Wanted Pattress for old MK socket

[sionevans]

Looking for a metal pattress with screw fittings in the correct place for this old MK 2 gang

socket.

The existing pattress of the socket that I am looking to replace has fittings on the side.

 

[snowhead]

https://www.art-deco-emporium.co.uk/vintage-mk-4-hole-socket-or-switch-fitting-kit-for-existing-or-new-backboxes-1158

 

[pirate]

Really useful site, thank you @snowhead
I love places where you can get "stuff" not easily obtained elsewhere. The range of fabric covered flex is amazing, and I love the "large" ceiling rose that will cover the mess under an older, small or standard rose

 

[loz2754]

https://www.art-deco-emporium.co.uk/vintage-mk-4-hole-socket-or-switch-fitting-kit-for-existing-or-new-backboxes-1158

That's a normal back box but with 4 X back box repair clips fitted. Genius solution!

 

[snowhead]

Really useful site,

I think I've linked that site before, as it always seems to come up in searches when I search for unusual items.

 

[sionevans]

Thanks @snowhead - great website for the older stuff that I like.

If anyone has a spare one lying around, to sell for a couple of pound, please let me know

 

[sionevans]

Would this do the job? The fittings appear to be in the right place.

Dual 1 Gang 25mm Metal Pattress Back Box Electrical Wall Socket Switch (169) | eBay - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/225307800537?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=1_7evoynRNa&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=GCmTOCvOS1W&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

[nicebutdim]

Would this do the job? The fittings appear to be in the right place.

Dual 1 Gang 25mm Metal Pattress Back Box Electrical Wall Socket Switch (169) | eBay - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/225307800537?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=1_7evoynRNa&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=GCmTOCvOS1W&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Dual boxes are slightly wider and it's unlikely those lugs are correctly spaced. It also has a divider that would prevent the socket screwing back.

The prior link is for a standard 2 gang flush box with 'back box repair clips', which Google will show you, but obviously you'd have to set spacing without the aid of a convenient template.

 

[MJPD29]

Would this do the job? The fittings appear to be in the right place.

Dual 1 Gang 25mm Metal Pattress Back Box Electrical Wall Socket Switch (169) | eBay - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/225307800537?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=1_7evoynRNa&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=GCmTOCvOS1W&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

No it wouldn’t. Are you intending on using this socket as part of an installation?

 

[sionevans]

No it wouldn’t. Are you intending on using this socket as part of an installation?

Yes - I am intending to use the socket

 

[MJPD29]

Yes - I am intending to use the socket

It’ll probably outlast every other newer socket in your home even with its age

 

[pirate]

Older -style but modern accessories google search brought up the art deco site mentioned earlier in this thread...
and also this:

Brassart Art Deco Light Switches Brass Bronze Chrome or Nickel

Liberty Art Deco Light Switches. 1920s Brass bronze Chrome or Nickel Finishes. Buy British handmade electrical accessories online from an established expert dealer you can trust!

www.cheshirehardware.com

I probably won't be replacing all my switches with these!
The double sockets are a bit cheaper though...

 

[pirate]

To continue the theme, I am beginning to construct a "vintage" board using older accessories.
My house actually has a couple of those old MK sockets with the 4 fixing screws, but I have a couple of other MK sockets, pictured here with an old light switch.
The diagonally opposed fixing holes on the white socket are a bit unusual, to me anyway, and the neat format, as also the neat format of the brown, round pin socket, please my eye.
Question:
The fixing screws are not the current 3.5mm. but smaller...I'm guessing 2.5 or 3mm. To save me searching, I'm sure somebody can confirm the size and a supplier.

 

[nicebutdim]

Can't imagine the plate screws being metric.

 

[westward10]

The screws for the white socket were also captive, they never fell out although yours are missing. Tough as old boots they rarely need replacing unless they have suffered severe mechanical damage.

 

[pirate]

thank you @nicebutdim and @westward10 for you comments.
I did find, amongst my box of miscellaneous screws and bits a couple of brass-finish screws that do actually fit. No idea where they came from, but they were in a zip-lock mini bag. They appear to be 0.125" diameter or 3.02mm...my digital calipers get a bit confused...
I'll keep digging in my big box and hope to find some more.
Interested to learn that the screws on the white socket were captive. That socket has quite a small form factor, as of course has the brown one.
I haven't dismantled the white socket, but the brown one is easy to see inside as the top simply lifts off...and it looks very nice and clean in there and in good order.
I'm guessing 1950s for the brown one and 1960s for the white? Was the small white one designed to cover the small size of the old brown round pin sockets as an upgrade?

 

[pc1966]

They appear to be 0.125" diameter or 3.02mm...my digital calipers get a bit confused...
I'll keep digging in my big box and hope to find some more.

0.125" = 1/8 is a possible size for the likes of BSW/BSF, but generally smaller UK screws pre-metric would have been from the BA series.

Oddly enough they were metric, but not as we know it, and had a set of formulae to compute sizes of hex flats, etc, that did not result in "simple" sizes:

British Association screw threads - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I long suspect that the choice of M3.5 used here for electrical work, and virtually unheard of in the EU, is down to them being close to 4BA.

0BA is almost M6, but most electrical stuff I have seen used 6BA or 4BA, occasionally 8BA (small, like M2) or 2BA (almost M5).

 

[snowhead]

Screws will be BA, standard screws were 4BA, (almost same dia as 3.5mm) yours may be smaller

Conduit Box lid screws were 2BA.

 

[pc1966]

I have only once encountered an odd-numbered BA screw before (oh-er!) and that was for some 19" racks we had at my former work place. They were all from the 1940s/50s and had been adapted extensively (originally for a Muirhead-Jarvis "fax machine" used by publishers to send photographs between branches using the telephone lines) for our use as a photo-plotter

Some substantial cast aluminium things, with 1BA bolts so we still have some 1BA taps, a box of bolts, and the odd 1BA socket or nut driver around. Same really, racks went to the scrap yard ~4 years ago.

 

[westward10]

BA run from 0BA to 16BA, now 16BA must be tiny.