On Fri, 3 Jan 2020 12:54:55 -0800 (PST), wrote:

On Friday, 3 January 2020 19:36:07 UTC, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Things with a transformer (that might catch fire) often have a thermal
fuse in the windings. Non replaceable.

often yes. And often no.

Relying on a plug fuse would be plain daft. All too easy to fit the wrong
one.

That you think it daft makes zero difference to the fact that that is how it was done for a long time, and old appliances have not in most cases sprouted an extra fuse since construction.

A fuse on say a radio etc that can be replaced has the correct type
printed beside it. No such thing on a plug.

No. It was reckoned that people could normally work out for themselves that a radio should be on a 2A plug, and a toaster on a 15A, which have since morphed into a 3A fuse & a 13A fuse in the square pin plug. Today we know that often people don't know this stuff.

My toaster only needs a 7A fuse. I think 2A would suffice for a radio
(though not a TV).