Appliance plug

An appliance plug is an obsolete three-conductor power connector originally developed for electric jugs and similar small appliances.

It has been largely obsoleted and replaced by powered bases and by C15 and C16 IEC connectors. It still occurs on some traditional ceramic electric jugs.

On a classical ceramic electric jug, the appliance plug prevents the lid from being raised while the connector is inserted. This is important as during operation of the jug the water it contains is connected to the electric mains and is an electric shock risk.

Appliance plugs were also used to supply power to electric toasters, electric coffee percolators, electric frypans, and many other appliances. An appliance plug is to some degree heat resistant, but the maximum working temperature varied from manufacturer to manufacturer and even from batch to batch.

The mains connectors of the appliance plug are two rounded sockets that accept two rounded pins from the appliance. They are unpolarised. The third connection, earth, is a large metal contact on each side of the plug body which makes contact with the sides of the plug receptacle, grounding the appliance body.

Manufacturers included Ring Grip and Wilco.