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Joined: Aug 2002
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Wow. Thanks guys.
Wonder where I could buy a male/female set of those scary things...just for old-times sake. LOL
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Joined: Jun 2001
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You're right on the ticket, mamills. I forgot that there were porcelain verstions for multiple plugs. The last time I saw any of these was about 15 years ago before an old theatre pianoboard was demo-ed.
I've only seen a couple in real life and never had the "pleasure" of touching any that were still in service...
Mike Wescoatt
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Sven: Believe it or not, I've actually seen these items pop up once in a while on eBay (after all, doesn't everything in the world eventually end up on eBay?). Look for "stage plug". Perhaps an EC working with a theatrical supply company re-fitting an auditorium or theater might help. Mike: When I was living in Denver and in grade school, my elementary and junior high schools used these guys backstage ...yeah, in a school auditorium of all places. They were located in heavy cast-iron floor pockets on each side of the stage - each pocket containing one or two porcelain receptacles, stage plugs, and a short amount of S or SO cable with an ordinary edison connector attached. I was indoctrinated to these things at a REAL early age . Mike (mamills) [This message has been edited by mamills (edited 01-05-2006).]
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Joined: Jul 2004
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I found a version of this picture and managed to lighten it, however it's on a russian cracking site and probably not hot-linkable, any email address I should send to for it to be posted on the ECN server? (the usage probably comes under the fair usage terms for copyright, seeing as it's a discussion about the movie prop )
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Joined: Jan 2003
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You can send it to me via the email link above my post.
Bob Badger Construction & Maintenance Electrician Massachusetts
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Joined: Jan 2003
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Bob Badger Construction & Maintenance Electrician Massachusetts
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Joined: Jan 2003
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Bob Badger Construction & Maintenance Electrician Massachusetts
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Joined: Feb 2004
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That doesn't look like any connector I've seen before... The contacts on the side of the male do look pretty beefy, and I'd guess a rating somewhere around 50A. The female end on that thing looks pretty scary unless there's some kind of shutter system to hide the live contacts...
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Joined: May 2005
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The connector box in his left hand is a receptacle for a 100amp stage plug (paddle).
The plug in his right hand looks like either a 100amp stage plug or a big Mueller clip (jumper cable)..
If it's a stage plug, it has an oversized handle.
As previously mentioned, stage plugs came in two sizes. The full sized 100amp plug, and the 1/2 sized 50 amp plug, which was frequently fused down to 20 or 30 amps.
I may have one of those plugs in my junkbox somewhere.. I'll have to check.
I have seen some 3 pole versions of the stage plug, which was a pentagonal shape, but I have only seen that in one venue.
The other common connectors used in theatre (besides the NEMA and non-NEMA twist-lock connectors) are the stage pin connectors, which come in 20, 30, 60, and 100 amp versions. Also known as Bates connectors. These have 3 (or sometimes 2 if you find an old one) round pins, unequally spaced in a straight line on a plastic or phenolic block.
These are commonly found in theatres that regularly support road shows, and/or use a lot of rental equipment, as well as on equipment supplied by the rental houses, while NEMA and non-NEMA twistlocks are more frequently found in schools and other facilities that own their own equipment.
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Joined: May 2005
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I found a few photos on ebay.. not the greatest quality when blown up, but they will have to do for now.. The top picture shows a 4 outlet Mole Box, manufactured by Mole-Richardson. These were normally fed with bundled welding cable. The next row, and the lower right show a couple variations on a full sized 100amp Mole Plug, also known as a stage plug. These had a couple of different contact arrangements, including the shorter versions shown here, and one with longer contacts (~1.5"). The lower left image shows a 1/2 size Mole Plug. Two of these would fit side by side in a single outlet. [This message has been edited by Webmaster (edited 01-10-2006).] [This message has been edited by techie (edited 01-10-2006).]
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