Cheaper than the alternative? (P.S. Perhaps, that should read 'Cheep-er'?!)
Of course, in those days said appliances also cost a significant portion of a week's wages. So swings and roundabouts.
Da ame here. Unfortunately, in an age where consumer durables are explicitly designed for minimum manufacturing labour content, repair is getting increasingly difficult. The 'right to repair' movement may have success with a few high profile products (e.g. top of range mobile phones) but general appliances will probably become even more disposable.
I think with that example we're moving away from the sense of this thread and into post-World War 2 history.
And the said appliances were designed such that someone could open them up and repair them. An awful lot of modern ones can't be opened without doing irreparable damage to the casing, and once inside the fault is likely to turn out to be with a proprietary component (often a circuit board) which is unobtainable.
These days even plimsolls are likely to be considered inappropriate footwear for PE classes, I fear!
Not the whole story, especially with more complex* devices. The low failure rates of mass produced goods is a function of designed component and manufacturing processes that just weren't available decades ago. Most electronic devices were hand wired, and even if they had printed circuits, the component wires were hand formed, inserted into boards and hand soldered in place. Wires were cut at the time of assembly and dressed in place. Compare that with modern practice, - printed circuits are double sided, component selection programmed from tape bandaliers, surface mounted to boards with adhesives, solder paste and solder masks printed on the boards and the complete assembly soldered by heating the loaded board and flowing the solder in one operation. In those situations, rework is very disrupting, - unless the boards have a very high material/component cost, (unlikely on any consumer product), failed items are scrapped. So almost prefect first time yields are essential to the survival of the business.
Even in the mid-90s that was a thing - doing PE in your underwear at primary school if you forgot your kit. At least, in my school it was until a number of boys had, shall we say, a certain 'awakening' when an early bloomer girl forgot hers; then the rule was changed!
Boys school in the 1970s - no issue with forgetting swimming trunks because we didn’t wear them.
And when you procured a plug in the days when they had only two pins.
....or three round pins!
Was definitely the case in student accommodation in the 1980s even, Oxford college rooms and dilapidated flats in London.
It can still be the case today. Lighting circuits can still use 5A round-pin socket/plugs.
And when replacement of fuses was a more frequent preoccupation.
Do you remember the one with Princess Anne and Prince Edward? Very embarassing!
That was not one of Edward's brighter ideas was it...?!
Was that the one from 1987, usually referred to as "It's a Royal Knockout"? The media of the time were apparently less than impressed with the day's proceedings. Think 'Channel 5' did a retrospective of the right royal fiasco a couple of years or so ago.
Yes, and the full thing is available on YouTube!
AIUI, you can technically still use BS 546 plugs and sockets anywhere. There do still seem to be some non-lighting applications, though for the same reason of preventing people using unauthorised personal appliances. The 15A version isn't totally extinct either: apparently the lack of a fuse in the plug is advantageous for theatres, where it's convenient if all the fuses are in one place rather than having to check each plug in the lighting rig.
Indeed I do.
And also the lesser seen 15A round pin plug (we had an immersion heater with one of these until relatively recently...)
I've heard about this before, but was it mandatory or could you wear trunks?
Was it him who had a tantrum at the end of a recording or something?That was not one of Edward's brighter ideas was it...?!
Even in the early 90s (boys' school again), if you forgot your trunks, swimming was in the nip as well...
