Did we ever arrive at an answer on this one ?

[Risteard]

Flanged couplers are still used here.

 

[Rob.]

Flanged couplers are still used here.

We were only allowed to use flanged couplers, came with a nice lead washer and serrated ring. An the bust was a decent thickness to get a spanner on to tighten properly.

 

[binky]

What happened about the earthing ?      

The steel conduit was the earth ,  hence you find conduit installed by older sparkies is done up good & tight  ,  especially brass bushes .  ( Which were twice as thick as what you get today )  .

One  of the reasons that,   on a flush KO box ...   you get one fixed lug & one adjustable ,   the earth terminal  of a socket has that strap that  connects to the fixing  screw,  then the box lug .  At one time  when the socket was removed from the wall there would be no earth on the plate .   So an earth terminal was introduced on the back of the box  and  jumper wire  added. 

And consequently a green earth wire added with the red / blacks   .

Another thing  old sparkies do , including  me,  was  to  bump SWA locknuts  up tight with a  hammer / chisel  as the locknuts became thinner & thinner  and the grips kept shearing off them .    The armouring was always the earth  by the way . 

i was on about the runners

 

[Tony S]

It’s 25 years since I did any installation work. Even then the bushes were too small for a bush king spanner. Either that or the company was being more tight fisted than usual.

(Written in brail, I’ve bust my glasses again.)

 

[Evans Electric]

I have a couple of  3/4"   bushes  left ,  compared with today's 20mm  variety  they are  10 times thicker  and must weigh 90 times heavier. 

As Kerch says ...........  there obviously something wrong as the Bush King  no longer fits .     

I crushed a 21st century bush with the grips, trying to tighten.