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Curious Marc video about Mission Control switches

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Alex Eisenhut:


So cool to see these switches up close. They scream "1960s". Pretty sure they also ended up in the cockpit of the XB-70.

The quality of the illumination and the mechanical build are unbelievable.

Definitely a bygone era, to put so much engineering into a switch.

Edit; Should also thank Fran Blanche for the original video!

Lord of nothing:
She talk about such old stuff: https://www.youtube.com/c/FranBlanche/videos
That look so retro.  ;) I wish I could make my Rack looking more like that.

Alex Eisenhut:
These aren't cheap! They're on my list though...

RJSV:
Those switches showed up in SYSTRON DONNER mil spec products, at least back in 1970's.
  The company manufactured FIRE DETECTION systems both for aircraft and for military ground transport.
  The interesting thing, there in the SD SAFETY SYSTEMS division, the fire / overheat sensing is done by running a metal tube, (around your engine housing).
That tube for one thing, was filled with H2 gas (OR... was it Helium, cannot remember.)
So, you get a positive snap of a pressure switch, upon engine overheat.  Plus, you've got another pressure switch, just for monitoring the integrity, for leak detection.
And, finally, for your basic engine FIRE outbreak: a moly-wound wire (that means MOLYBDINOM ). The moly wire, there in the 8 foot long sensing tube, has been 'cracked' and infused with hydrogen. The high temperatures associated with a flash engine fire will cause extreme pressure rise, as the wire out-gasses.
  Truly a great and high-end product, I think they also sold systems (again with those vintage lamp display / switches), sold a few systems installed into ground generating units, as well as aviation.
   The business end, of detector, was a housing containing the pressure switches, and sometimes a 10 k resistor used in fault detection, of the sensor line.
Heck, you could even self- test the lamp, right there inside from the front panel. I think it is a 'Press to Test Lamps' push button, included on front face (of the switch / lamp unit.)

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