Patent ID: 7673509

Claim:
A fuel level sender that is disposed within a tank for holding volatile liquid fuel to signal the level of volatile liquid fuel in the tank, the sender comprising: an enclosure providing an interior that is sealed against intrusion of both liquid fuel and fuel vapor; an actuator that is external to the enclosure and that is positionable in correlation with the level of liquid fuel in the tank in a circumferential sense relative to the enclosure about an imaginary axis passing through the enclosure; a movement that is disposed within the interior of the enclosure and that is positionable circumferentially about the axis in correspondence with the positioning of the actuator about the axis relative to the enclosure via magnetic coupling of the movement to the actuator through the enclosure; and an electric circuit element disposed within the interior of the enclosure and operated by the movement to electrically signal the liquid fuel level; wherein the movement comprises two magnets disposed diametrically opposite each other about the axis, the actuator comprises two magnets disposed diametrically opposite each other about the axis, and one pole of each magnet of the actuator confronts an opposite pole of a respective magnet of the movement to provide the magnetic coupling from magnetic forces i) that act between the one pole of each magnet of the actuator and the opposite pole of the respective magnet of the movement, ii) that are substantially radial to the axis, and iii) that when the actuator is displaced circumferentially by a change in liquid level create torque components that impart circumferential motion to the movement.