Upon hearing the popular Sugababes track “Push the Button” recently and not being able to get the tune out of my head for some considerable time afterwards, it made me think about buttons in general. A button can be used to fasten clothing, start something, or used in language to describe how someone has evoked an emotion, usually irritation or anger. But that’s not all; in engineering, a push button has an important role to play.
Push-button engineering is a term used to describe an electrical switch mechanism that controls a machine or process. Buttons are usually made from plastic or metal, and there are different types depending on the intended use, such as dual push, miniature push, push to break, and push to make, to name but a few. More often than not, buttons are used to turn something on or off, but others are designed to be reset switches. They can also be mechanically linked. So when pushing one, it can activate a release operation in another.
In the commercial workplace, buttons are associated with colours, so as you would expect, green indicates start or go and red is to stop a process. In the home, we have all used a push button. Calculators, our cars, (push button) telephones, and many kitchen appliances are all engineered using this technology. I don’t know about you, but there have certainly been occasions when I would have liked a reset or turbo boost button to push.
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