Eagle polarized, grounded cube tap
date: label: date made
content: ca 1970
name: label: maker
content: Eagle Electric Manufacturing Company
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Eagle polarized, grounded electrical cube tap, ca. 1970. An adapter to connect three 3-prong cords to a single outlet. Molded on front: "Eagle / UL / CSA / 15A-125V / U.S.A.". Bakelite housing, brass prongs.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Cube taps are miniature multi-outlets and serve as a quick and easy way of connecting electrical devices to a single source of power without the need to install new, permanent wiring. As such they have often been abused by overloading, and so embody stories of electrical safety as well as convenience. Aside from their physical attributes, cube taps embody a large body of literature relating to the development and adoption of electrical standards, so we document these ubiquitous yet important devices. This particular unit shows two features of interest. First, the unit has a third “ground” prong and set of holes, in addition to the “hot” and “neutral” prongs and slots. During the early 20th century, few electrical devices for home and light commercial use featured separate grounding wires due to the extra cost such circuits required. The neutral wire carries the current to ground and allows for operation of the device. However, a malfunction might create a situation in which parts of the device could become energized, exposing the user to possible electrocution or starting a fire. A third wire that connected all parts of the device to ground became an important safety feature, widely adopted in the second half of the century. This unit is an early cube tap designed with a dedicated third prong for grounding.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Second, the unit is polarized, the “hot” and “neutral” prongs and slots are of different widths, allowing a similar cord to be inserted without regard to the electrical circuit. Electrical circuits are designed and wired such that one wire is “hot” (carrying the current in from the source) while the other wire is “neutral” (carrying the current away to ground). Which plug of a cord connected to which circuit wire was of little matter when most appliances could operate without regard to current flow and adapters featured prongs and slots of the same width. But as more devices required a specific electrical flow the need for “polarization” became more important. During the latter 20th century production and sale of unpolarized devices ceased in favor of polarized devices that forced users to plug the device in the correct way. This unit dates from the period of phase out of unpolarized adapters.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2021.0040.15
label: catalog number
content: 2021.0040.15
label: accession number
content: 2021.0040
objectType: label: Object Name
content: electrical adapter
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 1 1/8 in x 1 3/4 in x 2 1/2 in; 2.8575 cm x 4.445 cm x 6.35 cm