Hi all,

I have a box of salvaged three phase sockets. They're pretty old and of
an all-metal construction. I'd like to mount a pair on my phase
convertor (when I've built it) but I don't have any plugs to match the
sockets. They have 3 phases, a neutral and an earth, but I don't think
they're CEE sockets. As far as I know the 3P+N+E CEE sockets have the
pins arranged in a pentagon, whereas these have four pins in a square
and the earth in the centre. There's an emblem made from an interleaved
"M" and "L" on the front, and you rotate the plug to switch on the
power. Here's a pictu

http://www.mythic-beasts.com/~cdt22/socket.jpg

Any idea what they're called? That way I might stand a better chance of
finding some matching plugs.

Best wishes,

Chris

Chris,

Don't worry about trying to match some old socket. Go with some new sockets
and plugs as long as they have 4 prongs arnd are heavy enough to carry the
current. Better yet, hard-wire it in and get rid of cords on the floor.

Bob Swinney
"Christopher Tidy" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

I have a box of salvaged three phase sockets. They're pretty old and of an
all-metal construction. I'd like to mount a pair on my phase convertor
(when I've built it) but I don't have any plugs to match the sockets. They
have 3 phases, a neutral and an earth, but I don't think they're CEE
sockets. As far as I know the 3P+N+E CEE sockets have the pins arranged in
a pentagon, whereas these have four pins in a square and the earth in the
centre. There's an emblem made from an interleaved "M" and "L" on the
front, and you rotate the plug to switch on the power. Here's a pictu

http://www.mythic-beasts.com/~cdt22/socket.jpg

Any idea what they're called? That way I might stand a better chance of
finding some matching plugs.

Best wishes,

Chris

I've seen similar in the Hubbel catalogs

"Robert Swinney" wrote in message
...
Chris,

Don't worry about trying to match some old socket. Go with some new
sockets
and plugs as long as they have 4 prongs arnd are heavy enough to carry the
current. Better yet, hard-wire it in and get rid of cords on the floor.

Bob Swinney
"Christopher Tidy" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

I have a box of salvaged three phase sockets. They're pretty old and of
an
all-metal construction. I'd like to mount a pair on my phase convertor
(when I've built it) but I don't have any plugs to match the sockets.
They
have 3 phases, a neutral and an earth, but I don't think they're CEE
sockets. As far as I know the 3P+N+E CEE sockets have the pins arranged
in
a pentagon, whereas these have four pins in a square and the earth in
the
centre. There's an emblem made from an interleaved "M" and "L" on the
front, and you rotate the plug to switch on the power. Here's a pictu

http://www.mythic-beasts.com/~cdt22/socket.jpg

Any idea what they're called? That way I might stand a better chance of
finding some matching plugs.

Best wishes,

Chris

Robert Swinney wrote:
Chris,

Don't worry about trying to match some old socket. Go with some new sockets
and plugs as long as they have 4 prongs arnd are heavy enough to carry the
current. Better yet, hard-wire it in and get rid of cords on the floor.

Bob Swinney

Thanks for all the responses. I would buy new sockets, except for one
reason. All the parts I've collected for my phase convertor so far are
nice, old fashioned gear made from steel and cast iron. I want to
preserve this appearance for the whole machine, so I don't want to spoil
its looks by mounting a pair of el-cheapo plastic sockets on the front.
I'd like to use metal-bodied sockets if I possibly can. Any ideas?

Best wishes,

Chris

On Fri, 7 Oct 2005 22:48:54 +0000 (UTC), Christopher Tidy
wrote:

Robert Swinney wrote:
Chris,

Don't worry about trying to match some old socket. Go with some new sockets
and plugs as long as they have 4 prongs arnd are heavy enough to carry the
current. Better yet, hard-wire it in and get rid of cords on the floor.

Bob Swinney

Thanks for all the responses. I would buy new sockets, except for one
reason. All the parts I've collected for my phase convertor so far are
nice, old fashioned gear made from steel and cast iron. I want to
preserve this appearance for the whole machine, so I don't want to spoil
its looks by mounting a pair of el-cheapo plastic sockets on the front.
I'd like to use metal-bodied sockets if I possibly can. Any ideas?

Best wishes,

Chris

They may look plastic (they are), but pin & sleeve plugs and
receptacles are anything but cheap. The 62A Class 1 Div. II
receptacles with auxiliary contacts were about $800 ea. Plugs were
about $50-100. Crouse-Hinds in the US makes a lot of metal body plugs
and receptacles. They're probably cheaper, too. I believe they are
distributed in the UK as well.

Pete Keillor

Pete Keillor wrote:
On Fri, 7 Oct 2005 22:48:54 +0000 (UTC), Christopher Tidy
wrote:


Robert Swinney wrote:

Chris,

Don't worry about trying to match some old socket. Go with some new sockets
and plugs as long as they have 4 prongs arnd are heavy enough to carry the
current. Better yet, hard-wire it in and get rid of cords on the floor.

Bob Swinney

Thanks for all the responses. I would buy new sockets, except for one
reason. All the parts I've collected for my phase convertor so far are
nice, old fashioned gear made from steel and cast iron. I want to
preserve this appearance for the whole machine, so I don't want to spoil
its looks by mounting a pair of el-cheapo plastic sockets on the front.
I'd like to use metal-bodied sockets if I possibly can. Any ideas?

Best wishes,

Chris


They may look plastic (they are), but pin & sleeve plugs and
receptacles are anything but cheap. The 62A Class 1 Div. II
receptacles with auxiliary contacts were about $800 ea. Plugs were
about $50-100. Crouse-Hinds in the US makes a lot of metal body plugs
and receptacles. They're probably cheaper, too. I believe they are
distributed in the UK as well.

Thanks for the information, Pete. I'll check out Crouse-Hinds. I had a
look at Hubbell yesterday, but annoyingly I couldn't view their
catalogue as they required me to have Internet Explorer!

Chris