A NOVEL PLAN.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 11 September 1926, Page 14

A NOVEL PLAN.

FOR. MENDING PUNCTURES. Let me introduce you, writes ‘ ‘ Focus ’’ in The Light Car and Cyclecar,” to the finest method of mending punctures which has ever come my way, and in these days of balloon tyres a quick, cheap, and simple method of effecting tube repairs should be appreciated by everyone. The necessaries consist of nothing save a tin of rubber solution and a piece of glass or sandpaper. First, locate the puncture and clean tho tube around it with the sandpaper until the chalky surface has been completely removed; then thoroughly smear a screwdriver, or any other handy tool, with a generous coating of rubber solution, applying at the same time a thin coat of solution to the prepared surface of the tube. Ton minutes later remove the dried solution which lias been smeared on to the screwdriver, form it into, roughly, the shape of a ball and press it down on to the puncture, working it with the thumbs into the form of a patch, thick in the centre over the puncture and thinner towards the edges. The tube can then bo replaced and inflated immediately. I have found that a repair of this kind will stand. the highest speeds and the hottest weather, while the “patch” is almost impossible to remove from the tube once it has been applied. In practice it will be found that it is best to leave the solution on the blade of the screwdriver rather more than 10 minutes to dry, but naturally the period depends upon the size of the puncture to be mended. If it is quite a big hole, so much solution will be needed on the screwdriver to form subsequently into a ball that the drying period may have to be increased to half an hour. The ball of solution, incidentally, should lie a.s big as a very large pea for a pinhole puncture, while a ball as large as a marble will effectually seal a hole as big round as the pencil of a dance programme. To save delay by the roadside I have, since I discovered this method of mending punctures, dried a quantity of solution by smearing it over a window, leaving it to dry for 20 minutes, and then forming it into a rough-shaped lump, which is kept in an airtight tin in the toolbox. When a puncture has to be mended by the roadside I simply have to solution the tube, chop a little lump off tho improvised “mastic,” form It into a ball and squeeze it over the hole. Remember when fingering the “mastic” to clean any chalk or grease from your thumb and forefinger; petrol will be found useful for this purpose. This hint may prove useful if a motorist finds his supply of patches exhausted.