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Old 29th Jul 2010, 9:13 pm   #21
Paul Stenning
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Default Re: Unusual BS1363 Socket Designs

Quote:
Originally Posted by dseymo1 View Post
Rather strange how the switch is placed just where it would be obscured by the appliance cable, though.
That's the fuse mentioned above, not a switch
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Old 29th Jul 2010, 9:29 pm   #22
McMurdo
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Default Re: Unusual BS1363 Socket Designs

My mum and dad's house was built in around 1954 and has 'Bill' BS1363 sockets, the rear is some sort of ceramic/porcelain with a conventional 13A square white facia and dolly.
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Old 29th Jul 2010, 9:58 pm   #23
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Default Re: Unusual BS1363 Socket Designs

Hi,
Regarding the 13amp/2amp combi. There was a jeweller's shop in Ellesmere Port that had several similar sockets. They also had a 13A & two fused 2A sockets but was rectangular and would fit in a standard twin gang back box. I'm sure they were made by MEM (Midlands Electrical Manufacturing, I think). I intended to ask for them whenever the shop was modernised - it was demolished instead
I find old plugs & sockets fascinating too, must get around to photographing mine sometime I am interested in the 13amp sockets with various combinations of square & round pins made by Walsall, Britmac, Wandsworth, et al.
Cheers de Pete
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Old 29th Jul 2010, 10:40 pm   #24
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Default Re: Unusual BS1363 Socket Designs

Hmm...5A fuse in the one with the two 2A round pin sockets in doesn't seem unreasonable...if it's protecting two sockets afterall, a 2A fuse wouldn't have been much use as it would have blown if both sockets were in use at full load. Given that as far as I know 4A fuses don't exist, a 5A would have been the most logical choice I'd have thought.
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Old 30th Jul 2010, 8:10 pm   #25
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Default Re: Unusual BS1363 Socket Designs

Hi,
I vaugely recall seeing a BS1363 design with the outlet in a diagonal style, like the one that Zelandeth owns.
The 13 amp plus 2 amp type that Jay has shown us were once fitted to houses on one of the large council housing estates in the Stockton - on - Tees area.

More recently I have seen a number of single gang BS1363 sockets, once again mainly in local housing authority properties, which have the switch physically placed on the Neutral pin side of the socket, as opposed to the Live side as in the case of most sockets.

Regards
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Old 31st Jul 2010, 1:25 pm   #26
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Default Re: Unusual BS1363 Socket Designs

I'm a fully qualified electrician and over the years I've come across many different flavours and designs some good and some very dodgy.

The one in the picture was I believe marketed as an easy access/entry plug, as you say when sockets where originally fitted slammed on the skirting/foor access was tedious, thus the angled socket came along.

That's how my lecturer explained it and looking it would seem an common sense explanation.
The rules and regulations nowdays are very tedious, what with the Part P and upgrading the regulations to the 17th edition it is a nightmare. The BS7671 regulations I believe are the safest in existence thus the safety record here in the UK is second to none.

So over the years I have seen the trend where design and installaton is steered to public safety (as it should be) but you look at some of the old installations and you can't help wondering how on Earth the house didn't burn down.

Sorry for the rant, but reflection is an interesting subject. I don't work as a electrician now, due to ill health, but I still keep an active interest in the electrical trade.

So from an old bright spark,
Best regards too all,
Roger.
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Old 1st Aug 2010, 11:38 pm   #27
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Default Re: Unusual BS1363 Socket Designs

Further to my comment in post no 12, here's a photo snapped of the cooker switch/socket combination which lives in our shed. No longer in use however as there's not been power in there for ages, so I might retrieve it at some point.
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Old 1st Aug 2010, 11:55 pm   #28
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Default Re: Unusual BS1363 Socket Designs

The one in our kitchen is identical to Zelandeth's picture but has red neon indicators for both socket and cooker, in every day use, I think house built in 1968 so dates from then
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Old 2nd Aug 2010, 8:07 am   #29
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Default Re: Unusual BS1363 Socket Designs

Yes, there's loads of those still in use. People keep them because it's easier than patching up the plaster which would be required to fit a new, smaller cooker switch!
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Old 2nd Aug 2010, 9:24 am   #30
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Default Re: Unusual BS1363 Socket Designs

I installed one of those in our first house just after we got married & spent hours knocking out the hole and burying the cable as the kitchen wall was solid engineering brick! I assume (I hope) it's still there 31 years on.
Before we left the UK I sort of accumulated several MK cooker switches both 13amp & 15amp, but I think they got turfed out.
Cheers de Pete
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Old 4th Aug 2010, 7:10 pm   #31
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Default Re: Unusual BS1363 Socket Designs

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Originally Posted by fidobsa View Post
Yes, there's loads of those still in use. People keep them because it's easier than patching up the plaster...
These are still in the current MK catalogue, I fitted one recently, loads of wiring room, not cheap though nearly £40 with the metal back box.
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Old 7th Aug 2010, 9:38 pm   #32
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Default Re: Unusual BS1363 Socket Designs

Here's a couple, on the left a very narrow socket fitted to a plug in "simmerstat", manufactured by Crabtree and does not appear to have been modified.. On the right an unusual 13A two-way adaptor.
Rob.
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Old 8th Aug 2010, 10:24 am   #33
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Default Re: Unusual BS1363 Socket Designs

Has anyone seen this version of an MK flush socket before .Its the only one i have seen anywhere.Its fitted in my kitchen,It was convenient as the back box had trapped the original side by side screws and they broke off .Fortunately the box had top and bottom threads as well and so this fitted to it without any trouble.
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Old 8th Aug 2010, 2:23 pm   #34
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Default Re: Unusual BS1363 Socket Designs

There were a couple of these in the bungalow where my dad used to live,. built C1947. The rest were Crabtree, and all were mounted on wooden back boxes, and two core rubber insulated cables.(But thats for another time/place)
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Old 8th Aug 2010, 3:28 pm   #35
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Default Re: Unusual BS1363 Socket Designs

Yes, I think I've replaced a few of these. The double socket version has 4 screws rather than the normal 2. The double boxes tend to have the normal side screw holes as well as top and bottom.
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Old 8th Aug 2010, 9:21 pm   #36
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Default Re: Unusual BS1363 Socket Designs

Rob,

I used to have one of those side-by-side adaptors I think. No idea where it ended up though...probably still in a box somewhere! Never seen anything like the left hand contraption though!

Chipp: Never seen one of those sockets before, like the look of it though!
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Old 9th Aug 2010, 8:15 pm   #37
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Default Re: Unusual BS1363 Socket Designs

Hi,
The council house built in 1953 that I was born & brought up in (1954) had the unswitched version of the MK socket shown in post 33. There were just four in the whole house I've still got a couple from when it was rewired in the eighties. The earth connection was unusual in that it was a metal strip about half an inch long with two screws that trapped the earth wire. L&N terminals were conventional.
I think the council provided some MK plugs too.
Cheer de Pete

PS, Love this thread
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Old 9th Aug 2010, 10:01 pm   #38
chipp1968
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Default Re: Unusual BS1363 Socket Designs

Pete what did the plugs look like? were they the type that is commonly seen or an earlier type?
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Old 10th Aug 2010, 9:19 pm   #39
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Default Re: Unusual BS1363 Socket Designs

Hi Chipp,
The plugs were the classic MK shape with curved top & bottom and straight sides but had small semicircular finger shields either side instead of the larger straight ones that the later plugs had from the 60's. Inside there was the usual terminals but the live one was a screw instead of a nut and was very fiddly to get back in if the cable core was thick. Later plugs still had the small finger shields but now had a nut for the live connection. This made the plug body a bit deeper. Some also had a little red three way pointer held captive by the cover screw that could be set to indicate which fuse was fitted (3, 7 or 13 amps). If you were posh you could have these plugs & sockets in ivory white bakelite too.
Sad innit?
Cheers de Pete
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Old 10th Aug 2010, 10:23 pm   #40
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Default Re: Unusual BS1363 Socket Designs

Here are some examples of MK sockets from my collection, showing the earlier style (pre BS1363) which have the four screw mounting mentioned earlier. Sorry they are a bit grubby, I'm sure they will clean up nicely.

My 1920s house has very few sockets and they are all single, skirting board mounted cream MK types of the early 60s. There's one in the front room, two in the back room, and one each in the two main bedrooms. The 3rd box bedroom has no power point at all. The house wiring is flat grey PVC, so it must have been rewired at some stage. I probably should have it re-wired but I like the old sockets.

Steve J
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