Irons TV's etc running off light socket adaptors


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When I lived down Medders lots of houses didn't have many mains sockets (we had one in our living room, non in front room), so light socket adaptors were used to run TV's, irons, hoovers, radios, electric fires & other electric gubbins, of course there was no earth connection & the lighting circuit would probably be overloaded. Health & safety would faint with the shock nowadays. :)

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When I lived down Medders lots of houses didn't have many mains sockets (we had one in our living room, non in front room), so light socket adaptors were used to run TV's, irons, hoovers, radios, elec

A house I lived in at mapperley was the same.....came as a shock when turning the light on in the kitchen at night, the twintub burst into action as it had been left plugged in.

Down Medders we ad 1 socket and it wa round pin, we were lucky.

We nearly bought a nice house last year, the owner had OCD and it was in perfect order.

Built by George Wimpy in 1968.

Dropped out at last minute when I noticed it had only one single powerpoint in each room :(

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Our Wimpey house in Basford built in 1966 was like that. We managed with extension cords. One outlet required for every 12 linear feet of wall space here. Excluding doors fireplace etc. More plugins than we ever use now. Problem I remember in the UK was so many different styles of plugs until 13 amp kind became more common.

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When I was a lad, we had an extension lead into the garage from one of those light socket adapters for when we needed to do any work in there on bikes.

I was messing around one day and didn't realise it was plugged in. Without thinking, I shoved my thumb into the socket and promptly launched myself across the garage.

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And I thought I overdid it when I wired this office come radio shack...18 and one 240 volt 20 amp outlet for my amplifier.....

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How would modern kids cope without all those sockets required in their bedrooms for TV, computer, various chargers, curling tongues, straighteners etc?

I still have (but I must emphasise not in use) an old travelling iron with a light socket plug and cloth covering on the cable,

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I had forgotten about the "light socket plug" - often found on irons. I wonder if you can still buy them? Many of you know that over here light bulbs have a screw fitting, not a bayonet like there, and you can still purchase a fitting that screws in to the light socket, provides a replacement light socket AND a power socket! Yes, they look as dangerous as the old ones over there did (but we do have one in use in our basement!).

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No, this is not the one in our basement, but it has a "double whammy" in that it also has a 3-prong-to-2-prong converter plugged into the light socket adapter!

AND, of course, there had to be something on the INTERNET! - The "Museum of Plugs and Sockets" no less!

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Think I've mentioned it before, our house in the Medders still had gas fittings on the wall in the front room and sitting room. My Dad threaded wires through them and mounted light sockets and a switch on each, so we had ultra-modern wall lights back then. He was a clever bu99er.

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Re #16,

That reminds me of when I was baby sitting for a neighbour down Medders, took me ages to find the Rediffusion selector to turn the telly over. it was on the widow sill where the cable came in of course, but muggins here didn't know that because we had a normal telly (with an X aerial) with channel change on the front.. :)

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If there is one thing we do well in this country, it's electrical fittings.

The modern day 3-pin mains plug is a masterpiece of design both in functionality and safety.

Same with light fittings and switches etc. All conservatively rated and solidly made.

It's only when you go to France or Italy or many other EU countries that you realise how flimsy and flakey their electrical installation can be.

In fact I would go so far as to say that some of them are downright lethal. I've had shocks many a time trying to get a lamp or the TV to work in French hotels!

Our mains plugs have big brass square pins and the cable entering from the bottom. Theirs are prone to being kicked or knocked because the cable is at right angles to the wall. This also bends the pins in the socket recepticle.

And to think there was an EU proposal to standardise on the 'continental' plug. Thanks goodness we resisted that one!

I'm old enough to remember the old British plugs which were smaller and had round pins and the mains cables were cotton in a kind of spiral pattern.

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Eric, all light bulbs we used with the NCB were edison screw, probably because the majority of our light circuits underground were 110 volts, even the odd 240 volt light circuits were screw type bulbs. Of corse all fluoreescents light circuits were 240 volt.

Yep the 13amp socket and plug are probably the best design in the world, it has a good finger guard to prevent coming in contact with a live pin, most sockets were switched, no idea now, the pins were conservitivly rated at a full 13 amps, most around the world do not have the size to carry their rated current..And not forgetting individually fused for the job they do.

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John - my dad worked at Ratcliffe power station, and got me a job there one summer. One of the tasks I helped with was changing ALL the light bulbs in the tunnel under Red Hill to the Trent (PPM) - we were told to leave the good ones in a box in the locker room for people to take home. Only one problem - they were all 110v Edison Screw bulbs - they used them to stop them getting nicked!

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With the NCB underground lighting, I don't think the 110 volts was to stop us borrowing bulbs, more for standardization, as most of the older pits had standardized at 110 anyway.. We did have two types of 240 volt bulbs though, problem was the 240 volt bayonet type had NCB on them....LOL

Good job not many back then had fluoro's in their kitchens..... We'd have had a roaring trade in 4 and 5 foot tubes...

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Problem though as you should know Mick, those things are lethal at 120 volts, double lethal at 240 volts..

I like the new ones, all LED's.

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