Plastic pin covers on 13A plug tops
 

Why do all electrical appliances sold with 13A plugtops have plastic
protectors on the pins?

It seems near-criminal to throw away such beautiful plastic mouldings,
but I can't think of a use for them. Has anyone?


--
Kevin Poole
**Use current month and year to reply (e.g. )***
Car Transport by Tiltbed Trailer - based near Derby

"Autolycus" wrote in message
...
Why do all electrical appliances sold with 13A plugtops have plastic
protectors on the pins?

It seems near-criminal to throw away such beautiful plastic mouldings,
but I can't think of a use for them. Has anyone?


reminds me of the little plastic table that you get on top of a take away
pizza to stop the box touching the pizza.

Autolycus wrote:

Why do all electrical appliances sold with 13A plugtops have plastic
protectors on the pins?

It seems near-criminal to throw away such beautiful plastic mouldings,
but I can't think of a use for them. Has anyone?


Machine gun clips on small scale model guns?

On Fri, 22 Oct 2004 21:44:32 +0100, "Autolycus"
wrote:

Why do all electrical appliances sold with 13A plugtops have plastic
protectors on the pins?

It seems near-criminal to throw away such beautiful plastic mouldings,
but I can't think of a use for them. Has anyone?

Going on my "new job" to stop them smashing or damaging the items they
are supplied with to some extent. ;-)

Mark S.

In article ,
"Autolycus" writes:
Why do all electrical appliances sold with 13A plugtops have plastic
protectors on the pins?

I think to stop the pins scratching the appliance in transit.

It seems near-criminal to throw away such beautiful plastic mouldings,
but I can't think of a use for them. Has anyone?

Well, they're probably recyclable if you have a recycle collection
service.

--
Andrew Gabriel

In message , Andrew Gabriel
writes
In article ,
"Autolycus" writes:
Why do all electrical appliances sold with 13A plugtops have plastic
protectors on the pins?

I think to stop the pins scratching the appliance in transit.

It seems near-criminal to throw away such beautiful plastic mouldings,
but I can't think of a use for them. Has anyone?

Well, they're probably recyclable if you have a recycle collection
service.

Keep them for next time you go on your travels


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--
geoff

On Fri, 22 Oct 2004 20:45:38 GMT, "Scott" wrote:

reminds me of the little plastic table that you get on top of a take away
pizza to stop the box touching the pizza.

Sometimes that provides an alternative course to the funny painted
cardboard thing underneath ;)

Andrew

Autolycus wrote:

Why do all electrical appliances sold with 13A plugtops have plastic
protectors on the pins?

It seems near-criminal to throw away such beautiful plastic mouldings,
but I can't think of a use for them. Has anyone?

separate into three parts and use them for capping sharp items in your
tool bag (small auger drills etc).

--
Cheers,

John.

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On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 13:51:48 +0100, John Rumm
wrote:

Autolycus wrote:

Why do all electrical appliances sold with 13A plugtops have plastic
protectors on the pins?

It seems near-criminal to throw away such beautiful plastic mouldings,
but I can't think of a use for them. Has anyone?

separate into three parts and use them for capping sharp items in your
tool bag (small auger drills etc).

we give ours to the cat

hours of fun batting it around the hard floors

wrote:

we give ours to the cat

hours of fun batting it around the hard floors

Best fun to be had with ours is using a laser pointer... its like remote
control kitty ;-)


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

"Autolycus" wrote in message
...
Why do all electrical appliances sold with 13A plugtops have plastic
protectors on the pins?

Because all of the leads with it come from an enormous factory 4 hours north
of Shanghai where somebody once complained of the brass they were using was
tarnishing before it got to the customer. This was their solution. They
make millions of these leads a week and so the cost per unit of the plastic
is very low, but I agree it's a total waste.

In message
"G&M" wrote:


"Autolycus" wrote in message
...
Why do all electrical appliances sold with 13A plugtops have plastic
protectors on the pins?

Because all of the leads with it come from an enormous factory 4 hours north
of Shanghai where somebody once complained of the brass they were using was
tarnishing before it got to the customer. This was their solution. They
make millions of these leads a week and so the cost per unit of the plastic
is very low, but I agree it's a total waste.


I understood this was to overcome a design fault - whilst inserting the plug
it is possible to hold it in such a way that your fingers will be touching
the pins when the pins make contact with the metal sockets inside. The
continental sockets have the socket holes sunk into the body of the socket
assembly, so there is no way it is possible to have your fingers anywhere
near the pins as they get inserted into the holes.

--
Marcus

On 1 Nov 2004 Marcus Foreman wrote:

"G&M" wrote:

"Autolycus" wrote:
Why do all electrical appliances sold with 13A plugtops have
plastic protectors on the pins?

Because all of the leads with it come from an enormous factory 4
hours north of Shanghai where somebody once complained of the brass
they were using was tarnishing before it got to the customer. This
was their solution.

I understood this was to overcome a design fault - whilst inserting
the plug it is possible to hold it in such a way that your fingers
will be touching the pins when the pins make contact with the metal
sockets inside.

Your talking at cross porpoises. Plugs often have the top part of the
live and neutral pins insulated for exactly the reason you state, but
that is entirely separate from the use of plastic protectors which
cover all the pins and have to be removed befor the plug can be used.
It seems rather over the top just to prevent tarnishing - surely a much
thinner peelable plastic coating would be a lot cheaper?

The continental sockets have the socket holes sunk into the body of
the socket assembly, so there is no way it is possible to have your
fingers anywhere near the pins as they get inserted into the holes.

Some are line that, but by no means all.

--
Richard Porter
Mail to username ricp at domain minijem.plus.com
"You can't have Windows without pains."