Rubegoldbergian light-switch cover

Etsy's GreenTreeJewelry makes these whimsical, rube goldbergian light-switch covers that let you toggle the switch by means of a delightfully superfluous mechanism: "This light switch cover is completely functional. Levered handle toggles back and forth, turning on and off light switch."

Toggle Light Switch Plate (via Red Ferret)

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Nylund

When you have multiple switches connected to the same light, whether or not “down” represents on or off can change (depending on the position of the other switches). That nice “on/off” label might not always be correct. I think they have to add even more gizmos to correct for that.
Just_Ok

What if it’s a 2-switch circuit?
- dragonfrog
  
  Then you need a more complex mechanism – switching one switch will move the arrow above that switch, and swap the on/off labels over the other switch.
  - Just_Ok
    
    It would have to involved wood burning too. And an egg.
theophrastvs

very nice! now for version-2 the primary handle ought to be in the form of huge Frankenstein knife switch …which pivots a linkage, which annoys a monkey, who turns on a fan, which starts up an OK-go vid…
IronEdithKidd

It would be much more attractive without the copyright burned conspicuously into the front of it.
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Jerry-Vandesic/100002525753309 Jerry Vandesic
  
  Especially since copyright doesn’t apply to something like this. A design patent would be the way to go.
Roy Trumbull

My favorite switch plate was in a patient room at my urologist. It was a naked fat man and the switch was his penis.
gadgetphile

Flip it upside down so your short kids can flick the lights on and off repeatedly…

Or maybe don’t do that.
- Gutierrez
  
  http://homestarrunner.com/sbemail45.html
  
  They made that light switch so you could turn the lights on and off. Not so that you could throw light switch raves, gadgetphile.
Uthor

I’m not sure a level directly conencted to a switch through a simple linkage counts as “Rubegoldbergian”.
- Uthor
  
  lever != level
Ben Burger

That’s cool, I want it!
http://twitter.com/enyap_ynot enyap_ynot

Here in Australia, and maybe other places (New Zealand I think), down is on and up is off. One for us would be great!.
- Alpacaman
  
  Yes, that is how it is for your smaller neighbour too. Down being on just makes sense! Unless it is a rocker style switch, in which case, the depressed top is on. I am going to spend the rest of my day noticing light switch inconsistencies.
jackie31337

In Finland (and I suspect much of Europe), our light switches look like this: http://www.rakentaja.fi/kuvat/esitykset/936/310630095_2008520142823.jpg

I’d love to see a design that would work with this type of switch.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  The one on the right is what ours look like in the US (albeit with a bigger cover plate), at least for those of us who have replaced them in the last 15 years.