Video: UK Folding Plug concept could flatten that bulky British adapter

Of all the AC adapters stuffed into your personal item when globetrotting, the plug used in Merry Old England must surely be the most cumbersome -- its three copper prongs flung to the extremes of a giant block of plastic. That Victorian holdover gets a major re-do with this UK Folding Plug concept. The two horizontal prongs rotate themselves in-line with the top, vertical one, and the body of the adapter then folds in half, resulting in a thickness of about 1cm. Interestingly the plug would still work in either position, with a slimline power strip envisioned to accept three of these slender lovelies at once. It's positively brilliant, but is just a concept at this point, and while we don't have any news to pass along about its likelihood for production, surely some manufacturer will watch the video after the break and start churning these out by the millions.

[Via Pocket-lint]

[Ryan McGrory @ Jun 23rd 2009 9:42AM]

@Alex

Pathetic!

The fact of the matter is the UK and England are used interchangably, all I ever see is American referring to the UK as England, and here we have another example. Mrs Doubtfire was apparantly English for Christ sake! Can't you dumbass's even make a film accurate, and don't you think to yourself she sounds a bit different from that stereotypical Bridget Jones English accent.

You have missed the point entirely and tried to be a smart arse, fail!

[fanman @ Jun 23rd 2009 9:45AM]

"Scotland invented the television, telephone, fax machine, Penicilin, pneumatic tyres, the steam engine, refridgeraors and the telegraph to name a few.

So yeah, pretty insignificant..."

Why did you watch THAT episode of QI but not the one where Mr Fry explians why the name persists in America? Prior to WWII-ish 'England' was used to refer to the entirity of the UK (WWI was singed off by the 'Prime minister of England'). Today the word has been swapped for 'UK', but sometimes people still talk about England as the whole as that's where everyone lives (Manchester for example has a larger population that Soctland and Wales combined).

Seriously, it's just words and names. Why so patriotic about individual bits of the UK and so keen to do down the whole thing? That's like me being anoyed that Brunel's work is attributed to the UK and not to Portsmouth.

[sean @ Jun 23rd 2009 7:08AM]

And bloody good plugs they are!

[Bobby @ Jun 23rd 2009 7:46AM]

LOL these Brits are such goofies

[wjousts @ Jun 23rd 2009 8:32AM]

Absolutely. I always appreciated the fact that when you plug them in, you know they're plugged in and they aren't going to fall out again. And the switch on the outlet is pretty handy too.

[Bobby @ Jun 23rd 2009 9:00AM]

ROTFL yeah man create problem and then charge to resolve it. Whatta Orwell way man !! LOL

[TREX6662k5 @ Jun 23rd 2009 9:03AM]

My Creative speakers take up 3 plug sockets due to the built in transformer. Big just like the Americans themselves.

[LondonConsultant @ Jun 23rd 2009 9:03AM]

If plugs were laptops, then UK plugs would be ThinkPads!

This folding plug design is rather brilliant. However, from the video, it seems to be just a student design project. If so, in a world where companies register so many useless patents, it's ironic that this useful design has been released into the public domain without any rights protection...

[Glazun @ Jun 23rd 2009 9:15AM]

I've always hated the 3pin plugs.. Seems only Ireland/England/Austrailia use them too.

[Bobby @ Jun 23rd 2009 9:18AM]

Hey London C.
Are you saying socket was designed also by students ?
Students fixing students ha ?

[thebomberman @ Jun 23rd 2009 10:00AM]

@ Glazun

"The BS 1363 design is not only in use in the United Kingdom and Ireland, but also in Sri Lanka, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Yemen, Oman, Cyprus, Malta, Gibraltar, Botswana, Ghana, Hong Kong, Macau, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Iraq, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. BS 1363 is also standard in several of the former British Caribbean colonies such as Belize, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Grenada. It is also used in Saudi Arabia"

[darkmax @ Jun 23rd 2009 10:04AM]

@Glazun

Actually so does Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Can't remember if Thailand uses it.

[OneLove @ Jun 23rd 2009 10:22AM]

Somebody's gonna be rich.

[Bobby @ Jun 23rd 2009 11:39AM]

LOL colonize half of the world to spread crappy socket then make even more money on weirdo plug

[Wwhat @ Jun 23rd 2009 12:54PM]

The reason british plugs are so big is because they traditionally by law all have to have a fuse in them, every single plug, and that's how they remained so big.
Not sure if the EU membership/rules changed any of that.

[Sèamus O'Keeffe @ Jun 24th 2009 3:54AM]

All of the references in the story and comments stating that these are "British" or "UK" or "English" plugs are just dead wrong. These plugs are also used in the Republic of Ireland, which is not part of "Great Britain" or the "United Kingdom" or "England". Ireland is a sovereign Republic. It would be more accurate to refer to the plugs as Irish/British or Irish/U.K.

[Geir E @ Jun 24th 2009 5:56AM]

England don't use the metric system, they drive on the wrong side of the road (compared to rest of europe) and they can't even use the euro plug:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europlug

It is about time to get civilized. :) (So I can buy stuff from england without needing to readapt)

[thebomberman @ Jun 23rd 2009 7:10AM]

As a Uker I can only say - awesome :O

[dominick @ Jun 23rd 2009 7:19AM]

indeed, looks great...funny how this took so long to come about but most definitely welcome...

[jakem @ Jun 23rd 2009 7:19AM]

Yes, I'll take two.

[dominick @ Jun 23rd 2009 7:20AM]

Just watched the movie too...the multi adapter is great idea, oh and she mentions the slimplug for the poster below...

[joshky @ Jun 23rd 2009 10:09AM]

Hong Kong being a previous colony uses them too, this idea's very very good but the excessive "mac-ness" doesnt sit too well in my stomach

Just an fyi, the air is NOT the thinnest laptop, its some sorta NEC or samsung laptop back in the 90s oddly enough

[bootareen @ Jun 23rd 2009 10:58AM]

@joshky: But it's well known unlike the NEC you could not name. The bottom of the plug reminds me of Apple headphones although I don't get the point of the foldable flaps? They look kind of flimsy and unecessary.

[Awsomedude @ Jun 23rd 2009 1:06PM]

@joshky: You are correct. The world's thinnest laptop is the Actius MM10 Muramasa (see:http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9852240-7.html)

[sean @ Jun 23rd 2009 7:12AM]

Have you seen the size of the voltage converter unit you have to travel to americana with!

[Kailie @ Jun 23rd 2009 11:40AM]

Yes well, the problem is actually your antiquated electricals, not ours. We don't have this problem anywhere else.

[Lundmark @ Jun 23rd 2009 12:56PM]

Less is not more in this case, Kailie. 230V AC is obviously better than 110V because it can be used for more things. Also, most other countries in the EU doesn't use this oldschool UK plug, but the much slimmer Euro plug instead.

[Amun @ Jun 23rd 2009 4:25PM]

I kind of wish my country used 230V... My power supply would be more efficient and my electric car would charge faster. ho-hum.

[ZSX @ Jun 23rd 2009 7:12AM]

The British plugs are big, true, but not as big as the South African behemoths! Sadly there too the British are too blame...

[fanman @ Jun 23rd 2009 9:33AM]

For the size of South African plugs? .Anyway, Britian is also to blame for everything else in the world every created so on ballance I think they done good.

[nvidiagtx @ Jun 23rd 2009 7:12AM]

Seriously when is the UK going to update those ugly ancient plugs with something reasonable. I mean cmon they still have fuses...

[moje @ Jun 23rd 2009 7:17AM]

When we want to swap out every socket + plug in the country?

[Carpet @ Jun 23rd 2009 7:43AM]

They're big because they're safer and don't forget we have 240v to deal with over here.

When you plug in a UK plug, it stays in unlike the flat pinned US plugs or the round pinned ones everywhere else. It was a great surprise working in the Middle East to find that they used these lovely sensible plugs too.

Packing them in a suitcase is a bit of a nightmare, especially computer ones. For mobile or camera chargers you just wrap the wire round the body and between the prongs to get a ball. You can't do that with a laptop charger.

[Duncan @ Jun 23rd 2009 7:56AM]

A study was done not so long ago (I can't be bothered to find it but google a bit and you will), this followed attempts by the EU to persuade the UK to swap to the more compact system common in europe. This concentrated not on the economics of swapping all the sockets out but on the safety side. They found that an estimated 10 people more in the UK would die a year, the number of electrical fires and minor shocks would also increase significantly as the UK design although more bulky is inherently far safer than many other alternatives.

The fuses are there for good reason so its nice to see a seemingly well designed compact adapter which still includes the fuse. I'd still have to wait and see how well it stood up to testing before wanting to use one tho.

[Bellzebub @ Jun 23rd 2009 8:01AM]

The best bit about our plugs is that they make it really difficult for you to electrocute yourself. You can't just stick a fork in and zap - no, you need to go to all the extra effort of sticking a knife into the top slot to open the bottom gates. It's just not worth the hassle.

[Noel @ Jun 23rd 2009 8:16AM]

Ireland actually moved away from the "Schuko" (European Plugs) in the 60s
to the BS 1363 (three pin UK) when you guys switched from the old round pin
plugs that the South Africans still use.
The BS 1363 plug was designed to be safe because UK homes are wired
rather badly. The "ring" wiring system used in the UK was designed after
WW2 to conserve copper, not for safety.
Irish households are wired similar to German houses, they don't use the
"ring" setup that's common in the UK.
In the future hopefully all of the EU will switch to the international standard
IEC 60906-1 which the Brazilians are currently switching to.
It's safer than the BS 1363, smaller and can carry more current.

[Zak @ Jun 23rd 2009 8:47AM]

@Noel..You don't get out much do you? :-) Only Joking.. Being a Brit and an expat for years, I have used a crazy variety of plugs..I still love the British plug..When it's in..Its in there! No messing and no falling out or losing power as it wiggles around. The more I travel the more I end up with a daft amount of plugs and not to mention the two voltages.. although here in Brazil they have 240 and 110 in the same house.

I say the British plug should become the world standard.

God save the Queen...

[Ypoknons @ Jun 23rd 2009 11:40AM]

I'm not sure if Engadget's trying to be funny with the Victorian holdover comment but apparently the plug dates from the WWII era and was widely implemented in the 50's and 60's. Trying to call it ancient ... I don't know, it didn't get me laughing and the two-prong plugs in the US are actually significantly older.

[adrian @ Jun 23rd 2009 2:16PM]

Just leave the design of UK plugs and sockets alone. They do the job that needs to done brilliantly.

[Luke @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:49PM]

Wow, this is pointless.
So, UK plugs are bigger... DEAL WITH IT!
I bet that extra pound in your luggage really made one hell of a difference to your traveling comfort...

[HB @ Jun 23rd 2009 6:38PM]

@ Bellzebub

Rofl.

[HB @ Jun 23rd 2009 6:41PM]

Oh, and for the record, I love it how this thread is full of yanks trying to assert there dominance and authority over the quality of our electrical plugs, lol. You guys really are the best at EVERYTHING, lol. One day we will all catch up. Unless that time I will live as what can at best be described as a plug peasant.

[HB @ Jun 23rd 2009 6:46PM]

...sub "their" for "there"

[Mossy42 @ Jun 29th 2009 7:47AM]

@Ryan it does if you're flying with Ryanair!

[wrs589 @ Jun 23rd 2009 7:13AM]

Good idea, hope they're not too flimsy.

The reason most phone chargers are so bulky is because they are full of transformers to bring that 240V AC down to about 5V DC for your phone or whatever, so for them this would be pretty pointless.

[Nomi @ Jun 23rd 2009 9:56AM]

Its not talking about power adapters...just the plugs. Also have you seen Apple's adapters of late?

[albi @ Jun 23rd 2009 10:52AM]

what? every companies' cellphone charger here in NA are small, twice the size of the new apple charger at most. and they support 110~240V.
yes it might be safer. even more safe, extremely safe for stupid ppl.

[ikey @ Jun 23rd 2009 7:15AM]

genius

[Noel @ Jun 23rd 2009 7:15AM]

Here in ireland we use the same plug.

The design of this is frigging inspired.

[EB @ Jun 23rd 2009 7:17AM]

This is brilliant. I think this concept could be useful for every kind of electric plug, not just the British one.