Time was, you could buy special hot patches that actually vulcanized a rubber patch on an inner tube. The patches came as small open container that held a combustible material within it, and a special patch on the bottom. Using a special clamp, you held the container with the patch against the tube, lit the material, got out of the way while it sparked and smoked, and, voila, your tube was patched. The most common makes were Shaler, Camel (Egan Mfg. Co.) and Victor. They were also made by the Better Monkey Grip Company of Dallas. In the 1920's, the cost of a vulcanizer and 12 patches was $1.60. This was probably quite a deal, as tires and tubes were frequently punctured by horse shoe nails. Over the years, hot patches have put me back on the road when travelling on British bikes. The patches are no longer available due to government over-regulation except, curiously enough, in Columbia, South America.
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| J.H. Ashdown Hardware Co., Ltd., Winnipeg. 1953/1954 catalogue |
7 comments:
Are the hot patches really vulcanizing rubber (that is already vulcanized)? Like forming new S-S crosslinks between an already crosslinked (but maybe a few free C-H bonds left) polymer and a virgin (not-vulcanized, crosslinked) polymer? Perhaps they are first de-vulcanizing the old rubber?
where can I buy the patches for the machine and the machine
The only place you'll find the clamp is at a yard sale or flea bay. The patches are virtually unavailable in North America.
Electric clamps and patches are available at http://patchboy.com
There are still shops in Mexico that do vulcanized patches with electric clamps
I say bring them back in the U.S. as I've had many glue type patches fail
Thanks for this. However, I visited the site, and their stuff is too expensive for most of us. A far cry from the cheap vulcanizing patches that used to be sold cheaply at Canadian Tire.
I miss using these as a kid. They were simple, reliable, and fast. My opinion is the "new" rubber repair kits are junk in comparison. Directions followed exactly, I'm sure new ones are fine. Older ones were more idiot proof... I was told as a kid a semi-truck trailer of these match-patches caught on fire, leading to them being banned in the U.S. I think it's to bad. Those patches worked awesome!
I have never used them, but I agree I can't get a reliable patch job with modern kits. Thanks for the comment, Gerald
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