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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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13th Apr 2021, 12:17 pm | #21 |
Nonode
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Stockport, Cheshire, UK.
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Re: Plug adaptors of the past
Here we go:
https://www.flameport.com/electric_m...ndard_plug.cs4 http://www.plugsocketmuseum.nl/British2.html
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13th Apr 2021, 1:12 pm | #22 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Warnham, West Sussex. 10 miles south of DORKING.
Posts: 9,147
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Re: Plug adaptors of the past
As far as I can remember the Wandsworth plug was the same as the D&S plugs being described here. It had a W embossed into the Bakelite cover.
Yes I did encounter them in Prefabs situated next to the railway line in Hartfield Crescent Wimbledon. Strange how you remember silly details. My customer kept chickens running around in a large wired area in the garden The TV was a Ferguson 406T then around ten years old. The Fitall plug was OK but useless when you encountered a socket mounted on the skirting board close to the floor. I got fed up with this and ended up with two bare wires that I used to carefully place in the socket and then secure them with a plug..Sleeved plugs put an end to that! It was quite amazing the sockets you encountered. When I was first doing service calls at 16 [1964] , 13amp sockets were quite rare and in many houses/bedsits the BC adaptor still ruled! I always thought a 15amp 3 pin plug was a much better arrangement and took the current from a 3000w appliance much better than a 13amp one. They just made better contact. John. Last edited by Cobaltblue; 13th Apr 2021 at 1:33 pm. Reason: Automotive |
13th Apr 2021, 2:39 pm | #23 | |
Hexode
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: London, UK.
Posts: 498
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Re: Plug adaptors of the past
Quote:
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13th Apr 2021, 2:40 pm | #24 |
Hexode
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: London, UK.
Posts: 498
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Re: Plug adaptors of the past
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13th Apr 2021, 6:15 pm | #25 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Brentwood, Essex, UK.
Posts: 5,339
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Re: Plug adaptors of the past
A page from a catalogue showing a "Wandsworth" plug can be found in post #22 (amongst others) of this closed thread, which also has information on many types I was previously unaware of :
https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...t=71262&page=2 Last edited by emeritus; 13th Apr 2021 at 6:17 pm. Reason: typos |
13th Apr 2021, 10:29 pm | #26 |
Nonode
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Stockport, Cheshire, UK.
Posts: 2,002
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Re: Plug adaptors of the past
I was double checking the Wandsworth plugs & noticed there are two different earth pins, one having a round pin, and the other being almost square in section.
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14th Apr 2021, 7:16 am | #27 |
Hexode
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Rustington, West Sussex, UK.
Posts: 383
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Re: Plug adaptors of the past
I used a Pargo plug with sliding pins for many years at Southern Rentals for my weller gun. These plugs worked with any socket even the MK logic range. I still have one of these plugs.
Bob
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14th Apr 2021, 10:17 am | #28 |
Nonode
Join Date: Sep 2017
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Re: Plug adaptors of the past
I've seen a picture of a similar "universal" plug where the pins are attached so they swing through an arc rather than just sideways.
I did wonder how they coped with 3 pin sockets.
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14th Apr 2021, 11:24 am | #29 |
Nonode
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Stockport, Cheshire, UK.
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Re: Plug adaptors of the past
This is the one
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14th Apr 2021, 3:01 pm | #30 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Greater Manchester, UK.
Posts: 18,715
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Re: Plug adaptors of the past
Quote:
https://youtu.be/JSLuhwfDeXE
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14th Apr 2021, 4:08 pm | #31 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Worksop, Nottinghamshire, UK.
Posts: 5,553
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Re: Plug adaptors of the past
The original sliding shutter sockets could be overridden by sort of walking the plug in.
The plain rotary shutter ones just let you push a 2-pin plug in. The dimpled shutters soon followed making it much more difficult to get a two pin plug in. |
14th Apr 2021, 6:03 pm | #32 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Brentwood, Essex, UK.
Posts: 5,339
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Re: Plug adaptors of the past
When I joined the Patent Office, the subject matter dealt with in the training group I was assigned to, included plugs and sockets (officially known as "two-part couplings"), as well as cables and fuses. The relevant MK patents had already been granted by then, and copies were in the search files. The patent for the original design of rotatable shutter requiring simultaneous pin insertion, covered 2 pin sockets as well as three-pin. The later patented modification for 3 pin sockets was indeed designed specifically to defeat europlug insertion.
Last edited by emeritus; 14th Apr 2021 at 6:05 pm. Reason: typos |
16th Apr 2021, 11:04 am | #33 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Warnham, West Sussex. 10 miles south of DORKING.
Posts: 9,147
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Re: Plug adaptors of the past
I discovered this version of the WANDSWORTH plug that differs from the ones I remember. I have some higher current ones in one of my junk plug boxes and may find them. If so I will post. [Why do we keep this junk?]
I guess it is older than the later D&S types as it does not have any form of fuse. Probably pre war. John. |
16th Apr 2021, 12:50 pm | #34 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Brentwood, Essex, UK.
Posts: 5,339
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Re: Plug adaptors of the past
That's the type originally installed in the council houses of the Becontree estate in Essex in the 1920's, and still being used by my barber in the mid-1970's.
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17th Apr 2021, 9:49 pm | #35 |
Pentode
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: Herefordshire, UK.
Posts: 232
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Re: Plug adaptors of the past
Hi,
Quite an interesting thread this one! Is there any way I can get hold of a fittall plug for my vintage plug collection? They are quite interesting to me and would fit quite nicely within the collection! Tom |
17th Apr 2021, 10:04 pm | #36 |
Nonode
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Stockport, Cheshire, UK.
Posts: 2,002
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Re: Plug adaptors of the past
There are usually some on the usual online auction sites, but probably more than at a swap meet.
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18th Apr 2021, 12:16 pm | #37 |
Nonode
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: North Somerset, UK.
Posts: 2,129
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Re: Plug adaptors of the past
They can indeed be found on ebay, but searching can be very tedious because most sellers dont give a very detailed description.
You may need to search for "vintage plug" and then look through vast numbers of listings. |
18th Apr 2021, 1:25 pm | #38 | |
Moderator
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Location: Exeter, Devon and Poole, Dorset UK.
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Re: Plug adaptors of the past
Quote:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-W...MAAOSwAyBfh2F7 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FITALL-vi...UAAOSw5eNdwdSU https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-F...MAAOSweiZfxl0r No connection with any of the sellers. Cheers Mike T
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18th Apr 2021, 6:35 pm | #39 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: St. Frajou, l'Isle en Dodon, Haute Garonne, France.(Previously: Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, UK.)
Posts: 3,183
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Re: Plug adaptors of the past
Hi,
Re: The Wandsworth plug in post no. 33. My primary school had something similar, but much smaller and with a solid earth pin, for plugging a speaker into a socket in each classroom to hear schools broadcasts from a 'Grampian' receiver in the assembly hall. I assume it was a 100 volt line system. I also remember those Wandsworth mains sockets on Lewis's department store in Liverpool. There were two at the base of each column throughout the store. Cheers, Pete.
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