r/mildyinteresting • u/Shtaven • Jan 01 '26
gadgets galore 📲 This library has a sign to warn you when there’s icy conditions.
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u/Big_Spicy_Tuna69 Jan 01 '26
How does that work? Is it just a fancy thermometer? Does it also somehow collect or monitor precipitation?
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u/Shtaven Jan 01 '26
From Google lens - This is an Accuform Icy Conditions Indicator sign with a temperature-sensitive dial.
The circular dial changes from reflective silver to reflective blue when the temperature drops to freezing levels, indicating potential icy conditions.
The sign warns pedestrians and drivers of the potential for slippery surfaces, helping to prevent slips and falls.
It is a self-contained unit that does not require batteries or electronics.
The system can be post-mounted or used in a portable kit.
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u/Big_Spicy_Tuna69 Jan 01 '26
So a fancy thermometer, got it.
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u/ieaiao1 Jan 01 '26
I think it’s a coil that shrinks at a certain temp allowing the blue to be shown
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u/Big_Spicy_Tuna69 Jan 01 '26
Which is how mechanical spring driven thermometers work
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u/aakaase Jan 01 '26
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u/RetroGamer2153 Jan 02 '26
Respectfully, no. The binding of two metals isn't required.
Old dial thermometers have a coil of metal holding the needle. As the metal warms up, it expands. By anchoring the one end, the coil begins rotating, taking the needle along for the ride.
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u/IP_What Jan 02 '26
Did you read your link?
Open up one of these thermometers and you'll see the pointer is mounted on coiled piece of metal called a bimetallic strip that's designed to expand and bend as it gets hotter
It might be theoretically possible to build a thermometer that operates only on expansion of a coiled strip of metal, but I’d think they’d be substantially less accurate and not substantially cheaper than using a bimetallic strip
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u/No-Acanthisitta8803 Jan 01 '26
Precisely. Not as accurate as alcohol or mercury thermometers btw
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u/Jacktheforkie Jan 01 '26
These don’t have to be super accurate, just enough to warn people
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u/Historical_Body6255 Jan 04 '26
It doesn't even work for that.
There can very well be slippery conditions even with several degrees above freezing.
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u/No-Acanthisitta8803 Jan 01 '26
What's sad is the fact that society needs to be notified in the first place. Cold+water=ice. Ice=slippery lol
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u/Jacktheforkie Jan 01 '26
These are more a reminder that the ground may be slippery, that way people expect it
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u/No-Acanthisitta8803 Jan 01 '26
My mind went to the lawsuit happy slip fall and sue people
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u/-Linen Jan 01 '26
Saw a lot of these in Buffalo N.Y. / never seen them anywhere else. It may be a way of covering your insurance coverage.
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u/Marzipan_civil Jan 02 '26
I expect it could be for black ice
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u/Poohbutt2005 Jan 04 '26
Yeah, gotta be careful. That Black ice will sneak up and rob you of your balance.
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u/Ok-Mixture-2282 Jan 04 '26
It’s really to avoid lawsuits
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u/No-Acanthisitta8803 Jan 04 '26
I guess my implication was hidden. When I wrote that I was thinking about how sad the world is today that we have to spend money to warn people about obvious hazards simply so they don't try to sue us for everything we've got. Basically it's ridiculous that we have to put warnings like this to fend off the slip and fall people
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u/trixel121 Jan 01 '26
they said library so my assumption is this is something you put up for kids / the disabled. like the down syndrome adult who is now going to be a lot more careful cause the warning was there.
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u/Lucky_Pips Jan 01 '26
It's that implied transitive property that gets everyone with that system of equations.
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u/thehotshotpilot Jan 01 '26
That's how they work. My Fred Meyers grocery store has these
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u/outtaleftfield1 Jan 01 '26
Grew up in a “full winter” state and never saw them, moved to Washington state 20 years ago and saw my first one at a Fred Meyer. I was very confused for a bit
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u/SATerp Jan 01 '26
There are also temperature gauges that change color according to the temperature they're exposed to. They're used with high temp dishwashers to show when certain minimums around 160 degrees F are reached, but they are only single use. There are temperature color change cards that can be used long term in refrigerators to show specific temperatures around 40 degrees F.
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u/Horror_Tooth_522 Jan 01 '26
More like indicator. It would be thermometer if it would show you exact temperature.
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u/Sacharon123 Jan 02 '26
I mean, its in the USA I guess from the enviroment, they do not really understand freezing point of water, they prefer some saline solution from Danzig instead, so this can be helpful.
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u/ThomasTheDankPigeon Jan 01 '26
That is not even close to an answer to the question.
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u/TheW83 Jan 05 '26 edited Jan 05 '26
It does if you know what a temperature-sensitive dial is. I'm not saying it answers the question but it does guide you slightly in the right direction. Very incomplete though.
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u/ThomasTheDankPigeon Jan 05 '26
“How does a microwave work” “It is a microwave”
See how you’re wrong?
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u/Silver4ura Jan 01 '26
This was basically AI with a couple human-steps in between. Why does this have more upvotes than the valid question this comment DIDN'T answer?
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Jan 01 '26
Since no one gave you an actual answer as to how it actually works: it uses a material that rotates the innards as it cools off, the heating/cooling causes the material to expand/shrink and this is turned into rotational energy. Super simple device.
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u/wthulhu Jan 01 '26
Same as the beer cans that change color when cold
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u/BizRec Jan 01 '26
the what, now?
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u/wthulhu Jan 01 '26
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Jan 02 '26
They’re not the same in any capacity, aside from the change in color. Each achieve those results in completely different ways.
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u/zxcvbn113 Jan 01 '26
They installed these all over my industrial workplace. They also insist on you wearing ice cleats for slippery conditions and holding hand rails when using stairs.
Slip and fall accidents are far too common.
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u/HellsTubularBells Jan 01 '26
Time for your annual "Winter Safety Refresher" CBT! Might as well complete "Step Ladder Safety" and "Hot Beverage Safety" while you're at it.
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u/Constant_Carob1050 Jan 01 '26
There was one at my work after someone slipped on the ice. It became a recordable incident because she went to the urgent care.
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u/TheGrouchyGremlin Jan 05 '26
Maybe "stepping on your foot wrong" will become a reportable incident at my work, since I just had to go to the urgent care for that 😂. Happened two weeks ago. Thought it was a minor bruise at first, so I didn't file an incident report.
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u/RegulatoryCapturedMe Jan 01 '26
In Colorado sometimes big snows happen, then deep freezes. People drive and walk on the snow and it becomes ice. Thick ice. The next day is 70f. The dial would no longer be blue, but the ice is there for another month on all north side of the building pavement.
Maybe that is why nobody has these in CO?
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u/aakaase Jan 01 '26
Weird. I'm here in icy cold Minnesota and I have never seen such a sign or indicator device like that ever. So what's the deal with that disc, it's half blue, half white. What does that mean?
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u/Shtaven Jan 01 '26
As pictured it’s indicating icy conditions.
The white “pie” pieces are permanent. The blue “pie” pieces shift. They are silver when there aren’t icy condition’s.
If you zoom in on the picture, you can see little bits of the silver.
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u/vulpinefever Jan 01 '26
Probably because Minnesota is cold enough for icy conditions to be normal for months at a time. I've never seen one in Canada either.
I imagine these are more common in places where it doesn't get freezing cold often so people need a reminder to watch for ice when it does.
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u/mellywheats Jan 01 '26
i think its useless but it’s cool.
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u/figgypudding531 Jan 01 '26
Agreed, the temperature being below freezing does not necessarily mean there’s ice on the ground and vice versa
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u/mellywheats Jan 01 '26
yeah and you can tell just by going outside.. the only time this thing would be useful if it was right outside the front door and you could see it from inside getting ready to leave the house
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u/montr2229 Jan 01 '26
I wonder what makes it so expensive 🫰🏽
https://www.accuform.com/safety-sign/icy-conditions-indicator-kit-frw976
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u/BruceBoyde Jan 02 '26
Probably patented, and industrial supply stuff is always marked up because they don't need to price it to sell to individual consumers. Overall sales volume will be lower than a consumer product, so the profit per unit has to be higher
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u/blacksharpie Jan 02 '26
They are made by a company called IceAlert in Portland, Oregon. www.icealert.com
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u/mr_formstone Jan 01 '26
these are so cool. i'm a mailman and there's one of these on a mailbox on one of my riding routes. unfortunately it does me no good since that address is roughly 80% of the way through the route LMAO
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u/74NG3N7 Jan 02 '26
My area has these and larger traffic ones posted randomly all over. It’s kinda nice.
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u/Pfizermyocarditis Jan 01 '26
Oh I was gonna walk around like an asshole but the signs blue so I'll chill out.
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u/TripCruise Jan 02 '26
It's basically a "we told you so" sign in case someone slips and falls in a big box parking lot and wants to sue.
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u/Marzipan_civil Jan 02 '26
There's one on the entrance to an underground car park near me. To be fair the entrance ramp is quite steep so you'd want to know if it was icy.
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u/Soci3talCollaps3 Jan 02 '26
Is the blue what is supposed to be blue, or are we waiting on the white parts to turn blue?
For context, I struggle with the CC orientation with the swipe stripe and the thumbs up and down on youtube.
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u/Freezezzy Jan 02 '26
I've seen one at a place near where I work.
In Phoenix.
Needless to say, I've never seen it blue once.
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u/East-Canary-538 Jan 02 '26
My job has these at all entrances. I live in Texas so it’s not blue often lol.
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u/brunaBla Jan 01 '26
What if it’s white and blue?
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u/lockandcompany Jan 01 '26
They can be when it’s hovering just around freezing temp! One like this is installed outside my building since I live in elderly and disabled housing
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u/Zickityzickrubin Jan 01 '26
Also mildly interesting; there is a stop sign at the top of my street.
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u/Toast-N-Jam Jan 05 '26
There was a local company here that could’ve had employees working fully remote when we had an ice storm and the company insisted that everyone come into the office. He slipped on the sidewalk while walking into work, broke his neck and died.
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u/BlackdogA Jan 01 '26
Very interest idea I want to try test that natural device see if it is accurate or not.
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u/AstronomerChoice9999 Jan 01 '26
Throughout Europe, almost every Amazon centre I've been to has one of those. Very useful in winter.
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Jan 01 '26
[deleted]
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u/WloveW Jan 01 '26
When it's safe the disk is all the same shade (white/silver) and when it's freezy the alternating parts of the device get shown, apparently . So it looks a little like a radiation symbol rather than a white/light disk.
It's visible by colorblind people.
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u/Due-Cup1115 Jan 02 '26
If someone has already gotten in their car, driven across town and parked in this lot without using their eyes so observe that there are icy conditions...then why would they see a sign thats supposed to tell them?
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u/TeacupOni Jan 02 '26
I mean, it's neat, but is there is snow on the ground here in Canada, you kinda just assume it's gonna be icy. And if there is ice on the stop signs, you can assume it'll be real icy
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u/SpinMeADog Jan 02 '26
considering it's placed outside, how about... gosh, I don't know, using your fucking eyes? maybe feeling the temperature, if that's not too crazy of an idea? early contender for stupidest thing I've seen this year
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