"Ron" wrote in message
...
On 31/01/2012 10:22, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:02:25 -0000, David Looser wrote:

The story goes that it was Napoleon who imposed driving on the right (or
more accurately in those pre-motor vehicle days passing oncoming traffic
on the right) onto a continent that up until then had mostly still
followed the old Roman rule of passing on the left.

Hum, I wonder of that has anything to do with which hand one would
have ones sword in? Most people are right handed so being on the
right makes it harder to take a swipe at some one passing.


That's the usual explanation for driving on the left in Roman times. Some
say it was Napoleon who decreed driving on the right, some say it was the
Pope.

Which Pope?

Incidentally, I was at a presentation about Barbados the other day, and
was told that it's not possible to hire a car in Barbados due to the
previous amount of traffic accidents involving hire cars. They drive on
the left, and the majority of tourists are American and can't get used to
driving on that side. I myself prefer to drive down the middle


The problem I have in driving in the US is not driving on the right but the
unfamilaiar roadsigns and rules of the road. The very first time I drove in
the US I had just got off a direct flight from London to San Franscisco and
had to drive from there to a small town in Northern California via some
narrow, twisting mountain roads. To add to the fun I was navigating using a
rather poor map, I'd been awake for 24hrs and the light was fading fast. I
was never more glad to arrive unscathed at my destination!

David.

"Jerry" wrote

The great advantage of radial circuits is that idiots find it a
little more difficult to bridge out the breaker in the panel,
unlike the silly fuse fitted in BS1363 plugs (which for some
silly reason is the same shape and diameter as many screws, bolts
and any other round bar) -

Well the BS1362 fuse certainly isn't the same shape as any screw, since
screws taper to a point, nor is it the shape of any bolt, unless you cut the
head off the bolt. As for round bar, well it would have to be the same
diameter and length, how many people have bits of round bar just exactly the
right size hanging around the house? not many.

For the last 20 years I have PAT tested every mains electrical item
submitted to a charity auction that is held twice a year in the village
where I live. In that time I met a fair few horrors: flexes so damaged that
the bare live wire shows through, a standard lamp (with a brass fitting)
wired up with two-core bell-wire, flexes extended using a bit of choc-block
wrapped in insulating tape, broken plugs, mis-wired plugs, plugs with the
cord-grip either missing or incorrectly used etc. But I've only ever had one
example of a plug with anything other than a BS1362 fuse in it, and that had
a few turns of 5A fuse-wire wrapped round the prongs of the fuse-holder. So
I don't buy this idea that people are putting screws, bolts or bits of metal
rod into plugs in any significant numbers at all. Its *so* much easier to
nick a fuse from another appliance than to start looking for bits of metal
that will fit!

David.

In article ,
Ron wrote:
On 31/01/2012 00:30, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In ,
Paul wrote:
On Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:54:08 +0000 (GMT), Dave Plowman (News)
wrote:

Take fares? When last were you on a bus? ;-)

There are buses in places other than Landun you know. They don't have
Oyster.

Neither do I. But don't pay cash on the bus.

When in Belgium last year, I found that, on the tramways, there was no
place to pay the driver, and no 'conductor'.
Most passengers seem to insert a card into a machine, no one checked
tickets. I asked several folks how do I pay, they just shrugged, so it
seems travel between stops wasn't worth collecting fares for. The whole
system is remarkably cheap.

Amsterdam in the '60s had a system where no money changed hands on the
trams. You bought books of tickets in a shop. Can't remember exactly how
evasion was policed.

--
*Ever stop to think and forget to start again?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 31/01/2012 15:29, David Looser wrote:
wrote

The great advantage of radial circuits is that idiots find it a
little more difficult to bridge out the breaker in the panel,
unlike the silly fuse fitted in BS1363 plugs (which for some
silly reason is the same shape and diameter as many screws, bolts
and any other round bar) -

Well the BS1362 fuse certainly isn't the same shape as any screw, since
screws taper to a point, nor is it the shape of any bolt, unless you cut the
head off the bolt. As for round bar, well it would have to be the same
diameter and length, how many people have bits of round bar just exactly the
right size hanging around the house? not many.

For the last 20 years I have PAT tested every mains electrical item
submitted to a charity auction that is held twice a year in the village
where I live. In that time I met a fair few horrors: flexes so damaged that
the bare live wire shows through, a standard lamp (with a brass fitting)
wired up with two-core bell-wire, flexes extended using a bit of choc-block
wrapped in insulating tape, broken plugs, mis-wired plugs, plugs with the
cord-grip either missing or incorrectly used etc. But I've only ever had one
example of a plug with anything other than a BS1362 fuse in it, and that had
a few turns of 5A fuse-wire wrapped round the prongs of the fuse-holder. So
I don't buy this idea that people are putting screws, bolts or bits of metal
rod into plugs in any significant numbers at all. Its *so* much easier to
nick a fuse from another appliance than to start looking for bits of metal
that will fit!

David.


Far more common to find the existing blown fuse wrapped in aluminium foil.

Ron

In article , David Looser
writes

Well the BS1362 fuse certainly isn't the same shape as any screw, since
screws taper to a point, nor is it the shape of any bolt, unless you cut the
head off the bolt.

It's just Jerry's fevered imagination running away with him again.

As for round bar, well it would have to be the same
diameter and length, how many people have bits of round bar just exactly the
right size hanging around the house?

Reminds me of the Americans using penny coins to short out the old
porcelain screw-in fuses when those blew.

--
(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

"Ron" wrote in message
...
On 31/01/2012 15:29, David Looser wrote:
wrote


Far more common to find the existing blown fuse wrapped in aluminium foil.


Well in some 2000-odd PAT tests I've never met that one, how often have you
come across it?

David.

In article ,
David Looser wrote:
For the last 20 years I have PAT tested every mains electrical item
submitted to a charity auction that is held twice a year in the village
where I live. In that time I met a fair few horrors: flexes so damaged
that the bare live wire shows through, a standard lamp (with a brass
fitting) wired up with two-core bell-wire, flexes extended using a bit
of choc-block wrapped in insulating tape, broken plugs, mis-wired
plugs, plugs with the cord-grip either missing or incorrectly used etc.
But I've only ever had one example of a plug with anything other than a
BS1362 fuse in it, and that had a few turns of 5A fuse-wire wrapped
round the prongs of the fuse-holder. So I don't buy this idea that
people are putting screws, bolts or bits of metal rod into plugs in any
significant numbers at all. Its *so* much easier to nick a fuse from
another appliance than to start looking for bits of metal that will fit!

Indeed. As I said, how many homes will have a plug in appliance that draws
more than 13 amps so needs the fuse shorted out?

I'd say it's restricted to things like some welders and compressors -
which a keen DIYer might buy.

--
*Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Ron" wrote in message
...
On 31/01/2012 15:29, David Looser wrote:
wrote

The great advantage of radial circuits is that idiots find it a
little more difficult to bridge out the breaker in the panel,
unlike the silly fuse fitted in BS1363 plugs (which for some
silly reason is the same shape and diameter as many screws, bolts
and any other round bar) -

Well the BS1362 fuse certainly isn't the same shape as any screw, since
screws taper to a point, nor is it the shape of any bolt, unless you cut
the
head off the bolt. As for round bar, well it would have to be the same
diameter and length, how many people have bits of round bar just exactly
the
right size hanging around the house? not many.

For the last 20 years I have PAT tested every mains electrical item
submitted to a charity auction that is held twice a year in the village
where I live. In that time I met a fair few horrors: flexes so damaged
that
the bare live wire shows through, a standard lamp (with a brass fitting)
wired up with two-core bell-wire, flexes extended using a bit of
choc-block
wrapped in insulating tape, broken plugs, mis-wired plugs, plugs with the
cord-grip either missing or incorrectly used etc. But I've only ever had
one
example of a plug with anything other than a BS1362 fuse in it, and that
had
a few turns of 5A fuse-wire wrapped round the prongs of the fuse-holder.
So
I don't buy this idea that people are putting screws, bolts or bits of
metal
rod into plugs in any significant numbers at all. Its *so* much easier to
nick a fuse from another appliance than to start looking for bits of
metal
that will fit!

The best bit of electrical horror I encountered (and very nearly gave myself
a shock with) was the extension lead on my grandpa's mower: it had a
two-prong plug on the extension lead and a two-prong socket on the mower.
Wrong! That left the live pins exposed. OK, I know I should have unplugged
at the wall before disconnecting the mower from the extension lead to
untangle the cable. To spare his blushes, I quietly rewired it with the
socket on the extension lead and the plug on the mower while he wasn't
looking.

On 31/01/2012 15:58, David Looser wrote:
wrote in message
...
On 31/01/2012 15:29, David Looser wrote:
wrote


Far more common to find the existing blown fuse wrapped in aluminium foil.


Well in some 2000-odd PAT tests I've never met that one, how often have you
come across it?

David.


I used to see it a couple or three times a year back when I repaired
group gear, often on HT fuses in valve amplifiers, and back when 20mm
fuses started to become common in equipment, but not common in toolboxes.
It still amazes me that most musicians don't carry spare fuses around
with them.

Ron

On Tuesday, January 31st, 2012, at 15:42:34h +0000,
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Can't remember exactly how evasion was policed.

Roving teams of inspectors who issue on the spot citations
to pay a fine.