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Posted By: Admin (AU) Crabtree 5A Plug & GEC (?) Socket - 05/20/07 10:02 PM
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Hello,

I found these items in a box of fittings I purchased from the Murray Bridge area of South Australia. The area had a 250 VDC supply prior to the 240 VAC 50Hz being standard in the area.

The three pictures show the plug & socket. Unfortunately, the socket has a bit missing around the Earth pin. The markings on the back of the socket are:

MADE IN ENGLAND
VITREOUS
14522
5A 250V

The manufacturers' mark looks like a horseshoe magnet with wire around it with the letters GEC with this mark.

Darren Carroll
Alice Springs, NT, Australia

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Posted By: pauluk Re: (AU) Crabtree 5A Plug & GEC (?) Socket - 05/23/07 04:25 PM
They're typical of British fittings of the 1940s/1950s era.

I mentioned elsewhere the possible switch interlock to prevent a switch being turned on until a plug was inserted, but there were definitely outlets which when mated with the correct plug did the opposite function, i.e. prevented you from removing a plug with the switch on. The recesses in the earth pin of that plug provided the function.

In the "old days" here, our Regs. specified that outlets on a D.C. supply had to be controlled by an integral or adjacent switch. There was no such requirement for A.C. outlets.
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