Mr Crabtree

[geoberni]

As this topic became a bit of a memory lane, how's this for a relic:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Runbaken-Vin ... 3908908885

it was listed at £50, now they've dropped it to £40 +p&p
For anyone reading this once the ebay page is lost in the future, here's the image, it's a battery charger that plugs into a light socket.
I recon it's early 50s, before the rollout of the modern wiring standards.
Look closely and you'll see it could still take the light bulb below it, it's basically a through connector with presumably a tiny transformer/rectifier built in

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The company seem to have been around from the 30s to the late 50s, perhaps some older members here remember them.
https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Runbaken_Products

[Owlsman]

Crikey! The stuff we used to use, eh?

Do you reckon it's been PAT tested?

[jagnut66]

Do you reckon it's been PAT tested?

I doubt that Pat had even been born when this was current (no pun intended) technology......................

[liammonty]

Love it. I acquired a 'Hoover Senior' vacuum cleaner 20 years ago from my grandparents' flat that plugged into a light socket still. It had a headlight and I always suspected that was because you needed to be able to see what you were vacuuming with no light bulb in the light fitting with the vacuum plugged in! And nowadays, people get upset if there aren't 4 double sockets in each room!

[geoberni]

Just a little update on the light fitting Battery Charger I mentioned a couple of weeks back, just up the page.
It's gone tonight after being relisted again at £25 starting price. 1 Bidder, and it wasn't me!

[jagnut66]

1 Bidder, and it wasn't me!

Are you sure now Berni..............
Not in denial here, are we........?
Best wishes,
Mike.

[MCYorks]

I recon it's early 50s, before the rollout of the modern wiring standards.
Look closely and you'll see it could still take the light bulb below it, it's basically a through connector with presumably a tiny transformer/rectifier built in

The company seem to have been around from the 30s to the late 50s, perhaps some older members here remember them.
https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Runbaken_Products

Runbaken also used to make oil filled ignition coils. They were glass, so you could see the oil level.
I suspect this contraption is a Radio Accumulator charger, rather than a car battery charger. My guess is it's probably late 1920's early 1930's. There's a good description and some photos on the following website.
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/ ... -533072817

Original cost was 30 shillings (£1.50 in new pence) so if it has sold for £25 it has appreciated in value
There is a note on the box 'Not suitable for alternating currents' so it doesn't even contain a rectifier. How many people remember DC mains supplies? Looks like it uses the resistance of the light bulb to drop the voltage and limit the battery charging current! Terrifying
On a serious note, my personal opinion would be never ever try to use anything like this. I suspect it would be quite dangerous & certainly wouldn't pass modern safety standards. Best kept as a museum piece.

Speaking of modern safety standards, does anyone still have their Wolf Cub 1950's electric drill? These had a cast metal body rather than the 'double insulated' plastic cased power tools we use nowadays.

[geoberni]

By Jove I think he's got it.
I have no doubt you have found the true identity of the item, far older than I had guessed.. That would also explain why it is so small, just for charging the radio batteries and no rectifier inside.

As to the Wolf Drills with the metal body, my father had one still when he passed away in the mid 80s.
I've no idea what happened to it when we cleared his house; I think my younger siblings had a bit of a rummage before I set about disposing of his 'Estate' as executor.
Dad had a WWII German Incendiary Bomb in his garage, that had originally been my granddad's (mum's side). Granddad had been a reserved occupation in the war, as one of the few trained Bridge operators in Tilbury Docks (Tilbury Dock had a public road that went across from 1 side of the dock entrance lock to the other), and when off shift he had been a Fire Warden. It was an incendiary that granddad had extinguished. Unfortunately that also went missing before we cleared the garage too.
I had really wanted that, one of my earliest childhood memories was of it being in granddad's shed in the early 60s... the shed that was their old Anderson Shelter removed from it's buried location.

[ManyMinors]

[quote=geoberni post_id=664516 time=

Speaking of modern safety standards, does anyone still have their Wolf Cub 1950's electric drill? These had a cast metal body rather than the 'double insulated' plastic cased power tools we use nowadays.
[/quote]

Yes! I still have my metal Wolf Cub I saved up and bought it when I started work! I generally use a modern cordless one now but my daughter seems to have taken over the old Wolf (temporary loan) and uses it regularly for DIY jobs around her house

[philthehill]

I have several Black & Decker corded metal bodied drills, some with various attachments permanently fixed to them. They are well used and very useful even now.
I have a pair of Makita 14.5V plastic bodied drills which I use for light jobs. For heavy jobs the Black & Decker drills are superb especially the 450W drill with 13mm capacity chuck.
So long as you have a circuit breaker i.e. MK Safe Guard Portable RCB and which conforms to BS4293 & 1363 in the system a metal bodied drill is of no danger.
Your household RCB unit should provide similar protection.

[geoberni]

I certainly have no problem with a metal body power tool, so long as it's got the appropriate 3 core cable...

[philthehill]

Unfortunately most 240v power tools have just the live and return wires so it is important that a form of RCB is utilised.

[MCYorks]

I have several Black & Decker corded metal bodied drills, some with various attachments permanently fixed to them. They are well used and very useful even now.
I have a pair of Makita 14.5V plastic bodied drills which I use for light jobs. For heavy jobs the Black & Decker drills are superb especially the 450W drill with 13mm capacity chuck.
So long as you have a circuit breaker i.e. MK Safe Guard Portable RCB and which conforms to BS4293 & 1363 in the system a metal bodied drill is of no danger.
Your household RCB unit should provide similar protection.

Your right of course, the RCB is an excellent idea. I've fitted an RCB plug to mine, similar the the one below. That way I can't forget to use it because it's always attached but the portable one should be just as good.
When helping a friend out several years ago, I realised they still had an old re-wireable type fuse box without an RCB Always a possibility in older houses I suppose. My drill and extension lead had been PAT tested so I knew they were OK, but a fault with the installation or wall socket could still have potentially resulted in the drill body being live. Hence fitting the RCB plug.

I do like the Wolf Cub and the old Black & Decker's. Being fairly small they are very good for getting into tight spaces.

[geoberni]

Unfortunately most 240v power tools have just the live and return wires so it is important that a form of RCB is utilised.

Most tools with the Double Insulated Symbol are plastic bodied or coated or have other insulation means inside them, hence the use of only 2 core cable.

Some electricians say that have 2 RCDs in the circuit, i.e. one on the house ring main and then another for the appliance and cause 'issues' between the 2, but the jury is out on that one.
it's common in the event of a fault that the house one will invariably trip before the one on the appliance.
That's if the house isn't so old it doesn't have one!

[Sleeper]

Mike
One for you on Farcebook...

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/it ... l%7D%22%7D

John ;-)

[geoberni]

Unfortunately John, your facebook sale has finished, so image is gone.

However, here's a few bits I have in my shed.... I don't seem to have a switched double light adaptor as you linked to but I do have an un-switched, also a double socket & light adaptor.....

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When I was a kid in the 60s, my Mum had one of these Pifo hairdryers which would be plugged into the bedroom light fitting using one of these adaptors.... remarkably, I just found these images online as someone is selling one, still in it's display/carry box for £55!!

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