Who invented electrical plug

Great Britain has its own rather bulky plugs, and some countries in the Middle East use yet another kind of design. If you need the outlets inspected or updated in your home, or require any other electrical work, call an expert electrician without delay.

Prev Post Next Post. By Mister Sparky. The engineering of the outlet has evolved: we have gone from about ten different frequencies to just two in the world, and we have two standard voltages as well.

But where exactly did household electricity begin and how did it bring about one of the most over-looked, yet important, inventions of the modern household? There was considerable delay between the discovery of electric power and the capacity to harness this power for work; this transition is recorded in a series of biographies from Benjamin Franklin to Philip F.

In fact, the Greeks made early observations of magnetism and even wondered about the origins of lightning [1]. Lightning, as we now know, is caused by a buildup of electrons in thunderclouds when particles in the clouds rub together. As the electrons build up, they must discharge to a positively charged or neutral surface, usually another cloud or the ground.

From this and other experiments, Franklin was able to develop his Electric Fluid Model. Fluid in this case does not mean a liquid, but simply something consisting of freely-flowing particles.

This fluid could also flow from areas of excess to areas of deficit. He found that if a bimetallic arc essentially a circuit with two metals connected to one another and the frog muscle or nerve, Figure 1 was made, no source of electricity was necessary to make the leg twitch. However, about a decade later, Alessandro Volta emerged with a new interpretation: his theory stated that the twitch was caused by contact between the two different conducting metals Galvani had been using.

It consisted of a piece of cardboard soaked in salt water, with pieces of copper and zinc placed within it: this caused a chemical transfer of charges between the metals, inducing a current or electron flow [7]. From this new electric source, Michael Faraday was inspired to develop the electric generator, which employed a changing magnetic field to produce a current.

This was the first instance of using mechanical energy to create electricity, a fundamental element of future dams. This generator was used to provide electricity to the household. Evolution of Household Electricity Thomas Edison was the first person to harness current electricity in a way that would provide this energy at an affordable price to households.

It began with his search for a more efficient light bulb because in his time, light bulbs burned out after only a few minutes. Edison created a light bulb whose filament was in a small vacuum, a space essentially empty of matter, so that the filament itself would not be forced to burn out by other materials in the air around it [8].

After inventing the light bulb, Edison engineered the first electric station, the Pearl St. Plant in New York City, to supply the electricity for his bulbs.

He provided electricity through direct current DC , which means that the voltage did not come in cycles but instead directly as volts, using large dynamo generators. Last updated: 7 August A toaster with a lightbulb socket.

Type N, the future universal standard? Check out all plug types used around the world. Type B. Type C. Type D. Type E. Type F. Type G. Type H. An iPod, laptop, phone even a microwave, items which would surely be anomalies in our lives without the plug. I was born with the luxury of being brought up in an electronic world, switches and wires allowed instant access to items in the home that 80 years ago weren't available.

Has the plug helped make everyday life better? On the positive side it changed the world of product design; new unheard of products were designed to make life easier.

On the other hand this luxury could be a major problem as we battle to keep our planet healthy. Since its invention back in by Harvey Hubbell the plug has not really undergone a change in form, its purpose was for lighting in the home. The 3 prong plug, invented by Phillip Labre in , brought about new uses; appliances once available only in public areas became available to buy for the home.