The 19th Century plug still used today...

[twocvbloke]

Thought this news article from the BBC was quite appropriate for the forum, with apple hinting they may drop the 3.5mm jack from its products, it shows the technology invented for telephone switchboards is still widely used today, albeit in an often smaller form:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35253398

[dsk]

That kind of plug has been used in many configurations, the one which still has the same design might be the ungrounded power plug.  The European 2 prong plugs from 1890's and the US similar will still fit into a modern receptacle.

And not to forget Edeison Screw lampholders, also used as "reseptacles" in the early years.

dsk

[Dan/Panther]

Can you imagine the electrical shorts an problems if we still used Edison's screw in plug ?
D/P

[andre_janew]

I think they still sell the adapters for those screw in plugs in the hardware stores.

[twocvbloke]

I'm sure I have one of those adaptors round here somewhere too, just haven't a clue where...

You can still buy bayonet plugs over here, as we used our light sockets as the main source of power in a room before the wall socket became popular, not sure who actually still uses bayonet plugs these days, but I have a few for a "just cos" thing, one even is attached to a bakelite "electric hot water bottle" thing from the 50s, complete with frayed wires on the flex and asbestos inside the thing (based on other peoples' experience of taking them apart!)...

[Babybearjs]

I'm glad they don't have them in use anymore.... could you imagine how many kids could get shocked by one of these "Victorian" sockets....

[twocvbloke]

Or college students dared to insert, ahem, "themselves", into the sockets...

It make me glad we in the UK have our often ridiculed and cumbersome 13 Amp plugs & sockets, holes too small for fingers, and they're shuttered too to prevent things being poked in, and they're difficult to remove accidentally compared to many other types from round the world (especially the US ones, the times I've unintentionally unplugged my 120v Kirby Dual Sanitronic 80 when using it is just ridiculous!!)...

[dsk]

It is a little bit on the side of the thread, but when it comes to safety, I would say the UK 13 amp socket with all its safety and even fused plugs might be the most safe system in the world. This solution has been at the cost of size and other aspects.  The worst are standards where you may half unplug and a children still may put his/her fingers behind and touch live parts. It is interesting to look at the various standards. I do not believe others than the UK use the practice of ring cables with feeding of power from both sides.

Back to the original thread. It is 2 reasons for keeping these old standards, 1: It is actually good! or 2: It is to expensive to change the standard.
(regarding no 2; UK did it so it is possible)
One of the problems with different standards are adapters, they are usually no good!

dsk

[twocvbloke]

(regarding no 2; UK did it so it is possible)

The UK had a vested interest to change standards, as prior to WWII we had multiple different standards that varied depending on what part of the country you were in, from plug & socket to mains voltage, frequency and even whether the power was DC or AC, in the 1930s the national grid was formed to provide the same power across the board and we began reducing the standards, the most common of which was BS546 (still in use today for certain applications), then WWII caused a massive copper shortage, so a single standard was required to go along with the reduction in available copper and the ring-main standards, so the BS1362 standard we have today was formed, and that was that, the BS1362 standard has remained pretty much unchanged, with only minor updates (such as sleeved pins and different terminals inside the plugs) over the years...

Of course not everywhere was on the grid immediately, where I used to live still had half the town on AC and the other half DC up until the 60s or 70s according to someone I met who had lived there all their life, and there used to be two separate power stations providing power, one of which is long gone, the other now houses a trades clothing supplier...