Vintage British Fuse - Rogers/Vox

[SEDriver]

Would anyone have any knowledge of the (sub?)-miniature cartridge fuses fitted inside voltage selector plugs used in some old British gear of the 1960's.
Currently restoring my Rogers Cadet Mk.II ECL86 stereo amp, which has a 1 amp fuse. Much web searching has proved fruitless, except for noting these 'fused plugs' were also used in some Vox gear of the same period.
The fuse measures 1/4 x 1/2".

[Alistair D]

Does anyone know who manufactured these. I have had a look through a couple of old Bulgin catalogues but found nothing.

Al

[CambridgeWorks]

We used to use Belling Lee 4A "00" fuses on Pye MF6AM mobile radios. 5/8" long, 3/16" diameter.
Whether those would fit by squeezing the tags?
Rob

[Leon Crampin]

Drill the end caps axially and rewire with suitable light gauge tinned copper wire soldered at the ends.

Leon.

[emeritus]

My late uncle's Elizabethan tape recorder uses these with the same red fuse holder and I couldn't find a supplier when I looked a decade or so ago. If the fuse failed I would replace it by a wire link and rely on a 1A fuse in the mains plug. He used to use it from a 15A socket or the light pendant depending on which room he used it in, so protection by the internal fuse would have been advantageous.

[Leon Crampin]

I should have suggested also fitting a 1A fuse in the plug to BS 1362. It's most unlikely that a 1A glass fuse of such a small length would have the breaking capacity to operate safely from a high capacity source. I suspect these things were not fully considered when the original equipment was designed.

Leon.

[Alistair D]

Living in NZ, the OP won't have the advantage of a fused mains plug.

I don't know where the fused link is fitted in the Rogers amplifier but looking at a picture of a VOX amp there is a safety risk if the cover is loose or damaged in any way.

https://www.frettedamericana.com/product/1963-vox-ac-4

Al

[emeritus]

I guess the pratical solution where fused plugs are not used would be to make a link across the plug-in fuse holder and fit an internal fuse holder for a 20mm or 1 1/4" fuse. There should be plenty of room inside vintage equipment.

[ColinTheAmpMan1]

Well, if they weren't originally supplied by Bulgin, the Belling and Lee and Cliff Plastics are two other possibilities. My first guess would have been Bulgin, but if it can't be found in one of their old catalogues, I'm at a loss. I had hoped that I could find a venerable old "Henry's Radio" catalogue from the sixties that might list it, but I can't find that, either.
What you need is a retail shop that has been around for decades, with a guy wearing a brown warehouse coat who will disappear off into the depths of the shop for 10 minutes and then return with exactly what you want, but actually ~50 of them in a battered cardboard box.
Colin.

[TonyDuell]

I repaired a Sangamo time switch the other day, and it has a similar fuse (certainly about 1/4" in diameter and less than 1" long) in series with the motor. I can extract it again and measure the dimensions if it helps.

This suggests to me that, as it turns up in several different makes of equipment, it was a standard size. My 1939 Bulgin catalogue lists 'Short Type 1/4" Radio Fuse', but those are 5/8" long.

[vidjoman]

My suggestion would be that the makers might be Cinch, as they made many of the paxolin plugs of which many had covers. It looks like one of the 2 pin plugs often used as speaker outlets with a couple of fuse holder ends riveted on and a plastic clip on cover.

[emeritus]

My uncle's tape recorder was manufactured in 1961, so they must have been available then.

My 1936 Bulgin catalgue also has the "short" glass fuses, only in 60mA and 150mA ratings. The diameter is not specified.

My earliest post-war catalogue is a winter 1974-5 RS catalogue. Its physically smallest fuses are 5/8" x 3/16", in ratings 100mA to 2.5A.

[BRASSBITS]

try John Birkett in lincoln

[Alistair D]

Elsewhere I maintain a spreadsheet that covers various aspects of electronic repair. One of the categories is plugs and connectors, hence my reason for asking about the manufacturer. Extensive searching on Bulgin, Belling Lee and Cinch has comprehensively failed to turn any up more information. If anything turns up in the future I will post the results here.

1/4"x5/8" fuses are still available. The two variants that I have found 1AG and AGA.

Al

[SEDriver]

Thanks to all for responding. Yes, as mentioned, we don’t use fused mains plugs downunder.
The plug fits into the voltage selector atop the power transformer, similar to other vintage amplifiers e.g Leak, although those are not fused of course.

The fuse plugs appear in earlier Rogers gear, the Cadet II seems to be the last to use these, so I figure they date from mid to late 1950’s into the early 60’s.

[arjoll]

Originally Posted by Alistair D

1/4"x5/8" fuses are still available. The two variants that I have found 1AG and AGA

If 1AG would work in this application, I see that the likes of Supercheap Auto and Repco do them - they're both in most NZ cities.

[SEDriver]

Unfortunately, the 1AG are all fast-blow that I've found. I would bridge the old fuse holder & fit a standard fuse holder inside the chassis if needed.

[Lucien Nunes]

A similar style of very short-bodied glass fuse was used on some British telephone exchange apparatus. I don't know the exact dimensions but the body looks like the one from your voltage selector, shorter than the 5/8" that was the usual 'smallest' British equipment internal fuse. The telephone ones however had two plug-in contact blades attached radially to the endcaps.

[Reelman]

Perhaps not a lot of help but isn’t the OP’s fuse similar the that found in the fairly common Pifco Radiometer?

Peter