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Old 24th Nov 2009, 10:46 am   #6
julie_m
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Join Date: May 2008
Location: Derby, UK.
Posts: 7,735
Default Re: Strange plugs & sockets at Lewis's Liverpool

Quote:
Originally Posted by paulsherwin View Post
many buildings had separate ring mains for things like floor polishers and vacuum cleaners. It was considered desirable to keep these appliances off the 'standard' supply
I think the idea was to make sure that certain things -- tills, revolving display stands, the managing director's coffee maker -- would not be unplugged by cleaners in search of a power point, nor knocked offline if a malfunctioning Hoover or polisher blew a fuse in the distribution board.

Oh, and I've fixed the link to the BS546 plug pictures: Try this one.
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