PURPOSE: To increase the lateral strength of a linear sensor.

CONSTITUTION: The linear sensor comprises a sealed inner housing and an expandably disposed slider. The inner housing has a doughnut-shaped coil at one end. The slider has a sensor element and metal core having variable section and slide support. The support guides the sensor element to the coil to change the eddy current in the coil to generate an output signal from the coil varying linearly according to the relative position between the element and the coil. In the embodiment, the slide part is supported by the inner housing. The rigid outer housing has the fixed sealed end connected to the inner housing. The free end of the outer housing is sealingly engaged with the outer surface of the slider to seal the sensor. The outer housing seals the sensor and reenforces the sensor when the it is moved between the extended position and the contracted position.