what is this??

[Doug Rose]

I found this inside an old parking meter that was made into a lamp? Last pic, it was inside the open door. It was not connected. Looks like mercury inside a tube. Two cloth leads, on from the tube to an interface, one looks like it could connect to "whatever" and "whatever" would connect back to the interface. What is this??....Doug

[DavePEI]

I found this inside an old parking meter that was made into a lamp? Last pic, it was inside the open door. It was not connected. Looks like mercury inside a tube. Two cloth leads, on from the tube to an interface, one looks like it could connect to "whatever" and "whatever" would connect back to the interface. What is this??....Doug

Hi Doug:

I am guessing it is some kind of tilt switch - if the meter would be tilted slightly, the mercury would short out the contacts closing the switch, perhaps sending an alarm???

Dave

[LarryInMichigan]

It is a mercury switch like the ones which used to be used in thermostats.  When the bulb is tilted, the mercury moves and closes the switch.  I would think that the parking meter was strictly mechanical.  Perhaps some clever person added the mercury switch to turn on the lamp when the meter reached one end or the other.

Larry

[Dennis Markham]

I happen to have a similar parking meter that was given to me some years ago.  It was made in to a lamp.  The mercury switch was connected to the red flag.  When the flag comes up after the time runs out, the light turns off.  When a coin is inserted and time is put on the meter, the light comes on again.

[DavePEI]

I happen to have a similar parking meter that was given to me some years ago.  It was made in to a lamp.  The mercury switch was connected to the red flag.  When the flag comes up after the time runs out, the light turns off.  When a coin is inserted and time is put on the meter, the light comes on again.

Makes perfect sense for a mercury switch!

Dave

[Doug Rose]

thanks  guys...I d appreciate it...Doug

[paul-f]

You could wire the meter in series with a phone and use it as a coin collector.

Deposit a nickel for the next hour!  (Cheap!)   

[Kenton K]

Be very careful not to drop it or drop anything on it. I was replacing some old thermostats which all had mercury switches. One of them broke and I got mercury all over. The switch just broke when I dropped an aa battery on it. You may want to hazardous waste recycle it or put it in a vial to protect it.

-Ken

[twocvbloke]

Mercury really isn't as bad as it's made out to be, yes, in huge, constant doses it can make your teeth turn green and then fall out, and make you go mad as a hatter (cos hatmakers used mercury-laced weewee to make hats, cos mercury was a syphilis treatment many moons ago, and the repeated exposure mercury made them go bananas), but an accidental breakage of something like a mercury switch isn't much of an issue, just keep the windows open an the room well-ventilated until it's been cleaned up and the remains evaporated...

And as for CFLs & fluorescent tubes, there's not enough in them to be of a danger to anyone, you'd have to smash several thousand of them before the mercury becomes a problem, but by then you'd have been poisoned by the phosphors and probably sliced to shreds by the glass...

[Dan/Panther]

We used to coat dimes with mercury in our bare hands. We all turned out fine.
D/P

[paul-f]

Dan,

The plastic surgeries have worked wonders!

I hope your dentist is as skillful.

[Dan/Panther]

Paul; They did work pretty good. Here is the before photo.
D/P