Abstract: The dipstick has an enlarged head and an integral, flexible shank which extends slidably through the dipstick tube of a conventional engine crankcase so that a pair of spaced thermistors, which are mounted on the shank adjacent its inner end, normally will be immersed beneath the level of the oil in the crankcase. The shank contains a ground conductor which is connected adjacent one end to one side of the thermistors, and adjacent its opposite end has sliding, resilient engagement with the inside of the dipstick tube. The opposite sides of the thermistors are connected by two additional conductors which extend upwardly in the shank to register with a pair of openings that are formed in diametrally sides of the shank near the dipstick head.

Abstract: Two wire leads project from opposite ends of a dielectric housing having a sealed chamber containing a fusible metal alloy link, which operatively connects the wire leads electrically to one another. A flexible, pre-loaded, dielectric spring element in the chamber engages and exerts upon the link a predetermined stress, which is operative to cause the link suddenly to fail and interrupt the connection between the leads, when the ambient temperature of the link exceeds a predetermined temperature range. In one embodiment the two wire leads project into the chamber and have spaced, confronting ends interconnected by the link, one side of which is held under compressive stress by the spring element.

Abstract: This two-piece fuse comprises a generally rectangular plastic, dielectric housing, and a one-piece wire conductor. The conductor is folded into generally W-shaped configuration, and its inverted, V-shaped center section is inserted into a central recess in the bottom of the housing in such manner that its two, spaced, V-shaped legs are bent around the grooved, rounded ends of a pair of rigid web sections which project from the underside of the housing. Opposite ends of the folded wire are secured in a pair of spaced openings in the housing so that the two V-shaped legs of the wire are supported in a common plane by two web sections of the housing. The diameter of the wire is greater than the depth of the groove in each web section so that portions of the wire legs project out of the grooves for engagement with contacts when the leg sections of the wire are inserted into a cooperating female receptacle.

Abstract: A one-piece wire lead has intermediate its ends a thin, flattened section which is seated against a recessed die surface that is formed on one end wall of a hermetically sealed chamber in a preferably transparent, paraboloidally-shaped plastic housing. The two cylindrical leg sections of the lead project out of the opposite end of the chamber for connection in series with a conductor in a circuit that is to be protected. A plastic, electrically non-conductive, spring-loaded sabot is mounted to reciprocate in the chamber between a retracted position in which a sharp cutting edge on the forward end thereof faces one side of the flattened section of the lead, and an advanced position in which the sabot cutting edge has cut through the flattened lead section, and has extended into a recess in the die surface. Normally a compacted, granular thermal plug is cast or molded around either the sharp cutting edge of the sabot, or its operating spring, thereby normally to retain the sabot in its retracted position.