Tilt switch from old thermostat. | |||
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Tilt switch from old thermostat. I replaced an old thermostat at our square house in Urbana, Illinois in late 2001, and this is the tilt switch from it. It had probably been there for decades. A thermostat works by mounting this kind of tilt switch on a coiled bi-metallic strip, which coils and uncoils slightly as the temperature changes. When the switch tilts out of level the mercury flows to one side or the other, turning on the heat or air-conditioning depending on the direction of tilt. The weight of the mercury tips the balance slightly further in the direction it went, providing a built-in hysteresis effect. Reports Kathy Tattersall from Wolfram Research, Inc: I just clicked on Mercury and saw the switch you used. It brought back fond memories of my Dad who used to invent so many gadgets that are now used in our everyday lives (but he never patented any of them!!) :( Source: Hardware Store Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 15 April, 2002 Text Updated: 11 August, 2007 Price: $10/new thermostat Size: 1" Purity: >95% | |||
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