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Old 5th Aug 2021, 3:07 pm   #1
bobhowe
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Default Bayonet Mains Plug

Hi can anyone remember Bayonet mains plug that you plugged into a lamp socket ? . I am sure i seen an electric iron plugged into a 2 way adapter with the light bulb in the other holder on a very early TV show Steptoe & Son . There was a Bush DAC90A for sale not long back with one these plugs on the mains lead if the chassis was not live for getting the mains lead wrong it would have been what side the live was on the bayonet plug kind regards Bob
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Old 5th Aug 2021, 3:26 pm   #2
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Default Re: Bayonet Mains Plug

I've got a GEC one,the 2 pin plug half is attached to the bayonet plug/2 pin socket by a short cord.Can't say I ever saw it used.We had a bayonet adapter with switch so you could listen to the wireless with the light off.Les
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Old 5th Aug 2021, 3:34 pm   #3
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Default Re: Bayonet Mains Plug

Hello Bob.
I collected a little Sobell TPS portable TV last week.Fitted with the very plug you mentioned.Yours If you would like it!
These were common when I was a boy usually plugged into a 2way adapter.I once saw the cloth covered flex pinned to the ceiling between the light & the picture rail using brass drawing pins.
Regards Steve.
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Old 5th Aug 2021, 3:34 pm   #4
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Default Re: Bayonet Mains Plug

Remember them well, they were still plentiful and in regular use by some folk even into the seventies, lethal things when used with live chassis gear.
Greg.
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Old 5th Aug 2021, 3:43 pm   #5
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Default Re: Bayonet Mains Plug

I used to have one of the brown bakelite bayonet adapter-plugs that converted the bayonet-socket to a 5-amp 2-pin BS546 socket.

I also recall an Edison-Screw-to-5A-2-pin adapter which was made of white glazed ceramic. Cunning thing was, it had a 'pass through' ES socket on the bottom so you could continue to use the lamp.
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Old 5th Aug 2021, 4:27 pm   #6
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Default Re: Bayonet Mains Plug

Here are a couple from my Bakelite collection. I also have a rather nice wooden one somewhere but can't lay my hands on it at present.

I'm old enough to remember the days when rooms had a single power socket on the wall and these were in common use for connecting appliances to a light socket. Quite apart from being non-polarised, which is such a hazard with live-chassis equipment, the caps simply twist off (sometimes of their own accord) to expose the live terminals.

My collection items are strictly display-only!
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Old 5th Aug 2021, 4:43 pm   #7
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Default Re: Bayonet Mains Plug

Hi evryone did not think people would reply to this thread as quick. Hi Les i remember the adapter with the switch . Hi Steve thanks for the offer i would keep it but not use it as it is part of the sets history . Hi Greg you are right been lethal with live chassis sets & people used to plug electric irons toasters an kettles on lighting circuit Hi G6Tanuki never seen a ES adapter . Hi Dave the plug on the LHS is identical to the one i seen on the DAC90 lead wooden one that would pass a PAT test
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Old 5th Aug 2021, 4:52 pm   #8
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Default Re: Bayonet Mains Plug

Just remembered another TV show with the switched 2 way adapter it was The Sweeney so as Greg says they were used in the 70s kind regards Bob
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Old 5th Aug 2021, 5:04 pm   #9
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Default Re: Bayonet Mains Plug

My parents had one of these, in the Christmas box. We never used it, but my guess it was intended for fairy lights to be operated from the lightswitch in their case. Certainly from my childhood we would never have used it for appliances, as the houses we lived in were new and had (relatively) modern wiring (mid sixties). It may have ended up somewhere in a box here!
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Old 5th Aug 2021, 5:06 pm   #10
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Default Re: Bayonet Mains Plug

It must be a sign of age when you start reading 'can anyone remember...' or 'what is this for... followed by a picture of an everyday object.
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Old 5th Aug 2021, 5:12 pm   #11
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Default Re: Bayonet Mains Plug

Hi bet some people plugged them 1940s 1950s Pifco infra red heat lamps into the lamp socket as well kind regards Bob
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Old 5th Aug 2021, 5:18 pm   #12
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Default Re: Bayonet Mains Plug

I am old enough to remember "adapter trees" in wall power sockets.
It was an alternative to trailing leads from lamp holders.
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Old 5th Aug 2021, 6:36 pm   #13
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Default Re: Bayonet Mains Plug

I can vividly remember my mum happily ironing with the iron wired into one of these plugged into the light fitting. No wire trailing over the board and getting in the way.
this would be mid Sixties, only one socket in each room.
Regards RT
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Old 5th Aug 2021, 6:47 pm   #14
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Default Re: Bayonet Mains Plug

I remember a relative using a 2-way to power their iron from the single pendant lamp in the kitchen.

There was a BANG! and all the lights went out. The twin-twisted, rubber-and-cotton-insulated drop-flex from the ceiling rose to the bayonet socket had failed - years of heat from a 100-Watt lamp bulb had turned the rubber insulation to crumbs and the continuous wiggling as the iron moved led to an impressive failure.

My father rewired things using a bit of the twin figure-of-8 single-clear-plastic-sheathed flex that was popular back then.
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Old 5th Aug 2021, 6:51 pm   #15
Dave Moll
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Default Re: Bayonet Mains Plug

Quote:
Originally Posted by bobhowe View Post
i remember the adapter with the switch .
... a couple of variations on the theme.
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Old 5th Aug 2021, 7:12 pm   #16
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Default Re: Bayonet Mains Plug

They were very common at one time. A typical urban terraced house would only receive a very limited electrical installation in the 1920s - sometimes there was only a single 15A socket fitted in the living room, with all the other rooms just having a single pendant lamp connection. It was almost routine to connect things like electric blankets and sewing machines using bayonet plugs and lighting adaptors.
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Old 5th Aug 2021, 7:13 pm   #17
bobhowe
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Default Re: Bayonet Mains Plug

Hi Just seen a mains lead suitable for a DAC90 for sale it has a 2 pin mains plug and a converter from 2 pin plug to Bayonet plug kind regards Bob
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Old 5th Aug 2021, 7:19 pm   #18
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Default Re: Bayonet Mains Plug

Quote:
Originally Posted by bobhowe View Post
Hi can anyone remember Bayonet mains plug that you plugged into a lamp socket ? . I am sure i seen an electric iron plugged into a 2 way adapter with the light bulb in the other holder on a very early TV show Steptoe & Son . There was a Bush DAC90A for sale not long back with one these plugs on the mains lead if the chassis was not live for getting the mains lead wrong it would have been what side the live was on the bayonet plug kind regards Bob
One or two sets in my collection still have their original bayonet plug on the twisted pair flex. It’s such a part of their history that I’m reluctant to change it.

Martin
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Old 5th Aug 2021, 7:21 pm   #19
Dave Moll
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Default Re: Bayonet Mains Plug

Quote:
Originally Posted by bobhowe View Post
a 2 pin mains plug and a converter from 2 pin plug to Bayonet plug
That's what the two-part plug is in my first image - a two-pin Clix plug inserted into such an adaptor.
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Last edited by Dave Moll; 5th Aug 2021 at 7:23 pm. Reason: quote included for clarity because of intervening post
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Old 5th Aug 2021, 7:27 pm   #20
pmmunro
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Default Re: Bayonet Mains Plug

I bough two new bayonet adapter plugs through Amazon last month to make up a test adapter. They were sold as "2 Pack - B22 Socket Lampholder Extension Plug 4Amp 240V" and quality was acceptable. The only identification is "SE-304" and the rating "5A 250V~"

They also seem to be available from other sellers such as this one, which I found from the internet, but know nothing about. https://www.sierraplus.com.my/sfh-se...-adaptor-black

PMM
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