Clever little adaptor plug

[ppppenguin]

Found this little adaptor plug the other day. By twisting the body it converts from 5A 2 pin to bayonnet cap. The other end where the flex goes in says "Adaptor plug" and has arrows to show that you should rotate it.

Rather nice.

What date do people think? 1930s? 1940s?

[hamid_1]

Nice! I haven't seen one of those, though I have come across other plugs with a similar concept. For example, the "Fitall" plug from Larne in Northern Ireland. It has pins that can fit 5A or 15A round pin sockets or 13A flat pin sockets. The unused pins retract inside the plug, but there is a serious design flaw with the Fitall plug. If it's inserted into a 13A socket with a metal faceplate, the unused pins can stick out enough to touch the metal socket causing a short circuit and a loud bang! There are modern travel adaptors which still work in the same way, having pins that can be pulled out or retracted depending on which style of mains socket they need to fit.

I also have a 2-piece bayonet to 5 amp plug adaptor. One half is a BC plug to 5A 2 pin socket, the other part is a normal 5 amp 2-pin plug.

It looks like there's a patent number on your plug. See if you can find any information on espacenet.com . I have a Magnet branded BC double adaptor; when I looked up its patent number, I found the patent was issued in 1912 - so the design is much older than I thought. I was also thinking 1930s-1950s. I guess these things would have stayed in production for quite a long time.

[ppppenguin]

Well spotted on the patent number. 446995. Espacenet says it's from 1935. There's also the maker's name: Presto

The BC plug to 5A 2 pin socket adaptors were readily available when I was a kid in the 1960s. I've got a couple.

The Fitall was a horrible contraption, as are some of today's travel adaptors

[Terry]

The Fitall was a horrible contraption ...

I beg to differ. It was an ingenious solution to the problem facing anybody with portable electrical equipment that was needed in a variety of buildings, whether it be as simple as a handyman with an electric drill or much bigger, such as a pop group.

There was a design problem, as Hamid has said, because it was possible for the loose 5A live pin to fly forward as the plug was inserted into a 13A metalclad socket and contact the earthed cladding. Later plugs had a redesigned paxolin selector plate to stop this happening but there was a simple solution for earlier plugs: place a thin piece of card, such as from a cigarette packet, over the socket and punch holes in it as the plug was inserted.

The most ingenious device I ever saw was shown to me by a puppeteer who was entertaining children at a church fete. A lot of his work was for children's parties in their homes and, in those days, it was not unusual to still find 2A sockets - which the Fitall plug didn't cater for.

He had what must have been a pre-war forerunner of the Fitall. It comprised two 2A pins in a brown Bakelite casing, held apart by an insulated spring arrangement with a button at each end. By holding it between thumb and forefinger, the pins could be squeezed together to suit the pin spacing of the socket but, of course, it wouldn't work with shuttered 3-pin sockets.

So, he had taken earth pins from a range of plugs and brazed 2A, 5A, 13A and 15A pins together at right angles and connected his earth wire to the junction. So, not only could he open the shutters by selecting the appropriate pin, he also had a good earth connection for his equipment.

... a horrible contraption, as are some of today's travel adaptors

Yes, I agree - multiple live pins that can all be exposed at the same time, no earthing or recessed sockets, etc. Lethal, many of them and yet perfectly good adaptors are available which are perfectly safe and, if you look carefully, can often be found at much lower prices!

13A to Schuko adaptors have been around for years. Initially they tended to have thin unplated pins, skimpy earthing arrangements and no hole to accept the French/Belgian earth pin but, if you look carefully, you'll find decent modern types with full size pins and full modified Schuko earthing. I've got a few of them and have never paid more than £1 for one!



They will work in the majority of European countries except Denmark, Switzerland or Italy although I have seen Schuko sockets in Switzerland. But, for low current devices not requiring an earth, the 2-pin Europlug is very handy and should work.

[ppppenguin]

Schuko is now increasingly popular in Italy. I think it will eventually become universal there. A lot of sockets there are dual standard, Italian/Schuko.

The 2 pin Europlug is a very handy thing for small double insulated kit. It's a shame we have to have hulking great 13A plugs on everything. Except perhaps electric razors and toothbrushes.

This may be a daft question. Why are the pins on 13A plugs bare brass, often tarnished, while Schuko pins are plated?

[Terry]

About 10 years ago, I came across one of these in a pound shop:



A solid fused 13A plug married to a decent Schuko socket. To this day it lives in my laptop bag because it solved a problem. The PSU and mains lead were too much to store neatly in the designated area because of the massive 13A plug but I had a suitable lead fitted with a 2-pin Europlug, which was ideal. So now, if we go abroad, I just plug into the nearest socket, whereas in the UK, the adaptor, which lives in the large accessory pouch, comes out.

Helen had a slicer which she wasn't too happy with, it was plastic and a bit flimsy, and she saw some good reviews for a German slicer, metal and ,more powerful, at a reasonable price, so she ordered one.

When it arrived, it had an integral mains lead with a moulded Europlug and the seller had thoughtfully included a  nice shiny black adaptor like the one I already had.

The next thing that happened was that the filter coffee machine packed up but no problem, we had a new one that we'd bought at a bargain price in a French supermarket the last time we visited.

Now we'd not long moved and I hadn't a clue where my box of 13A plugs had done (!) but I came across another box which contained a 13A to Europlug converter - I think it originally came from RS.



So that was the slicer sorted and the shiny black moulded Schuko plug on the coffee  machine merges beautifully with the adaptor that came with the slicer, so that was both jobs sorted!

And that is how It has stayed - I see no point in chopping the Schuko off and fitting a 13A plug.

[Kalee20]

This may be a daft question. Why are the pins on 13A plugs bare brass, often tarnished, while Schuko pins are plated?

I have seen plated pins, but they are very much the exception to the norm.

Probably because BS1363 didn't specify that they had to be plated or tarnish-proof - after all, the 2A, 5A, or 15A round-pin jobbies aren't, but again, why?

No doubt there are audiophool-grade which are gold-plated. And you could always dismantle your plugs and get them plated yourself!

[radioman]

Ah, but if the DIY option doesn't appeal to you, you can buy them already gold-plated :
https://www.hificollective.co.uk/compone...lated.html


Andy

[Refugee]

Oh dear they have fitted a regular fuse in that plug after going to all the trouble of gold plating the pins 

[ppppenguin]

Fuses are for wimps. If you're a real 'phool then nothing short of BS4343 (Commando) mains conenctors will suffice. Gold plated of course.

We've come a long way from my humble little adaptor

I wonder if they had Edison Screw to 2 pin socket adaptors on the continent?

Incidentally, do you tend to write "adaptor" or "adapter"? I usually use "adaptor" but as far as I can tell, both are current usage in both UK and US English:
https://grammarist.com/spelling/adapter-adaptor/
https://writingexplained.org/adapter-vs-...difference