Questions about a stage plug.

[gew8805]

Hmm, Safety ground ain't gonna save you if holding the plug wrong. That's a thing I saw long ago, used and have in the collection already - but never in the dark, and replaced ASAP. Not mentioned also is no polarity.

Good points all but there was a polarized version, I have one. Made by "Major" ca. 1930, it has a groove milled in one side that would fit only one way in a specially adapted receptacle in the DS Center floor pocket and was used for the orchestra stand lights when they were in the pit or for the conductor's stand light when on stage. Our stage plugs were retired with our renovation in 1988 but they had been in service in floor and wall pockets since 1930. We still had about 25 in service until then, all adapted to use 2-pin twist plugs.

If I have time I will try this weekend to get a photo to show the "polarized" plug.

Incidentally, I still smile when I remember slipping and grabbing the copper conductors when plugging into a hot circuit. (I told her not to turn on the knife switch until I said it was okay......)

 

[bdkdesigns]

My college theatre, built in 1969, had them only in the floor pockets.

I used these a few years ago in Huron, OH and they had the same setup. From the house circuits, overhead was stagepin and the floor pockets were stage plug. They all went to Square D resistance dimmers. We also ran some CD-80's for additional circuits so I had two board ops for every show.

Edited to add: The floor pockets were made by Kliegl. Also, one performance we lost power completely in half of the building (which included our dimmers but not the house lights). We immediately called in the facility management because we thought we popped a main. Yes the building was so old that there were literally fuses for the mains and they only modernized the branched circuits to breakers. Anyways, long story short; half the city actually lost power. What we learned was that the school was actually fed by two different power grids since it was also built as a dual purpose bomb shelter during the war.

 

[jrv333]

I used these a few years ago in Huron, OH and they had the same setup. From the house circuits, overhead was stagepin and the floor pockets were stage plug. They all went to Square D resistance dimmers. We also ran some CD-80's for additional circuits so I had two board ops for every show.

Edited to add: The floor pockets were made by Kliegl.

I am currently working at Huron, and yes, the ones you showed appeared to be Kliegl. This is an old manual I found for all those interested.

http://www.cineressources.net/images/ouv_num/290.pdf

enjoy this blast from the past and realize how ridiculous it is that they're still used.

 

[Beverly]

Must have been either a proprietary design by Century Lighting, or an earlier version of the standard stage plug (impossible, as the stage plug as pictured in post#3 is in the 1913 Kliegl Catalog, and Century Lighting wasn't formed until 1929). It's a shame there's no Century Lighting Archive (The Strand Archive doesn't quite cut it sometimes).

There actually is a Century Lighting Catalogue in Paul Rand's memorial online portfolio. I stumbled across it while trying to figure out what our 1560 was. We actually are just now retiring our Century raceways. Keeping the 6kw patchbay though.

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

I grew up with these and still have a few of them in my shop as display items. Newer versions have a hinged copper blade on the spring side so only about an inch of copper was exposed as they were plugged in. These were the plugs used on the face of old piano boards for re patching during a show. These plugs are still used in the film industry for location shooting, as they are virtually indestructible.

Necro-posting to the nth degree but in the era of piano boards and DC, stage plugs were the connector on "cables", and pin plugs were found on "jumpers".

And I hope someone did mention that DC was common at least in broadway theatres when stage plugs were common.

 

[JonCarter]

Stage plugs are (were) fine, as long as the electrician is smart enough NOT to grab he hot terminals. ( It would take a pretty dumb one in my opinion to do so!) The triangular ones were a polarized version with ground (three contacts) designed in the dying days of the stage plug era.

 

[JD]

Stage plugs are (were) fine, as long as the electrician is smart enough NOT to grab he hot terminals. ( It would take a pretty dumb one in my opinion to do so!) The triangular ones were a polarized version with ground (three contacts) designed in the dying days of the stage plug era.

Darwin's theory of the evolution of Stage Hands.

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

Don't forget that these were primarily use at the portable switchboard, with lots of other opportunities to prove Darwin's theory.

 

[RonHebbard]

Stage plugs are (were) fine, as long as the electrician is smart enough NOT to grab he hot terminals. ( It would take a pretty dumb one in my opinion to do so!) The triangular ones were a polarized version with ground (three contacts) designed in the dying days of the stage plug era.

@JonCarter @derekleffew and @BillConnerFASTC Somewhere here
[EDIT by Mod.: https://www.controlbooth.com/threads/triangular-stage-plug.44116/ ]
on the Control Booth forum is a photo I submitted showing a grounded triangular stage plug male to 20 amp 2P&G female adapter. I posted this approximately a year ago, possibly the last time someone brought stage plugs up for discussion here. We had grounded stage plugs in the wall and floor pockets of a local secondary school and to my knowledge two conductor, non-grounded, stage plugs are still grand fathered in and in use in the Oddfellows' Masonic Temple at the corner of King and Queen Streets in the heart of downtown Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The oldest amateur group in Hamilton, dating from the late 1800's, provided the photo of the adapter from their collection.
From north of Donald's walls.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard

 

[RonHebbard]

@JonCarter @derekleffew and @BillConnerFASTC Somewhere here on the Control Booth forum is a photo I submitted showing a grounded triangular stage plug male to 20 amp 2P&G female adapter. I posted this approximately a year ago, possibly the last time someone brought stage plugs up for discussion here. We had grounded stage plugs in the wall and floor pockets of a local secondary school and to my knowledge two conductor, non-grounded, stage plugs are still grand fathered in and in use in the Oddfellows' Masonic Temple at the corner of King and Queen Streets in the heart of downtown Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The oldest amateur group in Hamilton, dating from the late 1800's, provided the photo of the adapter from their collection.
From north of Donald's walls.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard

W

@JonCarter @derekleffew and @BillConnerFASTC Somewhere here on the Control Booth forum is a photo I submitted showing a grounded triangular stage plug male to 20 amp 2P&G female adapter. I posted this approximately a year ago, possibly the last time someone brought stage plugs up for discussion here. We had grounded stage plugs in the wall and floor pockets of a local secondary school and to my knowledge two conductor, non-grounded, stage plugs are still grand fathered in and in use in the Oddfellows' Masonic Temple at the corner of King and Queen Streets in the heart of downtown Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The oldest amateur group in Hamilton, dating from the late 1800's, provided the photo of the adapter from their collection.
From north of Donald's walls.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard

@JonCarter

@JonCarter @derekleffew and @BillConnerFASTC Somewhere here on the Control Booth forum is a photo I submitted showing a grounded triangular stage plug male to 20 amp 2P&G female adapter. I posted this approximately a year ago, possibly the last time someone brought stage plugs up for discussion here. We had grounded stage plugs in the wall and floor pockets of a local secondary school and to my knowledge two conductor, non-grounded, stage plugs are still grand fathered in and in use in the Oddfellows' Masonic Temple at the corner of King and Queen Streets in the heart of downtown Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The oldest amateur group in Hamilton, dating from the late 1800's, provided the photo of the adapter from their collection.
From north of Donald's walls.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard[/QU

I am currently working at Huron, and yes, the ones you showed appeared to be Kliegl. This is an old manual I found for all those interested.

http://www.cineressources.net/images/ouv_num/290.pdf

enjoy this blast from the past and realize how ridiculous it is that they're still used.

@jrv333 I realize you haven't been seen since 2011 but a little searching reveals we last beat paddle plugs, half-paddles and the triangular cross-sectioned polarized and grounding versions to death here on the Control Booth Forum in July 2018.
Just for you @JonCarter
From north of Donald's walls.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard