An appliance plug is a three-conductor power connector originally developed for

kettle A kettle, sometimes called a tea kettle or teakettle, is a device specialized for boiling water, commonly with a ''lid'', ''spout'', and ''handle''. There are two main types: the ''stovetop kettle'', which uses heat from a cooktop, hob, and the ...

toaster A toaster is a small electric appliance that uses radiant heat to brown sliced bread into toast, the color caused by the Maillard reaction. It typically consists of one or more slots into which bread is inserted, and heating elements, o ...

s and similar

small appliance A small domestic appliance, also known as a small electric appliance or minor appliance or simply a small appliance, small domestic or small electric, is a portable or semi-portable machine, generally used on table-tops, counter-tops or oth ...

s. It was common in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. It has largely been made obsolete and replaced by

IEC 60320 C15 IEC 60320, entitled "Appliance couplers for household and similar general purposes", is a set of standards published by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) that defines non-locking appliance couplers for connecting power supply c ...

and C16 connectors, or proprietary connectors to base plates for cordless kettles. It still occurs on some traditional ceramic electric jugs. It is also used for some laboratory water stills. On some models of the classical ceramic electric jug, the appliance plug prevents the lid from being raised while the connector is inserted. This is important as during operation of these jugs, the water it contains is connected to the electric mains and is an

electric shock An electrical injury (electric injury) or electrical shock (electric shock) is damage sustained to the skin or internal organs on direct contact with an electric current. The injury depends on the Current density, density of the current, tissu ...

risk. Appliance plugs were also used to supply power to electric toasters, electric coffee percolators, electric frypans, and many other appliances. An appliance plug is to some degree heat resistant, but the maximum working temperature varied from manufacturer to manufacturer and even from batch to batch. The mains connectors of the appliance plug are two rounded sockets that accept two rounded pins from the appliance. They are unpolarised. The third connection, earth, is a large metal contact on each side of the plug body which makes contact with the sides of the plug receptacle, grounding the appliance body. Some appliances using these connectors incorporate a spring and plunger mechanism with a temperature-sensitive release system; if the temperature rises significantly above a preset limit - for example, if a kettle boils dry - the spring is released and (if all goes well) the plunger pushes the plug and socket apart. It must then be allowed to cool and then reset manually by forcing the connector back into the appliance. A plug of same design but probably different dimensions was in use in former USSR for powering electric kettles and electric

samovar A samovar (, , ) is a metal container traditionally used to heat and boil water. Although originating in Russia, the samovar is well known outside of Russia and has spread through Russian culture to other parts of Eastern Europe, as well as We ...

References

{{electronics-stub Mains power connectors Home appliances