When were switches first used on mains sockets?

[ortek_service]

Yes. And maybe because I heard you had to pay extra to have sockets in the house, compared to just lighting (Although I presume you only had one meter)

So many used to have plug-in light socket switched splitters, and I recall seeing people often plug Irons into these - We used one for the Christmas tree lights in hall, as there wasn't a socket originally-there until I fitted one years later.


I wonder when switched light fittings, often used on table-lamps were first used. Sometimes also had pull-cords on a 2-way lighting system in the bedroom, that I think my Grandparents 1920's house had - but maybe not originally fitted.
Back then, lead-covered installation cable was used, before all rubber. Probably just a bit of a step up from having bare wires on spacers from the walls - sometimes running DC-mains!

[kirstyd]

not quite on topic but i will go ahead anyway. My parents moved into our three bed semi back in 1954 the [council] house was brand new and we were the first [and so far the last] people to live in it . there was one unswitched Bakelite Mk socket in every room .In the kitchen one socket and a cooker point with a socket for a kettle [usually used for the washing machine ] behind the front door was the cupboard with the mains supply in also a switch for turning on the immersion heater it and right next to the cupboard was a strip of wood with four chrome hooks attached to it .It was only in 1983 when the house was about to be rewired that we discovered that the right hand hook was alive with 240 volts when the immersion heater was on. One of the fixing screws had gone right through the cable just under the plaster .In the dining room there was an electric two bar fire on the wall with only a single strand steel bar across the front as protection against touching the elements .All very primitive by todays but back in 54 the whole installation would have been up to the latest codes

[emeritus]

Switched brass lampholders in both BC and ES are listed and illustrated in the GEC catalogue for 1893. They had a rotatable flat knob like contemporary gas taps and were available threaded 3/8", 1/2", and 5/8" brass thread and with cord grips. I found almost identical designs of switched brass lampholders in France 10 years ago.

Scans of the 1893 BC lampholders in post #60 of this closed thread:

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...t=71262&page=3

[Peter.N.]

My grandparents house built in the early 1900s only had two sockets, one downstairs in the kitchen, two pin 5a which fed the iron and with a long extension round the picture rails the radio in the dining room. There was also one socket upstairs which rarely had anything plugged into it but I think was used for the 'Goblin' vacuum cleaner.

The fuse boxes were made of wood with a glass front. I became quite familiar with these as they were under the stairs where we sheltered when the air raid siren went off. I would think these were some of the first houses to have electricity and it was an underground feed. This was in Bromley.

Peter

[Rubberfingers]

Again, I might be drifting off topic, but my parents bought a 1938-built bungalow in 1967. The lighting circuits, including 3 2pin 2A unswitched sockets were wired in light gauge steel conduit containing single VIR cables. There were also 3 switched 15A 3pin sockets wired in lead sheathed cable. (I suspect that these were added after the bungalow was built, and that the lighting circuits were original). What has prompted this post is that the 15A sockets were fitted to the skirting boards upside down, ie with the earth pin downwards. (my father turned them around). Does anyone know how common this was?. I have heard of a few other instances of this over the years. I was once told that this was preferred at one time because "if someone knocked the switch they would be more likely to knock it down rather than up, and with the socket upside down, the switch would be knocked to the off position rather than on, reducing the risk of inadvertanlty switching an electric fire on".

[ortek_service]

Light switches are often wired 'upside-down', possibly for quicker switch-off. I've some (but not all) like this in my 1987-built house, but I suspect it's more just that someone couldn't be bothered to get them all the same.

Sockets fitted upside-down on skirting board, may have been more so that cable could come out of plug easier / wasn't wedged against the floor - especially on low-height skirting boards.
Regulations have more recently changed, so that they now need to be much higher up the wall - downstairs at least (apparently in case of a bit of flooding) - but maybe also easier to reach by those with limited mobility.

[flyingtech55]

I think that the height of the sockets and light switches from the floor is to do with the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) so that wheel chair users are able to use mains sockets and light switches from their seated position. This is because of our ageing population and care in the community so that folk can stay in their own homes as they get older.


TimR

[Cobaltblue]

This thread is drifting all over the place can we concentrate please on the OP's question. I think for the purposes of this thread anything post WW2 is off topic since it seems to have been established that switched sockets were well established by then.

Anyone wanting to discuss other items raised should start a new thread with a link to this one if appropriate.

Cheers

Mike T

[broadgage]

I recall early switched socket outlets built in to a cooker switch that incorporated a two way switch to permit use of the cooker OR the socket outlet.
Sometimes the switch was marked COOKER/WASHING MACHINE.

Used to limit the load on a perhaps only 40 amp supply.

[emeritus]

In the 1960's, the 1930's house of my schoolfriend must still have had its original wiring: 2 pin switched 5A skirting board-mounted sockets in every room and a 3 pin 5A (not 15A) switched socket in the kitchen about half way up the wall. As well as being the only earthed socket, it was unususal in that the pins were configured so that an inserted plug was at an angle of about 30° from vertical.

[Station X]

Originally Posted by emeritus

Integral switches were provided in some of the GEC mains sockets shown in their 1893 catalogue, operated by twisting the plug.

Moving back on topic does anyone know of switched mains sockets dating from before 1893?

[emeritus]

The Marconi archives at Oxford should have earlier GEC catalogues. The ones I have are incomplete/damaged duplicates kindly given to me by the Marconi archivist when I was researching early mains connectors. For my purposes at the time I didn't need to know the earliest date of introduction.

The fact that the 1893 catalogue felt it necessary to explain what a "wall plug" was, indicates many people at the time would have been unfamiliar with them, switched or unswitched.

[kellymarie]

I grew up on an estate in Berkshire the houses were built between 1947 and 54 the electrics were a bit of a rag bag assortment most houses had un switched 5 and 15 amp sockets my neighbor had switched sockets which she asked the council for when she moved in in 1960 one house had a weird socket it was a long wooden board with a switch at the bottom and a 13 amp socket above I don't know if it was part of the original install or added by the tennant. It was used to feed a 5 amp socket in the kitchen which otherwise only had a lighting point. Weird huh? the whole lot was rewired in around 1980 after one house caught fire fortunately the elderly lady Tennant was unharmed just a little shaken

[Station X]

Thread closed. You can't say you weren't warned.

Originally Posted by Cobaltblue

This thread is drifting all over the place can we concentrate please on the OP's question. I think for the purposes of this thread anything post WW2 is off topic since it seems to have been established that switched sockets were well established by then.

Anyone wanting to discuss other items raised should start a new thread with a link to this one if appropriate.

Cheers

Mike T