INGENIOUS INVENTION

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 13 February 1922, Page 4

INGENIOUS INVENTION

RIVETING WITH EXPLOSIVES, j MAY BE USED UNDER WATER. ! i. An interesting demonstration was given in London recently of a new . appliance, which may be used under water to mend ships' plates by riveting a fresh plate over a hole such as would be caused by a collision or by striking the bottom. The appliance is the invention of Mr Robert Temple, who produced during the war a trench howitzer, which was noiseless and without recoil. i A large number of experts interested ■ in shipping and engineering witnessed ! the demonstration. Mf Temple ex- * plained that the essential feature of his device is a new use for explosives." If he is correct in his views the science of ballistics will require revision. The new ' tool is portable, and can be employed under water, or in other way for the * cold riveting of ships' plates. It is about the size, and suggests the shape, I of a garden hand-pump, and, with its accessories, it can be carried in a box like a suit case. The tool carries a bullet in the form of a stud, bolt, or rivet, . which is fixed in a head carrying a charge of explosive less in quantity than that of a .303 rifle. It is ""short and light, and is fixed in a driver or ! gun. The bullet, of case-hardened steel, is impelled forward by the detonation of the explosive charge by means of pressure applied to a percussion cap. j A high velocity is imparted in a very ' short distance, and the explosive charge can be varied according to the thick- ! ness of the steel which is to be penetrated. The point of the stud is shaped for penetration, while the back half is provided with a thread, on to which nuts can be screwed when the stud has been imbedded in the plate. In attaching a stud to a plate the tool is held in position over the plate; upon the application of a little pressure the stud suddenly imbeds itself in the plate. There is no noise, no flash, no gas evolution, and, above all, no recoil. I This has been taken up in an ingenious manner. Penetration is effected without the dragging of the metal, such as ! occurs.in punching. Extrusion of the plate occurs at both ends of the penetration, while a taper thread on the stud does not suffer serious deformation during penetration. The metal thus appears to open and close-again firmly on. ; the penetrating rivet, which becomes very firmly fixed. Thus in one case a steel stud embedded in a fin boiler j plate required a pressure of over seven : tons to dislodge it. Where the method is used, as a means of lifting the I weight to be lifted will determine the number of such studs which must be j affixed. ! In effecting the repair of a hole, a plate provided with a number of suitt ably-disposed holes is lowered and held over* the gap. The tool is placed over a hole, a small guide being provided to _ ensure that the diver gets the spot. A bullet is now shot, firmly fixing itself i in the boiler plate towards which the ' repair plate is pulled by nuts upon the . threaded ends of the studs or rivets. j Mr Temple said he had no idea of the , velocity with which the rivet was driven, ; but it must be enormous. He advanced the theory that the rivet causes the * atoms of the plate at the spot struck to flow, and then they close in on the rivet i and bind if. Certainly, there is a bulge i on both sides of the plate around the j rivets. The keenest interest was shown in the invention, and lilr Temple was. ! asked many questions on technical ' points. His answers suggested some surprising development. He remarked, amid cordial approval, that explosives nad done enough destruction under man's control, and he aimed at turning them to the work of reconstruction.

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