Box of 100 12x1 1/4" rawlplugs.

Part of the Bob Gray collection of electrical objects.

It is said that the British engineer John Rawlings came up with his idea for the Rawplug from a problem posed by the British Museum in the 1920s. The Museum needed electrical fittings fixed to the walls unobtrusively and without causing damage to the masonry. This was difficult using the traditional method - chiselling a hole in the masonry, plugging it with wood, and screwing the fitting to the wood. John J. Rawlings, a building contractor, solved the problem by inventing the fibre plug - known as the Rawlplug - into which screws were driven. The basic principle in the design was grip by expansion. The screw could be driven into the Rawlplug just as simply as if into wood but the fixing immensely stronger.