Bierbart12 t1_iyioctf wrote
Reply to comment by villevalla in TIL that the southern United States converted all 11,500+ miles of its railroads from broad gauge (5 ft/1.524 m) to nearly-standard gauge (4 ft 9 in/1.448 m) in just 36 hours, starting on May 31, 1886 by 1859
Probably the same reason power outlets are so different everywhere
Doggydog123579 t1_iyj59ic wrote
Atleqst for the UK, the outlets are diffrent because ring circuits are an abomination.
ibw0trr t1_iykey35 wrote
I had never heard of this until tech connections did a bit on outlets.
Ring circuits seem like a great idea... Until one end gets broken and the other has to support the full potential amperage.
nivlark t1_iylltpr wrote
They were always just an efficiency measure. Ring mains let you use less copper, which was in short supply in the UK during the post-war years when a lot of housing was being built to replace what had been lost to bombing.
katycake t1_iyli9mb wrote
Yes but, one of these power outlet designs, have got to be the superior one, and not just 'interchangeably good enough'.
Bierbart12 t1_iylivki wrote
Of course. That'd be the plug type F(used in most of Europe, Jordan, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Turkey, Uruguay and Vietnam) that is just two prongs which are always grounded, can be inserted both ways and don't allow flow unless they are fully in the socket, preventing almost all accidents
I don't know enough about other sockets to compare them, but the american one(Plugs A and B) has a funny face and is only sometimes grounded(Type B), which is a bad idea for consumers
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