In the early days of electricity, they didn't have wall plugs

[DDTJRAC]

Hello scientists, engineers, etc. I have not had any questions for you recently, so have not participated here. I was scanning some material and ran across these 2 ads. I had posted them at another forum, and I thought you may be interested in them as well. History is fascinating stuff!

Some houses may have had plugs, but many homes just screwed the appliance into the light socket overhead. Does anyone know when electric wall plugs were in widespread use?

1906 ad DDTJRAC

Even big washing machines were screwed into the socket.

1909 ad DDTJRAC

This machine was also water powered. Don't know how well that worked. Wow, all the wasted water!




Edited just now by Daniel D. Teoli Jr.

 

[Baluncore]

I expect the use of Edison screw, ES, or E27 light fittings would twist and damage the power cord. Maybe bayonet cap lamps, BC, or B22, did less damage to the cords, and so extended the time before general purpose outlets became available.

 

[DaveE]

google, dude.
My first search result...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_AC_power_plugs_and_sockets

 

[Rive]

This machine was also water powered.

Also, there were some with a gasoline engine...