What is the plastic tip on the male Tri-Loc® connector used for and why isn it on all the Tri-Locs®?
The plastic tip is an improvement made to protect the user from possibly poking a hole in a finger but primarily to prevent electric shock by preventing a finger or other potential conductor from bridging the gap between the center conductor and the middle conductor. This was a running change made several years ago and older connectors may not have it. The old and new designs are completely interchangeable (reference Patent 4,045,113 for more information).
