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Old 28th Nov 2009, 4:10 pm   #1
Gordon
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Default Problem - mercury switches

I bought two radios in France and the seller also off-loaded a box of junk for nothing. Inside this box was a smaller box labelled 'Contacs au Mercure'. Poblem: I have ten mercury tilt-switch contacts (see photo) - what do I do with them? I did offer them to the local electricity museum as a display tableau but mercury, tut! tut!

Any ideas for disposal?

Gordon.
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Old 28th Nov 2009, 4:12 pm   #2
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Default Re: Problem - mercury switches

send them to me, i`ll have them off you. Postage covered.
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Old 28th Nov 2009, 4:31 pm   #3
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Default Re: Problem - mercury switches

Hi.
Why not fix them to lids EG record player lids to put a light on or use them via a relay to switch the unit on or off.
Use one on the bonnet of the car for a bonnet light.
They have loads of uses and perfectly safe if used properly.
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Old 28th Nov 2009, 5:35 pm   #4
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Default Re: Problem - mercury switches

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gordon View Post

Any ideas for disposal?
I would be very careful about what you do with these. I'm no expert, but you could probably end up in serious trouble if you post these without complying with various (obviously necessary) regulations. You may find you're bound up with hazardous waste regs, for example, and even if not, I'm fairly sure you can't bung mercury through the post casually.

Imagine if someone ends up being exposed to it if those envelopes break - doesn't bear thinking about.

I'd also be very careful about offering them in the open market as they have possible sinister applications.
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Old 28th Nov 2009, 5:44 pm   #5
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Default Re: Problem - mercury switches

I can`t see how they would be any more dangerous than a simple thermometer?
and those that want to make tilt switch weapons are hardly likely to get their stuff from places like this
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Old 28th Nov 2009, 6:00 pm   #6
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Default Re: Problem - mercury switches

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I can`t see how they would be any more dangerous than a simple thermometer?
Erm, simple thermometers aren't made with mercury any more. In any case, this is a red herring. There really are regs on shipping highly hazardous chemicals around.

http://www.postoffice.co.uk/portal/p...diaId=19100263

Here it is, clear as daylight. It's prohibited to send mercury through the post.
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Old 28th Nov 2009, 6:16 pm   #7
Leon Crampin
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Default Re: Problem - mercury switches

I used one as a car boot light switch in a hatchback. Fine, but...

As you applied the brakes, the mercury ran up the tube and put the boot light on - disconcerting in the rear view mirror at night.

Keep these splendidly useful devices. My French clock has two jars of mercury to compensate the pendulum for changes of length with temperature. A health & safety ninny is going nowhere near it. Don't be so daft as to break them.

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Old 28th Nov 2009, 6:20 pm   #8
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Default Re: Problem - mercury switches

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Originally Posted by Leon Crampin View Post
My French clock has two jars of mercury to compensate the pendulum for changes of length with temperature.
Now that is elegant and ingenious, Leon!
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Old 28th Nov 2009, 6:48 pm   #9
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Default Re: Problem - mercury switches

I used to put them in Christamas presents with a 9v batt and a peizo buzzer to stop certain people shaking their presents to find out what was in them, but over the years friends have scrounged them all off me, and the last one I had was in my greenhouse on an automatic window closer that turned a fan on, but I gave up my allotment due to ill health and lost that one too.
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Old 28th Nov 2009, 7:14 pm   #10
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Default Re: Problem - mercury switches

if you want to be "legal" you have to contact authorities and ask, it may even cost you quite a bit of money.
we get HUGE number of these when we go through that stuff where I work ( northern Sweden) record was 78.4kG in one day. most of that in one single box, every switch nicely wrapped in tissue.
oh, I work in a place where we "decontaminate" electronics.
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Old 28th Nov 2009, 7:39 pm   #11
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Default Re: Problem - mercury switches

This is amazing, we used to play with mercury on our school desks and then probably eat our sandwiches, to my knowledge no one died.
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Old 28th Nov 2009, 7:45 pm   #12
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Default Re: Problem - mercury switches

Amazingly, I came across a mercury tilt switch last week at home. Our front doorbell is a Friedland ding-dong type, with two metal chime bars - and as the solenoid plunger strikes one, a little lever carrying a mercury switch moves over and disconnects the solenoid so it moves back under spring pressure and strikes the other chime bar.

The switch was covered in dust (incidentally all it needed was a good clean). I couldn't believe my eyes when I cleaned off the dust with a soft paint brush and a vacuum cleaner. I'm delighted!
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Old 28th Nov 2009, 7:45 pm   #13
M0FYA Andy
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Default Re: Problem - mercury switches

One of my other 'vintage technology' interests is in master/slave impulse clock systems made by such firms as Gents of Leicester or the Synchronome Company. Mercury tilt switches are in various applications in these electromechanical systems, for example in the school Bell Programmers used to operate the bells at lesson-change times. In this application, to time the period of bell operation to, say. ten seconds, the mercury switch is fitted with a narrow 'bypass pipe' to allow the mercury to run back slowly after the switch is tilted. Another application was to operate a simple switch switch directly by the master clock pendulum to provide timing pulses used in metering in the gas supply industry.

All replaced by modern electronics nowadays!

As other people have said, hang onto the switches, they are becoming hard to get and you never know when one will come in handy!

Andy
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Old 28th Nov 2009, 8:27 pm   #14
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Default Re: Problem - mercury switches

Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter.N. View Post
This is amazing, we used to play with mercury on our school desks and then probably eat our sandwiches, to my knowledge no one died.
same here, in fact one of the demos in Science was to try and shove your hand into a jar full of the stuff, it`s really hard to do!
check this out:

http://www.popamericana.com/!/Sittin...%20Mercury.JPG
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Old 28th Nov 2009, 8:39 pm   #15
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Default Re: Problem - mercury switches

Hi.

I too have come across Mercury tilt switches in old Friedland door bells, and remember it in chemistry lessons at school in the early 80's.

I know I'm a bit thick, but what is considered to be the heath hazard with Mercury.

Please enlighten me!

Thanks. SimonT.
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Old 28th Nov 2009, 8:53 pm   #16
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Default Re: Problem - mercury switches

Mercury poisons the kidneys and nervous system. Mercury vapour in the air can be breathed in. Unlike other heavy metals, it is very slowly cleared from the body by the kidneys (hence the possibility of damage) so people can recover. But it's a long slow process.

Mercury compounds are very easily absorbed through the skin. Pure mercury metal ingested, is not so bad, oddly enough. Apparently, people have been given the stuff to drink to help clear intestinal blockages (!). It just runs through, without reacting with any digestive juices. So Peter N (post 11) has no doubt got away with it on his sandwiches. But it's not the stuff to take chances with. It has its uses, so let's use mercury and not abuse it. Nobody wants to lose a Forum member to mercury poisoning, and the rest of us don't want another statistic to reinforce the arguments against its use. I don't want my house to be devalued because of the doorbell's mercury content, needing professional decontaminating services!!

Incidentally the last clinical thermometer I bought (April this year) was a mercury type.
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Old 28th Nov 2009, 8:59 pm   #17
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Default Re: Problem - mercury switches

Quote:
Originally Posted by YT2095UK View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter.N. View Post
This is amazing, we used to play with mercury on our school desks and then probably eat our sandwiches, to my knowledge no one died.
same here, in fact one of the demos in Science was to try and shove your hand into a jar full of the stuff, it`s really hard to do!
check this out:
Yep, we did that too (in the mid 70s) !
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Old 28th Nov 2009, 8:59 pm   #18
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Default Re: Problem - mercury switches

Quote:
Originally Posted by thermionic View Post

...what is considered to be the heath hazard with Mercury?
http://www.epa.gov/mercury/effects.htm

Simon, according to the US Environmental Protection agency:
'...tremors; emotional changes (e.g., mood swings, irritability, nervousness, excessive shyness); insomnia; neuromuscular changes (such as weakness, muscle atrophy, twitching); headaches; disturbances in sensations; changes in nerve responses; performance deficits on tests of cognitive function...At higher exposures there may be kidney effects, respiratory failure and death...'
(My bold text for emphasis.)

This source also notes:
'These exposures can occur when elemental mercury is spilled or products that contain elemental mercury break and expose mercury to the air, particularly in warm or poorly-ventilated indoor spaces. '
Charles II died from acute mercury poisoning, having inhaled the vapour from the lab at the palace of Westminster. On inhalation, it crosses the blood-brain barrier. Apparently, serum leaks into the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and damages brain cells, initially causing seizures, and eventually, possible death.
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Last edited by Al (astral highway); 28th Nov 2009 at 9:22 pm. Reason: Replaced wrong hyperlink. Bold for emphasis in part of quote
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Old 28th Nov 2009, 9:02 pm   #19
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Default Re: Problem - mercury switches

Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter.N. View Post
This is amazing, we used to play with mercury on our school desks and then probably eat our sandwiches, to my knowledge no one died.
Yes I can remember that! It used to facinate me when the stuff rolled about the worktop. That would have been 40 years ago. The 'elf n safety' twits would have had a field day!


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Old 28th Nov 2009, 10:34 pm   #20
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Default Re: Problem - mercury switches

It is felt that the time has come to time to fasten down the lid on the mercury before any more harmful vapours escape.
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