ECN Forum Forums Photo Discussion Forums Electrical Nostalgia British 4-way adapter

I was prompted by the 4-way receptacle thread to take these pictures.

This is a British adapter of 1950s vintage which was intended to allow up to four non-grounding 5-amp plugs to be connected to a single 15A receptacle:


The white piece between the prongs of the plug side is a pull-out which holds a small cartridge fuse.

Like that American 4-way receptacle, this adapter could only be utilized fully if the flat-bodied plugs were used rather than round styles:



[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 05-15-2003).]

Seems like it's pretty easy with that thing to plug something across both hots or across both neutrals...the holes are in a perfect square

Very nearly so, but the spacing between adjacent outlets is actually very slightly wider than that between the prongs of the plug.

In fact its just about the same as the spacing on a Euro/Schuko plug! The latter won't fit though, as this adapter is a "safety" type with shutters which need pressure on both hot and neutral sides in order to open.

LOL!!

Paul, I can't believe you tried all that!!

You'd be surprised at the things I try when it comes to electrical stuff......

From SimonUK:

Simon,
What's that device to the left of the socket where the adaptor is plugged in?.

In the '60's, we in the 'states used four-pin phone connectors that look like they would have fit in there! Good thing no one carried their phone with them in those dayshttps://www.electrical-contractor.net/ubb/icons/icon7.gif https://www.electrical-contractor.net/ubb/icons/icon7.gif

Trumpy, Its an old contactor for a barley bruiser that hes long since been removed.

The contactor is dead but if you look at the farm pics on the 'photo's submitted for discussion' forum there's no way to be sure it'll remain that way.

Nobody is actually sure where the juice came from that fed the contactor