I was reading an article about wall switches and came across a mention of
how they used to be constructed of mercury. The article went on to say that
aside from the obvious problems associated with mercury, the switches
themselves were superior in action, quiet, longest lasting and most energy
efficient. It kind of begs the question to me - do any of you all still
have mercury switches in your house and if so - are they all that wonderful?

On Apr 17, 9:05 pm, "Eigenvector" wrote:
I was reading an article about wall switches and came across a mention of
how they used to be constructed of mercury. The article went on to say that
aside from the obvious problems associated with mercury, the switches
themselves were superior in action, quiet, longest lasting and most energy
efficient. It kind of begs the question to me - do any of you all still
have mercury switches in your house and if so - are they all that wonderful?

came across a few today still working fine in an apt. the only time i
seem to replace them is when asked to do so.as far as better probabaly
seeing things made today are not made to last, no money if your not
periodically replacing them.

"Eigenvector" wrote in message
...
I was reading an article about wall switches and came across a mention of
how they used to be constructed of mercury. The article went on to say
that aside from the obvious problems associated with mercury, the switches
themselves were superior in action, quiet, longest lasting and most energy
efficient. It kind of begs the question to me - do any of you all still
have mercury switches in your house and if so - are they all that
wonderful?

Back in the 50's we had some in our house. They were silent and smooth
operating. Most switches today are pretty quite, but back then, the normal
switch made a pretty loud click. Back then, yes, they were all that
wonderful. Today, even a cheap switch performs well, is easy to flip, and is
virtually silent.

I also recall having a bottle of mercury in the house. We used to play with
it and make shiny pennies. Today, we'd be tossed in jail for that and the
street would be evacuated. We also put Mercurochrome on cuts to help them
heal.

In article ,
"Eigenvector" wrote:
efficient. It kind of begs the question to me - do any of you all still
have mercury switches in your house and if so - are they all that wonderful?

There are four of them in the thermostat for my heat pump. According to
the inspector who inspected the house before I bought it, my heat pump
appears to be from around 1977, which is before mercury started being
phased out of homes, I believe.

Wikipedia has this to say about mercury switches in thermostats:

Mercury switches were commonly used in bimetal thermostats. The
weight of the movable mercury drop provided some hysteresis by
moving the bimetal spring slightly beyond the point it would
normally assume, thereby holding the thermostat off slightly longer
before flipping to the on state and then holding the thermostat on
slightly longer before flipping back to the off state. The mercury
also provided a very positive on/off switching action and could
withstand millions of cycles without degradation of the contacts.

I used to have a small vial of mercury, which I obtained sometime in the
early '70s, when I was around 12. Me and the other kids would take it
out now and then and watch it roll around and poke it with things. In
the vial, I kept a screw, which floated on top of the mercury. It was
very cool.

It's funny to think that what we considered a toy back then and showed
our friends in school would probably prompt an evacuation if a kid
brought it to school today.

I don't know what happened to it. I think I lost it during a move.

--
--Tim Smith

they were mainly used because they were silent. Thermostats still use them
if they're not electronic. The only drawback on a standard spst mercury
switch is that it HAS to be mounted in the standard fashion only.
Can't be horizontal or on a horizontal surface.

--
Steve Barker




"Eigenvector" wrote in message
...
I was reading an article about wall switches and came across a mention of
how they used to be constructed of mercury. The article went on to say
that aside from the obvious problems associated with mercury, the switches
themselves were superior in action, quiet, longest lasting and most energy
efficient. It kind of begs the question to me - do any of you all still
have mercury switches in your house and if so - are they all that
wonderful?

I saw a show on tv once a long time ago they had a quantity of mercury in a
cake sized pan with a crescent wrench floating on it. Seems weird when you
see that.

--
Steve Barker




"Tim Smith" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Eigenvector" wrote:
efficient. It kind of begs the question to me - do any of you all still
have mercury switches in your house and if so - are they all that
wonderful?

There are four of them in the thermostat for my heat pump. According to
the inspector who inspected the house before I bought it, my heat pump
appears to be from around 1977, which is before mercury started being
phased out of homes, I believe.

Wikipedia has this to say about mercury switches in thermostats:

Mercury switches were commonly used in bimetal thermostats. The
weight of the movable mercury drop provided some hysteresis by
moving the bimetal spring slightly beyond the point it would
normally assume, thereby holding the thermostat off slightly longer
before flipping to the on state and then holding the thermostat on
slightly longer before flipping back to the off state. The mercury
also provided a very positive on/off switching action and could
withstand millions of cycles without degradation of the contacts.

I used to have a small vial of mercury, which I obtained sometime in the
early '70s, when I was around 12. Me and the other kids would take it
out now and then and watch it roll around and poke it with things. In
the vial, I kept a screw, which floated on top of the mercury. It was
very cool.

It's funny to think that what we considered a toy back then and showed
our friends in school would probably prompt an evacuation if a kid
brought it to school today.

I don't know what happened to it. I think I lost it during a move.

--
--Tim Smith

"Steve Barker" wrote in message
...
I saw a show on tv once a long time ago they had a quantity of mercury in a
cake sized pan with a crescent wrench floating on it. Seems weird when you
see that.

--
Steve Barker

Mercury weights 156 pounds a gallon. Someone dumped two gallons by the road
a few miles south of me. You can imagine the excitement that generated.

ya, how in the world do they collect it ? Shop vac?

--
Steve Barker




"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message
.. .

"Steve Barker" wrote in message
...
I saw a show on tv once a long time ago they had a quantity of mercury in
a cake sized pan with a crescent wrench floating on it. Seems weird when
you see that.

--
Steve Barker

Mercury weights 156 pounds a gallon. Someone dumped two gallons by the
road a few miles south of me. You can imagine the excitement that
generated.

On Tue, 17 Apr 2007 18:05:26 -0700, "Eigenvector"
wrote:

I was reading an article about wall switches and came across a mention of
how they used to be constructed of mercury. The article went on to say that
aside from the obvious problems associated with mercury, the switches
themselves were superior in action, quiet, longest lasting and most energy
efficient.

I'm sure they are totally efficient, but how inefficient are the other
switches? Unles they are getting warm, even if you can't feel the
didfference, I think they are also totally effficient.

I'm sure at the end of their life they get warm, but mine are all 28
years old and as good as new afaict.

It kind of begs the question to me - do any of you all still
have mercury switches in your house and if so - are they all that wonderful?

I have mercury switches in my car, to turn on the trunk light and the
dome light, and I've used them for burglar alarm switches in cars
also. But none of them get used mcuh.

I have loads of mercury, 10 or 20 cc, half that my father, a dentist,
gave me when he was alive and I was 6 or 7, and about an equal amount
that I guess I inherited after he died. His nurse, Grace, must have
remembered that I would want it**. It's been 52 years, and I've been
saving it for something special. The last 10 years I've lowered my
standards and would use it for something not special, but nothing has
come to mind.

Don't worry. I haven't poisoned myself. Playing with it was no fun
and only made it dirty for no purpose. I think I knew that at age 8
without even trying.

**I also got a whole bunch of cheap, plastic, hollow, small, cars and
buses, that he would give to kids after their dental work, but even at
the age of 8, I didn't want that stuff. I would have been happy to
get one piece after a dental visit, but getting 40 pieces, well, I
would rather play with my brother's Lionel train than with hollow cars
and buses. There was a third thing in that box too, that was only
slightly interesting at the time, but I don't remember what it was.

On Wed, 18 Apr 2007 01:40:29 GMT, "Edwin Pawlowski"
wrote:


"Eigenvector" wrote in message
...
I was reading an article about wall switches and came across a mention of
how they used to be constructed of mercury. The article went on to say
that aside from the obvious problems associated with mercury, the switches
themselves were superior in action, quiet, longest lasting and most energy
efficient. It kind of begs the question to me - do any of you all still
have mercury switches in your house and if so - are they all that
wonderful?

Back in the 50's we had some in our house. They were silent and smooth
operating. Most switches today are pretty quite, but back then, the normal
switch made a pretty loud click. Back then, yes, they were all that
wonderful.

Exactly. In comparison to the big click, which could probably wake
most people who were sleeping, they were great. I think they were the
difference between middle class and upper middle class. (Expecially
if you had to hire an electrician to put them in.)

Today, even a cheap switch performs well, is easy to flip, and is
virtually silent.

Yep.

I also recall having a bottle of mercury in the house. We used to play with
it and make shiny pennies. Today, we'd be tossed in jail for that and the
street would be evacuated. We also put Mercurochrome on cuts to help them
heal.

Did you ever get merthiolate? Which one stung and which one didn't?

"Eigenvector" wrote in message
...
I was reading an article about wall switches and came across a mention of
how they used to be constructed of mercury. The article went on to say
that aside from the obvious problems associated with mercury, the switches
themselves were superior in action, quiet, longest lasting and most energy
efficient. It kind of begs the question to me - do any of you all still
have mercury switches in your house and if so - are they all that
wonderful?

They work forever. But no bells and whistles, like auto setback.
I have them in 2 houses. I don't see any reason they'd be more
energy efficient than any other thermostat, and they are certainly
less efficient than a modern auto setback unit.

Bob

On Tue, 17 Apr 2007 21:29:16 -0500, "Steve Barker"
wrote:

ya, how in the world do they collect it ? Shop vac?

Merc vac.

--
Steve Barker

Just kidding.

In article , mm wrote:
On Wed, 18 Apr 2007 01:40:29 GMT, "Edwin Pawlowski"
wrote:

I also recall having a bottle of mercury in the house. We used to play with
it and make shiny pennies. Today, we'd be tossed in jail for that and the
street would be evacuated. We also put Mercurochrome on cuts to help them
heal.

Did you ever get merthiolate? Which one stung and which one didn't?

They *both* stung like a sonovabitch. Bactine is the one that didn't sting.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

In article , "Edwin Pawlowski" wrote:

Mercury weights 156 pounds a gallon. Someone dumped two gallons by the road
a few miles south of me. You can imagine the excitement that generated.

Mercury's dense, but not quite *that* dense.

13.6 kg/l * 3.78 l/gal * 2.2 lb/kg = 113 lb/gal

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

On Apr 17, 9:05 pm, "Eigenvector" wrote:
I was reading an article about wall switches and came across a mention of
how they used to be constructed of mercury. The article went on to say that
aside from the obvious problems associated with mercury, the switches
themselves were superior in action, quiet, longest lasting and most energy
efficient. It kind of begs the question to me - do any of you all still
have mercury switches in your house and if so - are they all that wonderful?


They are also explosion-proof.
No exposed spark.

Dave

wrote in message
ups.com...
On Apr 17, 9:05 pm, "Eigenvector" wrote:
I was reading an article about wall switches and came across a mention of
how they used to be constructed of mercury. The article went on to say
that
aside from the obvious problems associated with mercury, the switches
themselves were superior in action, quiet, longest lasting and most
energy
efficient. It kind of begs the question to me - do any of you all still
have mercury switches in your house and if so - are they all that
wonderful?


They are also explosion-proof.
No exposed spark.

Dave


I hadn't thought of it from that angle. That would be useful in a
combustible gas environment like a refinery.

"Doug Miller" wrote in message
..

Mercury's dense, but not quite *that* dense.

13.6 kg/l * 3.78 l/gal * 2.2 lb/kg = 113 lb/gal

I'll never trust the newspaper again.

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in
:


"Eigenvector" wrote in message
...
I was reading an article about wall switches and came across a mention
of how they used to be constructed of mercury. The article went on to
say that aside from the obvious problems associated with mercury, the
switches themselves were superior in action, quiet, longest lasting
and most energy efficient. It kind of begs the question to me - do
any of you all still have mercury switches in your house and if so -
are they all that wonderful?

Back in the 50's we had some in our house. They were silent and
smooth operating. Most switches today are pretty quite, but back
then, the normal switch made a pretty loud click. Back then, yes,
they were all that wonderful. Today, even a cheap switch performs
well, is easy to flip, and is virtually silent.

I also recall having a bottle of mercury in the house. We used to
play with it and make shiny pennies. Today, we'd be tossed in jail
for that and the street would be evacuated. We also put Mercurochrome
on cuts to help them heal.





I also recall having a bottle of mercury in the house. We used to
play with it and make shiny pennies.

Shazam! You too huh? Had a bottle of it and it weighed a few pounds.
Uncle used to fix TV's back when they had vacuum tubes and rats nest of
wiring. Think he got it out of certain tubes maybe?? Used to stick to the
real silver coins good. Stuck best to Mercury dimes I think :-)

Doug Miller wrote:
mm wrote:
"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote:

I also recall having a bottle of mercury in the house. We used to play with
it and make shiny pennies. Today, we'd be tossed in jail for that and the
street would be evacuated. We also put Mercurochrome on cuts to help them
heal.

Did you ever get merthiolate? Which one stung and which one didn't?

They *both* stung like a sonovabitch. Bactine is the one that didn't sting.

I don't recall mercurochrome stinging. Merthiolate always stung, of course.

--
Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast.
That's why stereo has two channels.

On Wed, 18 Apr 2007 16:29:28 -0700, Eigenvector wrote:

They are also explosion-proof.
No exposed spark.

Dave


I hadn't thought of it from that angle. That would be useful in a
combustible gas environment like a refinery.

Same for any electronic switch such as a transistor.