Nice Randy what part of southern Cali did you find this historic piece.

Tim, Just outside of Downtown LA on the west... The street level of a highrise building... the vertical prong on the cord cap is burned, The porcelain recept appeaded unscathed except for that terminal screw showing discoloration from heat...

-Randy

I take it the plug is something international. The prongs are too far apart to be a Nema 2-20P.

Gene, The cordcap was a NEMA 5-20 back when it still had its ground pin... The recept is the old T-slot style... I know not its NEMA designation but I think its standard "old stuff"

-Randy

Wow!! keep 'em coming Randy. I love it. Whatever you do, don't throw that stuff out.

And if you're planning on it, call me.

There are some 20-amp/220 volt plugs that are two-pin.

Look at this thing. It's from a Colombian manufacturer. Hubbell makes one also:



[This message has been edited by SvenNYC (edited 04-07-2004).]

Sven.... Hubbell still makes 2 prong cord caps??? I wonder if they cost an arm & a leg like the rest of their stuff! I've got some really old Hubbell stuff I'll have to photo for here.... One peculiar piece is a recept that has the same face design as the old Hubbell's but is stamped "ACORN"... I've only come across one of those..

-Randy

When did U.S. manfacturers stop making receptacles with two T-slots? And were they used for both 120 and 240V circuits? If so, then I would imagine there were quite a few mishaps.

Randy, I have no clue how much a Hubbell plug with that particular config costs, but in one electronics parts & controls catalog I saw a Hubbell Nema 1-15 valise plug go for like either US$10 or $15

Was the cap in your picture moulded-on or was it a "replacement" screw-on plug?

That hole looks like a screw to hole both sides of the plug together, although now I see that it's the stump of the round grounding pin.

Hubbell also owns Bryant. I like their spec-grade duplex receptacles. A nearby Home Desperate used to sell them but then they stopped and switched over to Leave-it-on products .

Paul.. I'm assuming the T-slots were used for both 120/240V applications


It looks like even the regular NEMA 1-15's were dual voltage at a time!



I can only imagine the fun this must've been! "Before you stick it, Wiggy it!"

-Randy

PS... if the images don't show, right click & click "view image" then click back... Im in a whole new world trying to figure out this html stuff!

[This message has been edited by Lostazhell (edited 04-08-2004).]

Randy, I think the t-slots were used for old types of plugs that are now obsolete. Some types had tandem slots, i.e. -- --, which were 120v, and some plugs had the NEMA 1-15 format used today. THey were combined to mke the T-slots so no matter what type of plug you had, you could use it in the outlet.

Sparked.... So the T-slots were never actually used for 240V even though they showed a rating for it? The -- -- Style plugs are NEMA 6-15 once you throw a ground pin in the works which is 240V.. I always thought thats where the different combinations originated, but there was nothing requiring the actual recept to only accept one or the other back then... NEMA was founded in 1926, some of the things I've come across that predate NEMA are really odd!, but they seem to accept both of those formats.. Do you know what format they did use for 240V then?

Sven, the cap in the pic was orgiginal molded on... Youre right, the hole is where the former ground pin resided... LoL at the Home Desperate & Leave-it-0n... Everytime I try to use Leviton on a job, I either strip out a terminal screw or just snap the head off when tightening! My supply house carries P&S for the most part.. I stick with their BR-15/20 line or better.. Never had a problem... These also have the backwire where you tighten the screw to hold the wire. (not the "push & pray)
I used Arrow Hart for a while, just cause I thought they looked cool & they seemed to be built pretty well... Then Cooper bought em, 86'ed the line & stuck with the Eagle line.
If I do end up going to Home Desperate, I'll usually look for the Bryant "Tech-Spec"'s.. they are built well, but the depots around here don't really carry them anymore! I wonder if Leviton has something to do with that!

Randy,

Okay, that makes sense now that I've looked at it again. At first look I thought that was a screw holding the two halves of the cordcap together.

At least the building had circuit breakers. If fuses the guy would just screw in a bigger fuse or a penny....

wa2ise, Youre probably right... It took me about ½ hour to convince the restaurant owner he needed a dedicated circuit..(If my memory serves me correct, I think the equiptment spec'd this on the nameplate also) Not to mention a new cord-cap.. He just wanted me to replace the CB... (He didn't ask me for a larger size, I think he just thought it was bad!) Amprobe clamp-on showing 27 amps on the 20A circuit seemed to finally convince him.

-Randy

That's what it looked like to me at first glance as well -- Maybe a very chewed-up Philips screw head!

I recall seeing an old movie (1940s) in which somebody takes a plug from a 120V appliance and we see him insert it into a receptacle on a box labeled 220V with the expected results.

Now, it's not exactly unknown for Hollywood to ignore technical facts for effect ( ), but I wondered at the time whether it was actually common for the same receptacles to be used on both voltages at one time.