Help identifying a socket

[wheresxam]

Hi everyone, I'm new here, just created an account because I wanted help identifying a socket outlet I saw, and stumbled across this forum.

I attached the image of the socket outlet below + an ebay listing I saw that looked very similar (described it as a Hercules Duraplug from the 1970s? but I cannot confirm).

I don't have any other pictures, apologies.

Thank you!

[Station X]

It's just two sockets in the same moulding for use on the end of an extension cable and quite common. As you say made by Duraplug.

[Nickthedentist]

Still made, albeit in a squared-off presentation:
https://www.johncribb.co.uk/media/ca...ct133whi_1.jpg

[wheresxam]

Originally Posted by Station X

It's just two sockets in the same moulding for use on the end of an extension cable and quite common. As you say made by Duraplug.

Thank you! I was wondering if it was possible to narrow down years of production/distribution because I was told it had been there since the 80s (?) and I wanted to know if it was true.

[60 oldjohn]

Duraplug have been around since the 1950s, possibly stopped making them now according to this. https://promatic.co.uk/blogs/magazin...n-discontinued I am not sure about the manufacturing dates of the "twin 13A trailing socket" like you have.

John.

[Nickthedentist]

It's certainly not a design you see every day nowadays. I would guess it dates from the 1970s.

[paulsherwin]

I agree, mid 60s to mid 70s. There was a fashion at that time to make plugs and trailing sockets from rubber, as the plastics normally used were brittle and prone to breaking against hard surfaces. Later plastics were more robust.

[Nickthedentist]

The disadvantage of rubber is that it tends to turn the fuse connections (in plugs) jet black.

This was the matching plug: https://flameport.com/electric_museu..._flex_pins.cs4

[Keith956]

The plugs had a hole for the cable in the cover, and it was easy to forget to thread it before wiring the plug. Never knew why they designed it that way.

[dazzlevision]

According to this website, Duraplug made Hercules branded products for sale in UK Woolworths stores:

https://plugsocketmuseum.nl/British-logos.html


Some history of the Duraplug brand:

W W Haffenden Ltd, Richborough Rubber Works, Ramsgate Road, Sandwich, Kent (in 1964). Founded by Wallace Wilson Haffenden and his brother Philip Wilson-Haffenden in 1945. Company located at Richborough Rubber Works, Sandwich, Kent

Original maker of “Duraplug” shock resistant plugtops, trailing sockets, etc.

By 1982, Haffenden Richborough Ltd. Taken over by London Rubber Company (in 1971?).

Later, the Duraplug product was taken over by Caradon MK Electric Ltd. See also MK Electric Ltd, which was later bought by Honeywell of the USA.

[PaulR]

I had the single outlet version of this on a home made long extension lead until the rubber finally crumbled away from years of being thrown around on the concrete drive and paths when using it for many outdoor purposes. Thinking about it early 1970s would be about right.

[G6Tanuki]

Yes I'd say early-70s; there were also dual 15A round-pin versions of those Duraplug ones which were used in the stage-lighting world as an alternative to the more usual "Grelco" 2 or 3-way 15A round-pin adapters.

And yes Hercules was Woolworths' own brand for rubber plugs/sockets. The plugs weren'tquite as good as Duraplug ones n- both suffered an annoying tendency for the rubber base inwhich the pins were mounted to deform so the pins moved marginally closer together making 'insertion by feel' rather tricky. Later versions used a moulded Nylon base which didn't suffer this deformity.

[Lancs Lad]

You have reminded me of my old hi-fi and new-fangled CD player that I bought in 1989.

I had just such a Duraplug on an extension lead to plug them both in.

It was in place for about fifteen years, until I replaced it with a four gang socket board.

The rubber Duraplug was then attached to an orange cable (see pic) and used for garden tools - lawnmower, hedge trimmer and the like.

[wheresxam]

Hi guys,
Woah, thanks a lot! This has all been very helpful They're (approximately) older than I thought they were, which is really cool!
I'll probably have to warn my client not to plug anything into them though, on account of its age.
Hope everyone has a great day!

[Robsradio]

Originally Posted by Keith956

The plugs had a hole for the cable in the cover, and it was easy to forget to thread it before wiring the plug. Never knew why they designed it that way.

That was always frustrating, happened to me a few times over the years

[Lancs Lad]

Yes, me too.

Ashamed to admit that I resorted to a Stanley knife, because I couldn't be bothered taking the plug off and rewiring it again.

Frustrating, though - not doing the job properly!

[Refugee]

I always used to use side cutters.
It was very common to see them snipped.

[wireman]

My Maplin Catalogue (2008) has rubber plugs and sockets but not a dual one.
I also remember the sinking feeling when you realised you had not looped the flex through the plug top.

[Lancs Lad]

I think your dual socket will still be perfectly safe to use - unless the springs that close the shutters behind the Line and Neutral holes have stopped being springy!

Those rubber trailing sockets were very well made, and mine (almost forty years old) is still in good condition, and used often - despite being bashed about when I'm dragging it around behind me in the garden, cutting the hedges, or mowing the grass!