Folding 3 pin plug

[David J]

>>>>> Look at all the arguments in the comments section, a true "my plug is

They are still in use - in India, And the 5A version!

DJ

[Roger Mills]

And South Africa - well, they were about 5 years ago, anyway. Before I went there, I made up a short lead with a 15A plug on one end and a 13A trailing socket on the other, so that I could use my camera and phone chargers etc. Amazingly, I was still able to buy a 15A plug in the UK.

[dennis]

You haven't tried hard enough!

[Mike Barnes]

Shortage of copper after World War 2.

[Steve Firth]

Crikey Bob, you've never tried it have you? It's a piece of cake to pull a 13A plug out by the cable.

[jgharston]

I have tried it and it's sufficiently non-intuitive that it passively causes you to pull the plug out by the body.

-- JGH

[jgharston]

Why should a shortage of anything cause me to use the most economical method? I'm not going to go out of my way to use a method of anything that uses more materials than is neccesary. There's no "shortage" of water where I live, that's no reason to leave the taps running all day.

-- JGH

[Rod]

I have found that with a very long flex (10m should do) you can give the end farthest from the plug/socket a gentle flick and the plug flies out of the socket. Probably most effective with a relatively dense rubber flex.

[Mike Barnes]

"The ring main came about because Britain had to embark on a massive rebuilding programme following World War II.[2]. There was an acute shortage of copper, and it was necessary to devise a scheme that used less copper than would normally be the case. The scheme was specified to use 13 Amp fused socket outlets, and several designs for the plugs and sockets appeared. Only the square pin (BS1363) system survives, but the round pin D&S system was still in use in many locations well into the 1980s. This latter plug had the distinctive feature that the fuse was also the live pin and unscrewed from the plug body."

[Clot]

You've reminded me that I must take a photo of the sockets and plugs at my father's house. His house was built for him in 1952 when rationing was still in force. The sockets and plugs I have seen nowhere else. The circular plug has a hollow (IIRC) brass cylinder earth with the live and neutral placed west to east. These prongs are similar in shape to the conventional plugs we use today. The socket (and presumably at least this in the wiring) is capable of 15 amps. This plug has a socket that allows a smaller plug of similar style but smaller dimensions to be inserted in it that can carry a load of 5amps.

I've watched discussion on this group and others over the years and Googled but have never found reference to these.

The wiring now in the house is a wonder to behold consisting of this basic system and conventional UK system today. It's safety? - well he's still alive at 85. Though I recall him taking a whack from the mains when he was installing wall mounted lights along the staircase. I was beside him learning how to do these things. I must have been all of 8 or 9 years old at the time. The victim wooden handled screwdriver which had a divot out of the side of the blade as a result of this escapade is still in his garage.

Central heating is also a bundle of fun combining a coke fired boiler and a gas fired one.

My kids are accusing me of being behind the times. Though today, one of them was happy to take a couple of garden chairs out of the A35 boot in order to watch his brother playing cricket and spend time with his girlfriend reading books. Says a lot about cricket for me!

[Chris J Dixon]

Sounds like the old Wylex to me. There is a description on

8.7. but no photo.

Chris

[Graham.]

And I would expect Clot's Dad's house it not too far from Manchester. My Grandmother had Wylex sockets, but her fusebox was more intresting. I posted about it some time ago

[Clot]

I think you are probably right. When I posted last night, I thought Wylex but am not 100% certain.

[Clot]

Not too far away. In N Wales. If you went a mile or so further west you would be in the Irish Sea.

[John]

Back to the topic - surely it would be better to swivel the dummy earth pin and then the problems of the wires having to move relative to the pins is not an issue