Mercury Switches
By Michael Woolf
I'm restoring an upright Steinway Welte Original with a dandy open mercury switch.The mercury wasn't there when I got the piano and I faced the standard dilemma of originality vs. safety. My compromise was similar to Thomas Henden's suggestion -- I found an old glass- enclosed mercury switch, wired it in, and fashioned a little clamp to hold it safely to the body of the original switch. It works just fine, is fully safe, and I think preserves the integrity of the instrument because not only does the original switch remain, the operating principle is the same as well.(Plus I get a little ego-trip glow when I think how smart I was!)
Michael Woolf
Wellington
New Zealand |
(Message sent Fri 16 Aug 1996, 05:43:54 GMT, from time zone GMT-0400.) |
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