Not really necessary for bike chargers, but what a neat (literally) idea...

RCA student radically improves the UK plug | ICON MAGAZINE ONLINE

Saw that a few years ago but have never seen it for sale or attached to any domestic appliance....

Saw that a few years ago but have never seen it for sale or attached to any domestic appliance....

 

It won a design award earlier this year.

 

BBC News - London student's folding plug wins top design award

 

It'll be in the shops in due course, I'm sure - too good not to be

That's a beautifully elegant design. Three things come to mind which might not work in its favour:

 

(1) The obvious one, really - the 13 amp plug has been around for long enough that there are no patents in force or royalties to be paid and so it's almost cost-free on any appliance, whereas this radical new design will inevitably pull a premium. Nevertheless, if you're already paying a premium price for a highly desirable piece of technology, it might well find a home there.

 

(2) In order for the current-carrying conductors to swivel like that, there must be highly flexible wires built-in to it, and I wonder how they'd fare if pushed to the present 3kW limit available on a standard 13 amp plug, and what would be the life if you habitually unplugged and folded it as you might on, say, a portable phone charger. Perhaps it's not intended for use at the full specified rating, which would be fine as a moulded-on plug attached to a specific low-consumption appliance. Is the rating mentioned?

 

(3) It appears not to be made for 'user installation'. I know there's not much need for a 'free' 13 amp plug which the user can attach to any suitable cable with the minimum of tools these days, since everything you buy in this country comes with a plug attached, so only a small point.

 

Rog.

Simple, but it's certainly a brilliant design which deserves every success, especially as an option for portable equipment.

 

I do in fact have a swivelling pin and retracting pin plug that I've kept for many years, since it covers all the main UK size sockets, 13 Amp, 15 Amp, 5 Amp and Shaver.

 

This invention was manufactured in Northern Ireland many decades ago but was banned on our strict safety grounds after a short while so was taken off the market. A pity though, it's been very useful to me on a short extension lead in the past, enabling me to connect virtually anywhere with a single plug.

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Edited June 26, 201015 yr by flecc

Is the rating mentioned?

 

Not too much techy info available about it at this point, but here's the website for it:

 

Made In Mind - Home

Not really necessary for bike chargers, but what a neat (literally) idea...

RCA student radically improves the UK plug | ICON MAGAZINE ONLINE

 

I saw this awhile ago as a simple enough folding plug, but its even better with that option to use it folded in that plug extension, really genius idea. Now if they can sell the idea of its strength, eg carbon fiber etc, then the idea just might have legs, or pins.

Just noticed that in the 5th smaller picture down, they appear to be about to try and insert the plug in to the adaptor upside down!

Has anyone seen this in the shops, or did it die a natural death? Has anyone else noticed that a problem with the pre-fitted plugs on modern appliances is that they are impossible to use on sockets that are close to the floor. The external cord grip gets in the way. If these folding plugs caught on, then the next logical step would be to redesign the socket so that the plug could be inserted without unfolding it, just as has been done with the adapter.

The problem is that amongst an individuals possessions, few items would benefit from this plug. Most are rarely unplugged.

Neat as it is, not many things would truly benefit and having to swivel it all around would become a chore. I am thinking of the electric drills, planer, sanders, wall paper steamers etc. etc. in my garage.

True it would be nice if I actually carried my lap top anywhere, but I don't.

Has anyone seen this in the shops, or did it die a natural death? Has anyone else noticed that a problem with the pre-fitted plugs on modern appliances is that they are impossible to use on sockets that are close to the floor. The external cord grip gets in the way. If these folding plugs caught on, then the next logical step would be to redesign the socket so that the plug could be inserted without unfolding it, just as has been done with the adapter.

 

It may have been a safety issue in the EU/UK that killed it. I have a universal plug that was made in Northern Ireland for a while many years ago, it handles 5, 10, 13 and 15 Amp sockets in both two and three, square or round pin variants in one quite compact plug head. Brilliant and ideal for a travelling service engineer for example, but the health and safety brigade banned it after a short while.