"Tim S" wrote in message
news
On Sat, 07 Jan 2006 20:00:05 +0000, Jim Gregory wrote:

"john" wrote in message
...
Rummaging through my electrical stuff and realised I could throw away
the
many 13 amp plugs I had removed from defunct appliances over the years.
I
recalled the excitement of years ago of getting home with a new
appliance
and a brand new MK Plug and taking care and pride in fitting the plug
really carefully. Now of course everything comes with a fitted plug.

Does anyone recall the plugs made by "Nettle" - they used to have a
window
in them so that you could see the colour of the fuse. I always thought
it
was a good idea.

----
John

I am sure other makes incorporated a recessed fuse cradle underneath held
in
by a removable
clip showing in its window the fuse's colour/rating value.
The plug improved considerably when makers also added.....
a) non-return, tension-funelled nylon, barbed, cable grip inside entry
(MK?)

MK - but theirs wasn't barbed - quite smooth in fact. No good if you had
arthritic fingers - as a child I had a hell of a job getting a 13A flex
into these, but could manage every other aspect of fittign the plug just
fine.

Sorry, thought it was! But it tightened on the cable if pulled by a lay
person to protect terminations.

b) L and N pins insulator-gaitered near body, about 15 years ago for
safety (it is now
standard but conductor x-section is therefore smaller)
c) loop puller
on some red plugs - for rheumatic /geriatric hands
d) translucent top
with "live" neon indicator option The -worst- thing is..... over 75% of
their ignorant users only ever fit a 13A fuse
instead of the lowest possible rating for the load!! If all plugs in use
were
drawing 12A, the National Generators + reserve would be vastly
overloaded and would not cope!!
Now were there some more enhancements /ideas?....please fill in....


e) Pins and convincing fuse holder that didn't fall out when the top was
off (MK and poss others)

f) MK's mushroom screw twerminals - wrap the wire
around the stud and screw a female threaded screw down with floating grip
washer - better surface area of contact.

h) And MK again - equal length of cores when fitting.

IMO MK innovated a lot with the 13A plug and did come up with good robust
designs.


Point of interest
Who made (or still makes) the low-profile 13A plug? - Tidy, only half the
horribility of a normal plug, I believe it was also available in a luminous
pastel-green.