swt_passenger
Veteran Member
- Joined
- 7 Apr 2010
- Messages
- 31,518
A gas poker. Flexible hose connected device for getting a coal fire started.
Some examples: https://www.plugsocketmuseum.nl/OldBritish4.htmlI have even seen a splitter that you could plug into the light socket so that you could do the ironing with the light on.
Those are back.Sideboards on legs.
It has been a long time since I have had the dot-matrix sound experience, at an airport gate waiting for the plane to depart.I use mine all the time. I've got an old dot matrix as well, that I occasionally use with vintage computers.
You're forgetting the ever-profitable casinos?Work for a Company that used to be owned by The Rank Group.......????
Cinema (Odeon) ?
Hotels ?
Cinema Advertising ?
Nightclubs ?
Holiday Camps ?
Ice Rinks ?
Motorway Services?
Amusement Arcades ?
Film Making / Pinewood Studios ?
Rank Audio Visual ?
Rank Xerox ?
De Luxe Film Labs London?
Can't think of any more !!!
My grandfather had one and made his living as a tailor using it (and some electric ones) up until he died about 15 years ago. I think it's still in his house.You don't see many treadle sewing machines nowadays.
And I have many memories of the walk down to the phone box at the end of the street with my Mum, and then queuing outside the phone box whenever she wanted to make a phone call.
Recently found an unusable unused BT Phonecard that my mother had stashed away, you could actually accurately date it from 1995 as it advertised PhONE day.Not to mention Phonecards. Both BT and Mercury.
You might want to stick that on eBay - a lot of people collect those.Recently found an unusable unused BT Phonecard that my mother had stashed away, you could actually accurately date it from 1995 as it advertised PhONE day.
Not really surprised it ended up being unused as Phonecard kiosks were mostly in urban areas and transport hubs. Our local village payphones were always coin operated.
You're forgetting the ever-profitable casinos?
I'd read that the collector's market for phonecards has slumped in the last decade. Not enough interested collectors, plus some Landis & Gyr employees offloaded their big personal collections, so they're not fetching as much as they did 15 years ago.You might want to stick that on eBay - a lot of people collect those.
Ah, that's a shame. The value of these things can go all over the place.I'd read that the collector's market for phonecards has slumped in the last decade. Not enough interested collectors, plus some Landis & Gyr employees offloaded their big personal collections, so they're not fetching as much as they did 15 years ago.
Somewhere I still have one of those, but not used it for years. Indeed I no longer use an iron. Most of my shirts dry with few creases when I hang them to dry using coat hangers -- and anyway, they start to look creased as soon as I wear them. And I could never see the point of ironing underwear - a total waste of time.I have even seen a splitter that you could plug into the light socket so that you could do the ironing with the light on.
When I started working in housing in the late 1970s I went to many houses that had their original electrical installations from the 1920s, 30s, 40s. A small house would have electric lighting and ONE electrical socket, often in the kitchen. Didn't see many splitters, but often irons and even radios (valve) plugged into the light socket after the bulb had been removed.Somewhere I still have one of those, but not used it for years. Indeed I no longer use an iron. Most of my shirts dry with few creases when I hang them to dry using coat hangers -- and anyway, they start to look creased as soon as I wear them. And I could never see the point of ironing underwear - a total waste of time.
To add - I think that "splitters" were used because in smaller rooms of older houses, there was often no power socket. Even in larger rooms, there was often only a single power socket.
I think that it wasn't uncommon for houses to be wired for lighting only in the early days.To add - I think that "splitters" were used because in smaller rooms of older houses, there was often no power socket. Even in larger rooms, there was often only a single power socket.
Yes, houses that had an old range often didn't have electric sockets. The landlord would consider that they didn't need electric cookers, kettles, or heaters.I think that it wasn't uncommon for houses to be wired for lighting only in the early days.
My father once told me that when he and his parents moved house in 1928, he (then aged 9) was impressed that the "new" house had electric lighting. However I think that the power sockets were only installed not long before I was born in 1952.
My grandmother‘s house had a fairly primitive electrical installation that had fairly obviously only had lights to begin with, and only a very limited number of sockets added much later, (eg only one upstairs on the landing), and the sockets (15A round pin) were all wired on the surface and had a separate small rewireable fuse panel of a different age and design to the original lighting. Not ring circuits so would that date it to pre war or 1940s?Yes, houses that had an old range often didn't have electric sockets. The landlord would consider that they didn't need electric cookers, kettles, or heaters.
Hot waterSomething that was fairly common down my way (well my house and most of my neighbours had them too) was a belfast sink with three taps.
Any guesses as to what the taps were?
Soap flakes were used for that type of boiler, and to mix with paint for use in nursery schools.
So that it would wash out more easily.Really? Why's that?!
Every day's a school day on here!So that it would wash out more easily.
That was back in the days where pretty much every adult knew how to fit a plug (at least in theory). Moulded plugs are a lot safer, but it does mean that most people now are too terrified to even attempt to fit one and would call an electrician.I remember buying various electrical items and finding out there was no plug supplied with them. Really annoying back in the day.
Stan
That was back in the days where pretty much every adult knew how to fit a plug (at least in theory). Moulded plugs are a lot safer, but it does mean that most people now are too terrified to even attempt to fit one and would call an electrician.
I learned to wire plugs (and change fuses, which unaccountably still seemed to blow in those days) when I was 8 or 9. I don't think I knew it was supposed to be dangerous until a few years later when I saw archive footage of Ken Barlow's first wife dying on Coronation Street from itIn the relatively rare instance of devices supplied with plugs, these could be horrendously unsafe - I remember some were two-piece designs with faceplates that could come off in the hand when removing them from a socket, exposing the live terminals inside while the pins were still plugged in.
I learned to wire plugs while in the Cub Scouts..'Handyman' badge I think! Am struggling to imagine calling an electrician to wire a plug, that blows my mind.
Which is, I believe, one of the main reasons why UK sockets are generally fitted with a switch.I remember some were two-piece designs with faceplates that could come off in the hand when removing them from a socket, exposing the live terminals inside while the pins were still plugged in.
I remember buying various electrical items and finding out there was no plug supplied with them. Really annoying back in the day.
That was a hangover from the era before the 13A socket became standard. Different homes would need different plugs. For a while Morphy Richards ran an advertising campaign "The one with a plug on". Then supplying with a plug fitted became a legal requirements.I remember buying various electrical items and finding out there was no plug supplied with them. Really annoying back in the day.
Stan