ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades More U.K. pics

A couple of miscellaneous items I snapped in the last few days.

This is the type of junction box most often used with our equivalent of NM cable:




3-terminal (pictured) & 4-terminal are the most common, the latter being usual for lighting circuits (line, neutral, ground, plus switch return).

Here is one of our "cooker control units." It combines an isolation switch for the electric range and a normal 13A receptacle. This one is a typical 1960s unit. It is also a rare example of a domestic fitting with separate device and cover plate (most switches & recepts are all-in-one):

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In the last pic you can see the shutter mechanism over the line & neutral of the socket. The shutter is pushed down by the ground pin when a plug is inserted.

rather intricate.....

Paul,
With respect to these photo's, is that just grease or discolourisation due to o/heating,
on that range switch?.
Also, why has the UK never changed from the
square fittings that they still use.

I think the discoloration on that example was mainly due to grease and 30+ years of direct sunlight. (I don't think my cheap digital camera and the lighting conditions helped either, as I don't recall it looking quite so bad!).

Why the square fittings still? The standard box sizes have been around for decades, so I guess nobody's seen any need to change them. Other than usual manufacturer's differences, about the only big change to the standard 1- and 2-gang boxes was when they went to metric 3.5mm threads in place of the old 4BA types. (Which can be really annoying at times when the screws don't fit!)

The wallpaper looks an awful lot like what I found when removing the "beautiful" rose pattern in our new bathroom. Everlasting and nearly waterproof.

That's not actually wallpaper, it's a plastic-faced paneling called "Formica" which was very popular in the 1960s and early 1970s for tables, worktops, and as you can see here, kitchen and bathroom walls.

I expect the same stuff was sold in Austria, though probably under a different brand name.

That stuff WAS called Formica here too, but I don't think I've actually seen it before. I read about once in a book about photo developping (1958). They recommended it as a darkroom tabletop. In my case it was textured wallpaper of about the same color.

On the question of up or down on light switches, we now have a third option:

Sideways!



Image from Lexel

C-H,
Now, that's Sexy!, this is a good looking switch.

They're certainly an unusual style of switch.

I still think that the traditional-style American toggle switches are hard to beat.