Now why didn't I think of that?

[OwlHoot]

Folding UK plug

What amazing ingenuity, and yet how obvious in retrospect.

Say goodbye to clunking great UK mains plugs and use those shown on that page!

[Zippy]

Brilliant! That lad will go far.

[TykeMerc]

That's a nice piece of design. I hope that he gets Standards approval and makes an absolute fortune.

While our 3 pin design is arguably the best one in practical and safety terms it's too chunky and this design is a very elegant solution.

[minestrone]

Nice idea but will not be allowed, a quite unsafe design. 240 volts is not a USB charge.

The British plug is the safest in the world incidentally

[AtW]

The British plug is the safest in the world incidentally

[TinTrump]

Nice idea but will not be allowed, a quite unsafe design.

Why? Because the parts move to assume the correct shape? Or some other reason?

[minestrone]

It is, a child with 2 knitting kneedles is a <lynnFauldsWoodVoice>potential death trap</ynnFauldsWoodVoice> in europe

[TimberWolf]

Seems excellent on the surface, though I will miss treading on the old style plugs.

"The MacBook Air is the world's thinnest laptop ever. However, here in the UK, we still use the world's biggest three-pin plug," says Choi.

Not any more

[minestrone]

Why? Because the parts move to assume the correct shape? Or some other reason?

What is to stop me reversing the polarity of the charge? How much faith would you have in the 1mm of plastic that will stop me twisting it the wrong way? The twist allows leverage to do that and as all real engineers know leverage is the way in which you break things. Also the thing with the flaps off would be easy to twist again when in the socket with leverage and would easily break it.

If the designer had a shot of 240 volts up his arm then he would appreciate why plugs are built that way.

I do admit it is a nice design but simple design is always the best, 240 volts is not a USB type charge.

[TinTrump]

What is to stop me reversing the polarity of the charge? How much faith would you have in the 1mm of plastic that will stop me twisting it the wrong way? The twist allows leverage to do that and as all real engineers know leverage is the way in which you break things. Also the thing with the flaps off would be easy to twist again when in the socket with leverage and would easily break it.

OK, I wondered if it was to do with how robust it is. I am not an engineer (as evidenced by my question!). Cheers for the explanation.