Honeywell T832 Round Thermostat

Description: This is a Honeywell Round T832 day-night thermostat that was manufactured by the Minneapolis-Honeywell Company around 1960. Renowned industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss designed the iconic “Round” line of Honeywell thermostats that debuted in 1953. This 1960 model has two built-in red indicators that allow for the setting of two temperatures as well as a “set-back timer” which would automatically switch between the two thermostats. Staring in the 1953, Honeywell offered the Round in a variety of colors to match any home’s color scheme for a price of $12.80.; The ubiquity of thermostats in 21st century homes shrouds the decades of innovation, industrial design, and engineering that went into making them an everyday object. In the early 20th century, a majority of American households still heated their homes with manually operated furnaces that required a trip down to the basement and stoking the coal fired furnace. Albert Butz’s “damper-flapper” system was patented in 1886 and allowed the home owner to set the thermostat to a certain temperature which would open a damper to the furnace, increasing the fire and heating the house. Progressive innovations allowed for the thermostats to use gas lines, incorporate electricity, turn on at a set time, include heating and cooling in one mechanism, and even connect to the internet.

See more items in: Work and Industry: Mechanical and Civil Engineering; Thermostats; Domestic Furnishings; Engineering, Building, and Architecture; American Enterprise
Exhibition: American Enterprise
Exhibition Location: National Museum of American History

Comments

My grandfather Paul Seepe was a engineer for Honeywell and invented this thermostat along with many others during his time at Honeywell.

Mark Acheson

Wed, 2018-12-19 08:55