MINNEAPOLIS — Honeywell has begun the 50th anniversary celebration of one of the world's most well-known home comfort products — The Round® thermostat — with a contest inviting consumers to share stories about the little things that make a comfortable home. Honeywell will reward four winning submissions, from childhood memories to stories of present-day family traditions, by awarding "home comfort makeovers" valued at $5,000 each.
The Round thermostat is part of a Smithsonian Institution collection of pioneering designs. In 1953, it was a home-comfort breakthrough because it could maintain a home's temperature within one degree of the setting; other thermostats at the time could do no better than nine degrees of variation, says Honeywell.