[BC] 1950s' transistor radios pointed to more tech changes

[Mark Croom]

My first electric shock came from a hot-chassis AC intercom system. The rig
belonged to a friend's family and he was showing me how it worked. He also
knew when I got bit  that he needed to turn the power cord around the other
way (guess I wasn't the first). Late 1960s. Another one of those early shock
treatments that explains a little about the person's later "bents".

My next-door neighbor had saved somebody's life at our home (before we moved
there) by knocking him off the sump-pump outlet pipe that was "hot" when the
pump was running (that was fixed I guess).

Anybody know when polarized plugs really came into widespread use?

Mark
MN

On Tue, Jul 14, 2009 at 8:42 AM, SteveOrdinetz <hykker at wildblue.net> wrote:

> On Mon, Jul 13, 2009 at 9:26 PM, <RichardBJohnson at comcast.net> wrote:
> > I once wanted to connect one of those AC/DC radios to an outside antenna
> for improved reception. Unfortunately, if the plug was inserted the "wrong"
> way, the antenna became charged with 120 volts.
>
> For whatever reason, many/most of these radios switched the *ground*
> (ie-chassis) side of the line instead of the hot.  This meant that
> depending on which way you plugged it in, the chassis was hot when it
> was on, or hot when off.
>