> I enjoyed all that but changing direction a bit, I had to think long
> and hard before using a 10 amp fuse that was also marked with 240V to
> protect a device requiring say 8 amps at 5 volts.

Most importantly, you didn't say whether the ratings were for AC and
DC in each case.

Odds are that the 240 V rating is 240 VAC.

The 5V circuit maybe AC or DC. Probably DC given  that its 5 (just as
it would probably be AC if it was 6.3 V - deep-ending on how old you
are).

All that said, I'd guess it was fine enough in many cases, but if the
5V supply was good for 1000 A then maybe not. At that stage "HRC" and
"walk away slowly with your hands in sight" may apply.

Going the other way, people using multimeters to measure AC or DC in
the several hundreds of volts range have died because a fuse was not
HRC rated, and they became fused instead.

______________________________

Getting things back to the on topic off topic topic - here's a use of
"fuse" which we may not as yet have had mentioned, should one care:

Knowing with certitude what it means is another thing.

THE FORCE THAT THROUGH THE GREEN FUSE DRIVES THE FLOWER


The force that through the green fuse drives the flower
Drives my green age; that blasts the roots of trees
Is my destroyer.
And I am dumb to tell the crooked rose
My youth is bent by the same wintry fever.

The force that drives the water through the rocks
Drives my red blood; that dries the mouthing streams
Turns mine to wax.
And I am dumb to mouth unto my veins
How at the mountain spring the same mouth sucks.

The hand that whirls the water in the pool
Stirs the quicksand; that ropes the blowing wind
Hauls my shroud sail.
And I am dumb to tell the hanging man
How of my clay is made the hangman's lime.

The lips of time leech to the fountain head;
Love drips and gathers, but the fallen blood
Shall calm her sores.
And I am dumb to tell a weather's wind
How time has ticked a heaven round the stars.

And I am dumb to tell the lover's tomb
How at my sheet goes the same crooked worm.


             Dylan Thomas
--=20
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