ikeyPikey

27 Jan 2019
11:08:22pm

.
Remember when they started putting wheels on luggage? (If you are thinking "luggage always came with wheels, STOP READING, this thread is not for you.)

I was gob-smacked by the simplicity of it all, and could only think:

What took them so long ????

When I was a kid, we were hectored by our parents - and by the firemen who visited our schools ever year for fire safety instruction - to always pull an electrical plug out of a socket by pulling on the plug, and never by pulling on the cord.

This made some sense back then, because the wires were secured inside the plug via screwposts, and repeated pulling on the cord would, eventually, work those wires loose, leading to shorts and, my-kingdom-for-a-horse, to electrical fires.

But even when I was a kid, we began to see plastic-molded plugs that finessed this issue; the individual wires were attached (by whatever means) to the individual prongs, and then some sort of rubbery plastic was injection-moulded or stamped onto the prongs, and those suckers would pretty much never come apart, ever, in your lifetime, even if you, G-d Forbid, yanked the plug out of the wall by yanking on the wire, again & again.

But I still pull plugs out by the plug, and not by the wire, because:

- the DIY plugs you bought at the hardware store still used screwposts, and we had a lot of 3-prong-wire-into-2-prong-outlet and 3-prong-wire-into-2-prong-extension cord situations, and

- trusting the factory to use quality materials, and to allow enough time for the plastic to fully contact the prongs, and allow enough time for the plastic in the plug to cure, etc, all seemed a little optimistic, and

- plastic will age, and really cheap plastic will age quickly, and

- my father (z"l) died when I was young, so there was a loyalty thing in keeping to that rule (and teaching it to my kids), even as I broke so many others.

Being a bit of a foodie & healthie, my kid grew tired of our very old, very tired toaster oven and bought us a new, pricey Breville.

As I went to plug it in, I thought: What took them so long ????

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey (who is sorry about the lousy focus) (a little)

 
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angore

Collector, Moderator
28 Jan 2019
07:54:02am

re: What took them so long ????

There are many examples on why it took them so long. I had traveled often in far east and saw wheels on suitcases. It took years for it to show up on American luggage.

For example, it was common in US that smaller low cost cars had to be low cost (no frills). Much is a mindset and some is brand management. It took that Japanese to start putting on simple features like side demisters and now nice things like cup holders, storage bins, etc. are standard.

But do not understand the image on what they finally did.

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BenFranklin1902

Tom in Exton, PA
29 Jan 2019
12:18:18pm

re: What took them so long ????

You haven't traveled with my wife. She packs 50 pounds of stuff for an overnighter at my daughter's house! I'm happy to drag that monster along!

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re: What took them so long ????

Ad in a recent Lancaster Farming weekly, in the For Sale section:

"Wife says either tractor goes or she goes. 1948 Farmall Cub, runs. Best offer accepted. On the tractor, not the wife."

-Paul

 
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musicman

APS #213005
29 Jan 2019
08:32:16pm

re: What took them so long ????

Funny...

I've put a plug in a hole...many times...

...but never have I put a hole in a plug!

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