People who joke about legos haven't stepped on this bad boy

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[–] 6 points 9 months ago (10 children)

Is this another safety factor, i.e. you can't easily rip appliances out by accident?

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  • [–] 10 points 9 months ago* (6 children)

    It’s so the live wire disconnects first if you pull the cable out - it’s the shortest, then neutral, then ground. Whoever designed this really thought of everything.

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  • [–] 4 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    Few things make me proud to be British, but the ingenious design of our plug sockets is one of them. TBF though we do need those safety features. Mains power here is 240v as opposed to 120v like a lot of countries. One mistake with a live wire would be the last one you'd ever make.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    I doubt it.
    Tripping over a cable is as likely to damage the socket as it is to rip the cable out of the plug.
    Any appliance that increases risk by being unplugged should probably not be using a consumer connection...

    I think the 3 pin layout caused a lot of headaches, and the integrated fuse required a user-servicable plug.
    So it would have to be a split-shell design of some type, where the appliance cable would have to be cable-gripped to the same part as the plug/socket pins.
    Thus, a bottom-entry (heh) cable grip and a removable back plate that can only be unscrewed when it's unplugged.
    This was all in a time of bakelite. Plastic wasn't flexible.

    But no, I think tripping over an early bakelite g-type (I think it's officially a g-type) plug cable would likely shatter the plug and pull the pins out of the socket... If it didn't also damage the socket.

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