how does the gas pump know when to stop??

[blurredvision]

I was on the way to work, and stopped to fill up. Well, I just started thinking, how in the hell does the pump know when to quit pumping so you won't overflow??

 

[Viper GTS]

Gas Pump 101

Question

How does a gasoline pump at a filling station know when the tank is full?

Answer

This mechanism has been around for a long time, so it is safe to say there is not a miniature camera inside the nozzle hooked to a microprocessor! It's actually purely mechanical, but ingenious.
Near the tip of the nozzle is a small hole, and a small pipe leads back from the hole into the handle. Suction is applied to this pipe using a venturi. When the tank is not full, air is being drawn through the hole by the vacuum and the air flows easily. When gasoline in the tank rises high enough to block the hole, a mechanical linkage in the handle senses the change in suction and flips the nozzle off. Here's a way to think about it - imagine a small pipe with suction being applied at one end and air flowing through the pipe easily. If you stick the free end of the pipe in a glass of water, much more suction is needed, so a vacuum develops in the middle of the pipe. That vacuum can be used to flip a lever that cuts off the nozzle.

The next time you fill up your tank, look for this hole either on the inside or the outside of the tip.

Completely useless trivia for those of us in Oregon who aren't even trusted to pump our own gas.



Viper GTS

 

[ThundercatHO]

i like giving the gas pump a lethal dose of no brains, then it doesn't know when to kick off...
DUUUHHHH, ME STUPID GAS PUMP

 

[Optimus]

Magical gas pump gnomes.

 

[SSP]

LOL @ Optimus.

 

[cxim]

WcC,

Ewu must be a real yungun WcC.... Nature has done this fur ever... unce the load is delivered... thu delivry device quits... it is a bam !! & now it's over kind uf axion.

im truly surry yur POP dint tell yu abut tis. It wuz invntd bye du wumenses. dey lik tu sleep.

U go tu da movies & the pump wurks fer da lung tim; dis ain't rel. Du wumenses sa de ooh & da ahh ! und da pump quits.

nut unly dat...U git slepy...

Hapy bakon un egs !

und re cullect... chilenzes cum frum de ful tank !!!!

yurs in pumpin

 

[blurredvision]

Sorry if I don't know how a friggin gas pump works. I'm not the one who made it, I just use it. Sorry.....

 

[Viperoni]

I always go over
Damm I love my premium gas @ 1.52 a gallon

 

[ZeroCool420]

Full Service baby! All I know is I ain't pumping

 

[bUnMaNGo]

bah viperoni! up here in santa cruz and silicon valley, premium is around $2.05/gallon

 

[Viperoni]

heh heh
I pity you guys
This 5 liter v8 sure likes 93 better than 87