Just installed this rare (~1910) solid brass coverplate on my 120/240V transformer. Looks good with 1950s white Leviton socket! 110V receptacle to right is pre-war Art-Deco, also hard to find.

I've never seen the brass one here, though I have seen a few of the Bakelite one on the right hand side - with the Ring Grip switch mechanism rather than the 110V socket. It was unusual to see US stuff here due to trade restrictions on manufactured goods at the time. Local companies, Ring Grip, Utilux, Clipsal and HPM used the same form factor as the stuff pictured and this is still the standard today. The method is different however - all mechanisms and sockets are no longer separate but either clip on to the wall plate or are permanently attached.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

Interestingly, the Chinese iteration of the type 'I' AC format also doesn't have coverplate screws! Meanwhile, digging into my accumulations, I found two more of those brass coverplates and the correct antique brass semi-round-head screws making it look even better!

With the Chinese adoption of Aussie format, it will now be world dominant by sheer numbers!

Also found 20 turn-of-the-century Push-Button light switches (these were gathered from abandoned ghetto houses in the late 1980s that were to be razed for urban renewal.) Have just put them on ebay - (item # 283490375425)

Chinese do it upside down. Their often plugs cover the switch here.

https://www.tour-beijing.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Chinese-Standard-Socket-Two-Pins-and-Three-Pins-300x276.jpg

"Their often plugs cover the switch here."

Or if plugged into a wall here the cord inappropriately points up, rather than down to the floor.

Quite a few countries use the pin pattern but not all are oriented or polarised the same way. The pins on US plugs are a poofteenth shorter than the AU ones. Argentina uses the same socket but the active pin is on the top right. As GTC said, the Chinese orient their sockets upside down. This is illegal in Australia as the SAA Wiring Rules state that the earth pin must be the last to break contact if a plug falls out of the socket.

New Zealand, New Guinea and several of the small pacific islands also use the same pin pattern.

NB: This socket is not referred to as Type I here, as it is generally the only domestic socket available. There are derivatives of this socket for heavier loads and special purposes.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

"https://www.tour-beijing.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Chinese-Standard-Socket-Two-Pins-and-Three-Pins-300x276.jpg"

Imagine the amount of parallel-blade 110V appliances floating around China (stuff from Taiwan, Japan, export goods that find their way to the streets...) It's like the upper portion of their wall socket is saying "Go on, plug it in!" Making China the Wild West of the electrical world!

These were somewhat common in the USA before WW2. Used for 115V, though I have a few in my house providing 240V 60Hz, which my Aussie radios are perfectly happy with. Both active pins are 120V above and below ground, but as Aussie radios all used power transformers, it doesn't matter.

So I guess now we can add China to countries like Philippines, Brazil... that have 110V-style-receptacles that pack a lethal 220V punch!
Imagine how many unwary with 110V appliances find: "It fits It's fritz "

Though I could see the convenience for Chinese using those ubiquitous parallel blade phone charges (with auto-scaling world voltage.)

Similar to British hotels that have added US-style "110V" receptacle "for shavers only" that I think are fed from 240 with a diode
Tried them a while back, the shaver runs rough.

You see some crazy combinations of power sockets in Saudi Arabia. I was commissioning a VOD network in a large training college and it had UK pattern power sockets supplying 110 volts. Large autotransformers in each electrical distribution cupboard.

Why??

I saw all sorts of combinations while there....

Clipsal have been making shaver outlets for at least 30 years though I've never installed one so I am not sure how they go about the voltage reduction. The socket looks similar to the one in GTC's link.

Such accessories will probably go out of vogue in the next ten years as most electric razors run on batteries now and hotel owners are probably tired of replacing burnt out ones due to hair dryers and other heavy appliances being plugged into them.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

QUOTE: that have 110V-style-receptacles that pack a lethal 220V punch!

In the USA, every plug pattern is specified to provide a specific voltage and amperage. Thus, if your load plug fits, it should get the voltage it was designed for.

At least 19 countries have 110V-style outlets packing 220V: Caribbean, SE Asia, S America, Middle East like Saudi Arabia (already mentioned) and wonderful nearby Yemen (another reason not to visit )