http://www.nmsi.ac.uk/piclib/imagerecord.asp?id=10208507

Some VERY old UK electrical fittings. might be of interest

I have a plug like the one on the left somewhere in one of my junkboxes!

Does the "plunger" help push the plug out of the socket when you press down on it?

There was a company in the States that also made a plug like that -- don't remmeber the brand, just remember seeing a pack of them on E-bay some long time back.

I think it was just to help you safely grip the plug when you were pulling it out.

I've never seen an old UK style 2-pin socket here in Ireland though and the old german style ones are side-earthed.

What was connected to these? Radios etc?

Most older appliences tend not to be class II..

On the plug I have it's just a knob to help you grip it to pull it out. Now you mention it though, I do seem to recall seeing something like this with a plunger set inside the knob (i.e. grip it with first and second fingers either side of the knob and your thumb on the plunger in the middle).

Some of these old BS546 plugs (especially the huge 15A types) could really take a considerable amount of force to pull out of a socket. In an old building with crumbling plasterwork, it wasn't at all unusual to have the socket pull away from the wall slightly instead!


The 2-pin outlets were commonly used for table/bedside/standard lamps, radios (and TV in later years), electric blankets, and even vacuum cleaners. Even though the IEE specified 3-pin outlets for decades, it's amazing how many of the old 5A 2-pin outlets survived in old houses for so long, often co-existing with BS1363 outlets.

Could you have put a euro plug into one of those?

Same pin spacing?

Compared to the British plug, the Europlug has thinner pins on centers which are just slightly farther apart. (The pins are also slightly longer.)

The Europlugs with a little give in the pins (i.e. molded types rather than solid plastic) could be "persuaded" to fit with a little effort.

By the way, the 3-pin BS546 5A outlets have their phase/neutral holes spaced fractionally wider apart than the 2-pin version, and Euro/Schuko plugs fit easily, (after getting around the shutter problem, if any). The thinner pins often result in poor contact however, as you would expect.

I've noticed BS1363 sockets hold Europlugs quite nicely once you get around the shutters. They seem to make reasonably good contact.

These are European style radial circuits though So don't worry it's not connected to a 32A circuit!

Protected by a 16A MCB and RCD.

And if you don't have any Europlugs handy to jam into a BS1363 outlet, you can always try this way instead!

That's the new international plug?

Yep! Fits any outlet by using different combinations of matchsticks. Earth optional!

some of the non-complient adaptors on the market are only slightly better than that

Don't laugh guys,
But I see these switches still in use.
These are the original switches @ 2A rating, not the new trendy 16-20A models with polished Brass finish.
Out in the sticks, they never replace anything unless it is going to burn the house down, believe me!.

you say 13amp rated socket only runs at 16amp via RCD what about a 32amp ring main

Welcome woooson,

DJK is in Ireland, where they do use 32A rings, but where radial circuits feeding BS1363 outlets are apparently more common than here in the U.K.