Fire hazard or no? three-way block

[Les]

I am posting this in the What Went Wrong forum (feel free to move it mods) because these are an accident waiting to happen!

Yes, I've been on the hunt for gear and lots of ebay cruising has led me to yet another scary find. These appear to be home made and out of what appears to be wood/fiber.

STAGE PIN 3-FER 3FER for theatrical lighting cable - eBay (item 190307479652 end time Jun-12-09 18:28:15 PDT)

Judging by this model number/spec's however, it appears though it is or was UL rated.
15A 250V & 20A 125V
E 11417 UL

Can someone enlighten me on this?

[derekleffew]

Relax, Les. They are not wood, but a fiber resin of some sort. Perfectly safe, (Safer than a plastic 2P&G connector, in fact) and manufactured by Union Connector for at least 25 years. Fairly recently discontinued, although I'm not sure why. [Edit: NOT discontinued, still on UC's website:

Catalog # Description UL Listed
G3255 20A. Branchoff, Cable Yes
G3255MT 20A. Branchoff, Male tap Yes

]

Here are my own:


From 2008 BMI Supply Catalog.pdf :

Union 3-way Stage Pin Branch-off, adapter .................................. 47.25

From 2007 BMI Catalog:

Union 3-way Stage Pin Branch-off, adapter ..................... 43.94
Union 3-way Stage Pin Branch-off, cable mount .............. 37.80

[Les]

That's actually quite a relief! Here I was thinking there were some bootleg stagepin cubetaps running around that someone had made in their wood shop. Now I can sleep at night!

Thanks for the clarification.

[BillESC]

I have a bunch of them out in the rental dept. Still work fine.

[Sony]

Yep, as previously stated, totally safe. They are just your standard run of the mill Three-fer Block, got a bunch of them sitting around our theatre here.

[csheleytd]

We have 25 or so of them in use constantly. Other than tightening the pin sockets because they're old, they work great. Most of them have new cable and plugs as well.

[JD]

Wow, blast from the past! I remember when ALL stage pin connectors were made out of that stuff! It would discolor or burn in an overheat as compared to melt. (would not flame up) In some ways that is better then melting. Only problem I remember is the same problem with all older SP connectors, where the pin gaps would collapse causing a poor connection. Back then, they were all two pin with a strain relief for each of the fluffy wires to go in

[gafftapegreenia]

Derek, is that bottom example made for use on the end of cables? Could we get another pic of that baby?

I know ship don't like these three-fer block things, but I do.

[derekleffew]

Okay, just for you, GTG. Perhaps not as safe as the ones Les found Considering this is the connector at the other end of the 12/2 cable:


One of the branch-off, three-ways has no markings, and was originally two pin, yet some clever soul "modified" it to accept the newfangled (beginning in 1960 according to Kliegl literature) 3pin connectors, by drilling a 1/4" hole (Common, but frowned upon, practice until at least 1980.)


The other, I suspect, is older. It says "PAT JULY 5-10 KLIEGL BROS" (I'm certain that it does not date from 1910, however.)


It too has been drilled out for the center pin, but also features a unique hole designed to accept a fig.8 shaped spring, in another misguided attempt to make a locking connector. [This 1957 Catalog page, lower right corner: shows that spring.] [Edit: this "feature" began in 1929, according to this:

]

[gafftapegreenia]

Thanks Derek!

Not to hi-jack but I've got a few old medium screw base adapters that are interesting. I should get pics.

I wish I had more to contribute to the history threads.