TV's etc run off light fittings.

[AC/HL]

Originally Posted by Fezziwig

We were tough then. We didn't flinch at getting a good belt of 240 Volts. We would just laugh and carry on.

Well, the ones that lived did. The others chalked it up to experience

Originally Posted by Skywave

When I was a child, I well recall my mother referring to the 'electric light bill' in the 1960s. She was still using that term up to the point when she passed away last year - aged 96 years

She was probably right. Power was charged at a higher rate I believe. I don't know how this was done, but that probably affected the spread of power circuits.

[paulsherwin]

Lack of earthing is reasonably safe if nothing else is earthed. My parents' 1934 house was originally wired with 15A 2 pin plugs, and soldiered on like that until the mid 60s. Little in the house was earthed - ceramic sink, no central heating etc. Even the washing machine was connected to the plumbing with rubber hoses.

Of course, once you earth anything electrical you have to earth everything, or go to great lengths to provide electrical isolation.

[Heatercathodeshort]

Originally Posted by reelguy

I remember the adapter with the iron and a bulb on at the same time.
We had a white porcelain light shade above the adapter and the wiring was cloth covered flex. When my mother did the ironing the light used to swing about as she moved the iron up and down the table. Peter W......Reelguy

Memories! Memories! Back in the 50's my mother used to plug the iron into the light fitting, [after climbing on the large kitchen table that she used as an ironing board] with the usual two way adaptor. We also had that 'Chinese hat' shade with a 150 watt opal lamp. I was about 10 at the time and my much older sister was ironing away rather vigorously with mums non thermostatic iron similar to the one in the picture. The only difference was, mum's had a thumb rest and a switchable connector to break the mains when the iron was up to temperature. Ladies of the day developed a keen sense of iron temperature back then and never scorched even delicate clothes.
Anyway, suddenly the entire fitting, drop cord, [old twisted cotton covered] lampholder, adaptor, shade and iron flex crashed to the floor with a bright blue flash leaving us in total darkness! I can't remember the words Dad used as I had never heard them before but my mother was horrified. Being the wicked dangerous child that I was back then, [nothing has changed]I thought this was the most amusing thing since Nan blew herself up lighting the Ascot gas water heater with a wax taper.
My late parents house in Merton Park South West London was built in 1906. It was exactly 50 years old when they purchased it and was in original condition. It was equipped with electricity from new and all wiring was concealed in buried conduit producing a very tidy installation. Lighting was in all rooms with a pear switch hanging beside the bed in the front bedroom. Only two sockets were fitted, both 15amp 2 pin. One in the front room and one in the back sitting room. The large breakfast room/scullery had no sockets and appliances had to be connected to the lamp socket. It was only after the death of my dad in 1963 that I rewired the house power circuits at the age of 16. The LEB checked it all out and were quite happy to connect the new meter tails. Hillarious memories! Regards, John.

[broadgage]

Regarding post #21, I don't believe that power was ever charged at a higher rate than lighting.
Power was always cheaper.

In the very early days of electricity supply it was used almost entirely for lighting. This meant a lot of investment in generating plant and cables that only produced significant revenue between dusk and midnight.
There was therefore considerable interest in increasing the "daylight load" this was done by promoting the sale of appliances, and by offering electricity at a much reduced rate for "power"

Since the capital had already been sunk to provide for the dusk to midnight lighting load, the marginal cost of generating more in daylight hours was effectively just the coal cost.

This was not entirely fair since the consumer with ill lit basement business premises was unfairly penalised by being charged "lighting" rates for what was actually a long hour load. Likewise the domestic consumer who used an electric fire each winter evening at cheap "power" rates contributed little to proffits.

Use of an electric iron from from a lampholder would be more expensive than from a power socket, but many homes only had lighting circuits.
Installing a second meter and extra wiring for power was only worthwhile for a significant loading.

Crafty/dishonest persons who had power sockets on a lower tariff used to plug lamps into them and use these instead of the fixed lights on the lighting circuit.

Many years ago, MK sold 15 amp round pin plugs that incorporated a small fuse rated at 1,2, or 5 amps "to facilitate the safe use of portable lamps etc from power circuits equipped with heavy fuses" The supply companies objected strongly to this product as they felt that it encouraged dishonesty.
The supply companies had always implied that it was "dangerous" to connect a lamp to a power outlet, and was at least partially true with very thin flex insulated with flammable materials and on a 15 amp fuse. With a 2 amp fuse in the plug though it was arguably safer than a lighting circuit on a 5 amp fuse.

[AC/HL]

Power being cheaper rather than dearer is more logical. Did they have two meters or was some sort of assessment applied?

[Hybrid tellies]

I had a family member and friend living in old miners cottages that clearly had not been rewired. All there was at various points around the house was these 2 pin round sockets which appeared to be run off the lighting circuit. I think they were fine for mono tv' but every colour tv they had including the ones I provided had serious reliability problems. Every time they were switched on the house lights would flicker and if a fault developed such as a boost capacitor going short circuit the house lights would flicker and almost go out. You also had to mark the plug so that that it was plugged in the right way as most sets were AC/DC chassis. Come to think of this we came across this old style wiring in quite a few older houses in Bath back in the 1970's and early 1980's.
I do remember using the light fitting adapter to run a valved radio in my bedroom when I was a teenager and caused no problems as the radio was AC only.

[colly0410]

Originally Posted by AC/HL

Power being cheaper rather than dearer is more logical. Did they have two meters or was some sort of assessment applied?

My Auntie Ivy had two meters, she lived in a council house (there were a few council houses in the Meadows area as Adolf demolished some terraced ones) so was considered posh by us terraced house lot, she also had flat pin sockets, that was super posh. Seemed strange that when the shilling ran out the lights would go out but the TV kept going, other times the opposite would happen. Everyone back then used the ceiling light, hardly ever saw a standard light..

[wireful3]

I remember that lighting sockets were commonly used for portable appliances until quite recently. The garage in a 1980s place I moved into used a two way bayonet fittings with a switch. I think the reason was that no power socket was fitted and the previous owner considered the expense of fitting one was not worth while.

I can imagine that in the 30s and 40s electric irons might seem more convenient to use from a light fitting over the kitchen table, than from a flex going to a socket on the wall.

The aspect of safety is an odd one. It is not easy to imagine the attitude to electrical equipment in those days. As a youth I heard older people very concerned about light sockets without bulbs in them. They would allow dangerous electricity to flood into the room. These same people would have no worries about connecting many things to a single light socket with multiple adapters. Obviously they must have no empty sockets. An electric fire, radio and standard lamp would seem normal. Simple lighting flex or even bell wire to connect them being quite acceptable.

I have never decided whether people were generally more careful in those days or whether the risk is not as great as implied. After all, as has been mentioned earlier, only the survivors talk about direct experience.

[Herald1360]

It really is that dangerous! (A bowl fire falling in the bath) Some of the current will always flow through the body and you only need about 50mA of the 5A or more available to get pretty dead!

Edit: added explanation as post replied to seems to have disappeared!

Edit again. I deleted the post as it suggested that an electric fire falling into the bath was not dangerous. I think it's generally accepted that you're right, it is.

[Herald1360]

Originally Posted by Hybrid tellies

You also had to mark the plug so that that it was plugged in the right way as most sets were AC/DC chassis.

Errr, why? In standard trim for use by the public, the set safety is determined by its construction, not which way round it's connected. Functionally it doesn't matter unless you happen to have a dc supply (not impossible in a miner's cottage perhaps).

[broadgage]

Originally Posted by AC/HL

Power being cheaper rather than dearer is more logical. Did they have two meters or was some sort of assessment applied?

Two meters, hence the potential for misuse by plugging lamps into power outlets.
Many older people still refer to the bill for "light and power" rather than simply "electricity" Though of course light and power MIGHT have meant gas light and electricity for power.
Some premises already equipped with gas lighting latter obtained electricity for power purposes, with the gas lights remaining in use to avoid the cost and disruption of installing electric lights.
A great many old premises retained gas lights, and supplemented these with electric table lamps rather than going "all electric"

In an old building it was a relatively simple matter to run surface wiring around the skirting boards for both 15 amp power sockets and 2 or 5 amp lighting outlets, this would permit use of an electric heater, vacuum cleaner, and table lamps on sideboards etc.
To replace a gas ceiling light with electric light was not so easy if the room was decorated with valuable wallpaper, ornate plaster mouldings and the like.

Retaining the odd gas light also gave protection against failure of the electricity supply.

Another reason to keep, or claim to keep in use, gas lights was to claim "we only want electricity for power, not for lighting. We therefore expect the whole supply to be metered at power rates"

[AC/HL]

This is an interesting thread, albeit peripheral to our normal fare. Can we confine it to the subject in hand please.
Straying into H&S territory will have the inevitable consequence.

[Brased]

My parents' house still had separate meters for the lighting and power circuits into the 1980s. The house was built in 1921 and was only provided with electric light then, although power circuits (2 wire 15A) had been added pre WW2. The charging so far as I remember from the 1950s was just based on the addition of the two meter readings and the standing charge on the bill. When I was young each meter had a card on which the meter reader recorded the readings each time they were taken.

[Hybrid tellies]

Originally Posted by Herald1360

Errr, why? In standard trim for use by the public, the set safety is determined by its construction, not which way round it's connected. Functionally it doesn't matter unless you happen to have a dc supply (not impossible in a miner's cottage perhaps).

On AC/DC sets the chassis is connected directly to neutral reverse this and you have a live chassis. Not nice and can be dangerous.

[Boom]

I'm probably only remembering parts of the story but also thought that mains electricity and lighting were charged at two separate tariffs once upon a time? That would explain peoples love of these deadly light fitting adapters.

I have also seen (somewhere) an electricity meter with a set of weights/balls in a carrier which tilted if too much current was drawn and that set the price per unit at a higher rate according to how many balls had been tilted out.

To replace a gas ceiling light with electric light was not so easy

Wasn't general practice to run the wires through the gas pipes?

[AndiiT]

Hi,
I certainly have recollections of at least one of my sisters friends mothers plugging her Morphy Richards Iron into the light socket in their council property, a house of "Airey" construction.

These houses were fitted with one 15 Amp 3 pin socket in the living room and kitchen, the socket in the kitchen most likely being part of the cooker switch with very few sockets elsewhere in the house, the iron was always used in the dining room which only had a light fitting and no power socket.

Elsewhere in the village there were a number of terraced houses with television sets which were connected to the light fittings.

I knew of at least one family who did not own a dual outlet BC adapter so used to just resort to removing the light bulb at television viewing time in order to plug the television in no matter what the time of day justifying their actions after dark by saying that "television should always be viewed with the light switched off anyway"

Andrew

[mark pirate]

I can remember using those light socket adaptors in the 70's, as my bedroom only had one unswitched 13A socket intended for the wall mounted electric fire, I also used to run a wire under the door to connect my TV to the 2A socket on the landing

The house was built in the 50's and only had one 2A lighting socket plus one 13A socket in the front room, my parents used two 3 way adaptors plugged in to each other running a 3Kw fire, TV, radio and standard lamp, I can remember my father replacing one of the adaptors, as it had burnt away round the live pin

Does anyone remember the light socket to two pin 5A plug adaptors?
I used one of these to connect another 2 way adaptor that I still have somewhere.

I also still have the 2 way adaptor and plugs we used for the lighting socket.

Mark

[paulsherwin]

The lack of power provision in houses built as late as the 50s seems ridiculous to us today, but most poor people had almost no electrical appliances then. Battery radios were still in widespread use, with people taking the accumulators to the local bike shop to be charged. TV was a largely middle class preserve until ITV became established in the late 50s, and even fridges were uncommon before the 60s. Houses had lino floors which were cleaned with a mop and bucket or dustpan and brush, with removable carpets which were spread out on the washing line and beaten. Heating came from open coal fires. One of my grandmas was still using a passive iron that was heated on the kitchen range in the 60s.

[Brased]

It is likely that the first electric appliance bought would be an iron. It would hardly be worth paying to have a power circuit installed just to save the cost of buying electricity at the 'lighting' rate which I think was about double that at the 'power' rate. I don't know when the differential rate was abolished but after that there would have been even less incentive, especially as an adapter to plug the iron into the light socket could be bought cheaply at 'Woolies'. Fuses were easily re-wired if necessary ... probably by the light of a torch.