PAT test...

[Andrew Gabriel]

It's illegal to sell appliances fitted with BS 1363 plugs with unshrouded pins (even second hand and at car boot sales), but there's no requirement to change such plugs (unless you are selling the appliance), and it's not strictly a PAT test failure (although most companies will have their own policy requiring such plugs to be changed at PAT test time).

[Andrew Gabriel]

We had one 13A plug at home when I was a youngster which had a

13A socket on the back of it. I recall it getting moved between appliances a number of times -- it was remarkably useful.

[meow2222]

Especially handy for a workshop as any incoming items could be fitted with a plug in 10 seconds.

Clix were at least safer than the French equivalent, which used pins that screw in on the underside. The cable passed through the plug body freely, the ends were wrapped round the pins that were then screwed home. The result was frequently live whiskers sticking out while plugged in. Those had narrow bodies too, unlike the round Clix.

The website author also thinks there were 2 sizes of 3 pin round pin plug, and that houses could have as many as 3 plug types in use. There were of course 5 types in use for a while, 2 pin 5A, 2A 5A & 15A and

13A.

NT

[meow2222]

I dont remeber a central conical grip. Would that not cut through the wire as the lid was done up? All my Clixes had 2 plastic hooks to wrap each wire round before it exited, just like BC lamp holders. It was a poor excuse for a cordgrip, but much better than nothing.

Later than the Clix there was a nylon (or something similar) version of these plugs that actually gripped reasonably ok. The biggest problem with the bakelite Clix was that it had such deep ridges in the lid that it was impossible to really tighten it up, so it never gave a decent grip on the wire ends. OK, one of the many problems...

NT

[meow2222]

It would be interesting to know what the fire and electrocution rates were 40 and 70 years ago.

NT

[Bob Eager]

In which case I retract my previous statement. My employer probably has such a policy, as lots of them were changed in the last round of testing.

[Bob Eager]

As far as the neon ones go, we are still usg two that we bought about 10 years ago.

[meow2222]

Sound point, but I think 2 things are getting confused, length versus slack. Its slack in the earth thats needed, the length itself makes no difference.

NT

[Mike Tomlinson]

In article , Jim Gregory writes

If you're referring to the one that has two fixing screws for the cover, the one I have in my hand right now is made by Legrand.

[Mike Clarke]

With a tendency to come apart in your hands.