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Joined: Jul 2002
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Ahh yes, the scraping Earth connection.
The IEC connector took care of that idea.
Kettles over here had much the same thing until about 1992, Reyrolle plugs with the scraping earth contact were banned in 1998, even though they are still used in industrial places for welders (3 phase 400V).
It became illegal to own or sell them in 2000.

Joined: Dec 2001
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Except for the outside earth screw terminal the old connector looks remarkably similar to that used in Continental Europe well into the 1970s. Originally intended for hot appliances like hotplates, irons, toasters, heaters,... it was used for virtually anything, particularly vacuum cleaners but also floor polishers and a load of other appliances (I think I've even seen an oscilloscope with such a connector). 5mm pin diameter, pin spacing 20mm.

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I've seen that on plenty of old appliances in Ireland. In fact, I think we have an old Nilfisk Vacuum cleaner that has one.

It was definitely common on things like hot plates, grills, sandwich toasters etc.

I have never seen the version above, with the external earth cable though. The examples I have seen here, had a normal internal earth and two scraping contacts on the edge of the socket. The 'plug' was recessed in the appliance, or shrouded. Similar kind of set up to schuko, just smaller.

And also, an old (1970s) vacuum with two blade pins at arranged at a 45 degree angle i.e. / / but in the same configuration as above.

I have also seen appliances with what looks very much like a "Europlug" CEE 7/16 fitting.

The IEC 'kettle lead' that we find on the back of PCs etc seems to have replaced all of these fittings.

Interestingly, I had a Bosch fridge-freezer which had an IEC plug on the back! It was contained in a connection box on the back. To remove the plug you had to open the screws and open a door on the box.

I can only assume they must have done it this way to allow for easy localisation with the correct cables for 'weird countries' laugh

That's the old UK kettle lead (Also used here) :

[Linked Image from img265.imageshack.us]

Oddly enough, it seems to mate with CEE 7/7 and CEE 7/16 plugs! It's weird how often that same pin configuration got used!

The live and neutral terminals are the two round holes, and the earth is the rectangular hole at the bottom. The other round hole is just a screw for holding the thing together.

These seem to have disappeared by the late 1970s and were very much associated with non-automatic kettles i.e. the type that would just boil until they boiled dry! It was common enough to walk into your kitchen only to find the entire room filled with steam and the wall paper peeling off !!!

I think they may have had some kind of safety cut out, but they certainly didn't seem to have the usual auto-switch off once boiled.

Last edited by djk; 03/19/09 12:23 PM.
Joined: Jul 2005
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Originally Posted by djk
And also, an old (1970s) vacuum with two blade pins at arranged at a 45 degree angle i.e. / / but in the same configuration as above.

That was used by Electrolux.

The two round pin connector with scraping earth contact was common here for flip down side toasters, irons, electric jugs and frypans. However, I've never seen one with a switch before.
The other purpose I've used them for is plugging in the occasional European appliance; the pins are the same spacing but the grip isn't the best.

Joined: Jul 2002
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Originally Posted by djk


I think they may have had some kind of safety cut out, but they certainly didn't seem to have the usual auto-switch off once boiled.


Dave,
The older kettles over here had a mechanical device that would eject the plug, if the element went over a given temperature (as would happen if the kettle actually boiled dry).
This device was built into the element itself, it wasn't part of the kettle body.
This was also back when you could actually replace the element in a kettle, instead of throwing the thing out and buying another one. frown

Oddly enough,
If I recall correctly, the Nilfisk/Tellus vacuum cleaners had a 2 pin "plug" on them as well using vertically orientated pins ie: | |
One thing I never understood was how a metal bodied vacuum cleaner could get away with not being earthed, OK so the motor was double-insulated, but some cleaners had RFI capacitors that were connected to the frame of the appliance, what say one of them decides to go short circuit?

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The pins of the UK kettle connector seem to be 5mm in diameter rather than 4.8 (Schuko) but that's not much of a difference.

I don't think they actually fitted any kind of safety cutout unless there's something like a thermocouple inside the element which shuts off power at say above 120 degrees.

The IEC hot appliances connector is slightly different, it'll fit a computer, but a computer lead won't fit a hot appliance since it lacks the side notch between the line and neutral terminals.

I have to correct my last posting, the old "iron connector" had 6.5mm pins, not 5mm (measuring the holes of the female connector is easier but gives false reading). Pretty easy to tell why Schuko plugs don't fit too well. I even have an adaptor which converts an iron lead to an ungrounded extension lead (6.5mm pins and 4mm holes).

Some slide projectors had a predecessor to the IEC plug with parallel flat pins and scraping earth contacts.

Switched iron connectors were fairly common for vacuum cleaners without an integral switch, heat dishes and other appliances. Replacements are hard to find but still in production. I'd like to know why it has been phased out, perhaps due to the overall size and the fairly large holes.

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