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Other Vintage Household Electrical or Electromechanical Items For discussions about other vintage (over 25 years old) electrical and electromechanical household items. See the sticky thread for details. |
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4th Sep 2018, 5:36 pm | #1 |
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Plug Oddity
Bought a Bush DAC 11, tatty, damp, but it had the proper mains lead with the right angle 2 pin plug.
The lead had a mains plug fitted which I have not seen before. Dimensionally it is a BS 546 15A type M plug. Made by Crabtree. Part #2597 on the inside of the rear cover. Split brass pins, bakelite body and cover held together with one brass screw. There is no cord clamp as such, inside is a presspahn terminal marker with 2 holes marked "cord" through which I assume the wires should be threaded to act as a primitive strain relief, the wires weren't. Or is it for the cotton cable filler to be tied? Oddly the hollow earth pin is turned down near the body and is further cut away on one side as if it was made to be locked into a socket. It looks very delicate as the split down the pin is only about 1mm away from the cut away. There is the usual slot in the top of the body for the earth connection to be accessed. Is it rare? Sam. Last edited by Boater Sam; 4th Sep 2018 at 5:37 pm. Reason: added |
5th Sep 2018, 1:40 pm | #2 |
Dekatron
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Re: Plug Oddity
Hi,
Might it be of South African origin? That country uses 16 amp plugs which are the same dimensions as BS546 15 amp plugs. I have a 'Lumex Snapper' from SA, and a Crabtree SA plug to Schuko adaptor made in South Africa. Cheers, Pete.
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5th Sep 2018, 1:47 pm | #3 |
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Re: Plug Oddity
Did Crabtree supply S Africa? The odd thing is the way the earth pin is notched and turned down, it must have been to engage with something.
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5th Sep 2018, 5:07 pm | #4 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jun 2013
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Re: Plug Oddity
As an apprentice - a long time ago - the factory I worked in used a 15 amp round pin plug with a hole drilled through the earth pin. You couldn't use a standard plug, as the switch would not operate without the plug with the hole. I seem to recall that there was also a plunger pin at the back of the earth in the socket that prevented you switching on without the proper plug in the socket.
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5th Sep 2018, 5:14 pm | #5 |
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Location: Middlewich, Cheshire, UK. & Winter in the Philippines.
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Re: Plug Oddity
Ah, that sounds logical, rather than just retaining the plug it was part of a switch interlock.
Has anyone old catalogues of Crabtree, the radio dates from early 1951 according to the capacitors, I imagine the plug was from new. It could of course be a DC supply even at that date. |
5th Sep 2018, 8:24 pm | #6 |
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Re: Plug Oddity
Yes that was a proprietary interlock system used by Crabtree. MK and others offered similar schemes with a modified earth pin, but they were not intercompatible. Interlocking variants of BS plugs would generally fit normal BS sockets though.
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6th Sep 2018, 2:30 pm | #7 |
Hexode
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Weymouth, Dorset, UK.
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Re: Plug Oddity
Hi Boater Sam.
It could very possibly have been DC plug according to the WRTH of 1980. South Africa had 220 VDC as well as 220 VAC. |