ECN Forum Forums Photo Discussion Forums Electrical Nostalgia Odd Receptacle

Randy,

It's actually designed for the two different configurations (grounding and non-grounding) of our old 5-amp plug standard.

Whereas an NEMA 1-15 plug will fit a 5-15 receptacle, for some peculiar reason the grounding version of the old British Standard 546 plug was designed with the current-carrying pins on a slightly wider spacing than the 2-pin non-grounding version.

The 2-pin, non-grounding plug fits the outlets on the side of the adapter, or into the two middle holes on the front:


The 3-pin, grounding version of the plug fits the bottom holes on the front, with the earth (ground) pin at the very top:


So at any one time this tap can be used for either three non-grounding plugs, or one grounding plug plus two non-grounding types on the sides.

Paul,
I can see that being a solution for those who feel it necessary to bust the ground pin off of nema 5-15 or 5-20 plugs, to make it fit into an ungrounded outlet!
Suprised nothing like that has been thought of here.

-Randy

I have seen older kitchen/bath fans that had the fan motor inside the duct; a short cord & plug went from the motor to a receptacle in the wall of the duct.
Here's the connection: the plugs/receptacles in these fans were of the "y" type that your mystery receptacle would fit (in addition to a "standard" plug).
I believe that what you've found is a replacement receptacle for one of these fans.

Remember- NEMA patterns are not all that old; nor are they mandatory even today. One of my greatest challenges is getting the customer to SHOW ME THE PLUG that is intended to go into the receptacle he want me to install! Then, if the plug is non-NEMA, my next challenge is getting the parts house to put away their NEMA cards!

I have a plug that fits this outlet. It's one of those nasty round ones that are hard to remove from the wall socket. The ground pin is longer than the other two and is marked "ground."


I can post a picture if you want.

I ran into several of these 120V "crow foot" receptacles this summer in the concession area of an old drive-in theatre built in the late 1960s. They originally served popcorn machines, heat lamps, milkshake mixers and cotton candy machines. The new replacement appliances wouldn't plug in.

Welcome to the forum Tim. And yes please, photos of old electrical gear are always welcome here!

These old 120V crowfeet recepts seem to be quite rare. That one in the pic is the only one i've ever come across. I've never seen a crowfoot plug marked for 120V 15A that would fit into that recept... I'm surprised that these were in some place built in the late 60's... I thought they were only used way before that.

 
Comparing MattE’s “universal” boathouse plug to Hutch’s “universal” Siberian plug [in ../Forum9/HTML/000689.html] makes the NEMA 1-15 seem timelessly intergalactic.

[img]http://6L6.net/localuser/bjarn/ecn.matte'scrowfoot.jpg[/img]




[This message has been edited by Bjarney (edited 09-27-2004).]

I have a female crow-foot cord-cap (made by Leviton in the good ole USA, so that should give you an idea of how old it is) that is marked both 120 volts, 15 amps and 240 volts 20 amps.

It fits a standard 10-amp Australian/Chinese plug.

Mine are all Hubbel brand. Thinking, I have one that is somwhere between that one and the 50A type until recently used on range recepticles, I think 20A 250V.