Core77

A look at plugs

By Rain Noe - January 8, 2009

in Object Culture

Though we use them all the time, most plugs are not really well-designed in terms of ergonomics.

The plastic housing of this standard three-prong plug is supposed to be chunky enough that we can just grab it with our fingers.

Plugs like these have ridges and textures that are apparently supposed to sync up with the grooves in our fingerprints, providing traction.

The standard American appliance plug has an additional lip we can grab for purchase.

Designer Kim Seung Woo's clever Universal Plug has a nice, obvious grab area. The idea won a Red Dot Design Concept Award 2008.

Update: Several readers expressed surprise that Kim's Universal Plug won a Red Dot Award, pointing out that a similar plug was already on the market, by Australian company Breville:

Art Lebedev Studio's Vilcus dactyloadapter "was developed specially for people who enjoy closing electrical circuits with their own fingers."

Many people get a kick out of direct contact with AC power supply. To that end, people normally use U-shaped fragments of bare wire, paper clips or even usual metal forks. All these gimmicks are unreliable, short-lived and, most importantly, tend to cause short-circuit failure or even inflammation.

But with the Vilcus, "Copper plates located in the sockets ensure proper contact."

It even comes with adapters for traveling to foreign countries.

Lastly, this is one of the more disturbing Halloween costumes we've seen, if only because it alludes to at least one deviant sex act.

Also, isn't this costume incomplete, shouldn't there be a third person somewhere playing the part of the appliance? Or is he just plugging in for the sake of plugging in?

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Alan

15 years ago

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a buddy and i did a plug like this back in school a few years back. later we found an OLD OLD old ID magazine from 1956 that had the same thing. a plug with a hole in it to grab with your finger. the form was beautiful and simple, a true ring shape with the two prongs on one end it was like the toro tissue ring of plugs.
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alex

15 years ago

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Just for case - Levedev's device is an April Fool's joke. Check out the release date.
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sw

15 years ago

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the real question is, why does every country/zone/whatever have to have its own kind of plug?
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Matt.A

15 years ago

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I think having that ring shape is really intelligent. Breville actually put it on one of their newer toasters and I had a hard time finding the picture, but some one else seems to have also liked this function and posted the picture on the Amazon gallery:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/B000AAI8UO/ref=cm_ciu_pdp_images_0?ie=UTF8&index=0

I guess they were thinking it was worth putting in because a toaster is one of those products people are constantly unplugging for fear of electrical caused fires. Its strange that no online merchandisers seem to feature it (its photoshopped out on the all white sales pictures) as it really is a slick if not major feature. Maybe Breville was thinking that people would see it if it was out on display. Maybe more manufacturers of heavily plugged objects should take heed (I'm looking at you hair dryer).
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YY

15 years ago

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I don't know what is the big deal of the Universal Plug by Kim Seung Woo. This idea has been seen a few years ago. This idea has been in production. The Breville Ikon 600 Blender has the plug just like this.
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