Improved Tubeless Tyre Repairs
Page 57
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nEMONSTRATIONS were given in
London recently by Apaseal, Ltd., liailsham, Sussex, of a new process for repairing punctures in tubeless tyres. Apaseal, Ltd., is the parent company of Bowes Seal-Fast Corporation (G.B.), Ltd.. and the process, which uses material known as Multi-Plast, has been developed by American associated companies.
Multi-Plast is a combination of plastics, the principal one being polypropylene, which is in the form of a • fine thread. This is knitted to make a lattice structure and a black plastic is moulded round it.
Tyres are repaired from the outside using a special container whichholds 40-ft. of Multi-Plast and has fitted to it a needle-like tool through which the material is threaded. When repairing a puncture, the Multi-Plast is dipped into a bonding compound and fed into the hole. The tool is withdrawn from the tyre, so filling the hole with four plys of material. The surplus material is then finally cut off. When necessary, eight
and 12-ply repairs can be made by threading the Multi-Plast through the needle two or three times.
The demonstrations showed that MultiPlast overcomes the difficulty of repairing tubeless tyres with soft rubber plugs, which cannot completely fill punctures as these are never completely circular. They are normally in the form of slits due to the spreading of the tyre plies. Because of its elasticity and construction, MultiPlast fills the corners of any slit to give a complete repair.
Multi-Plast repair kits contain enough material for at least 120 repairs, a jar of bonding compound, a jar of Leak Seeker and a plastic container in which the latter is mixed with water. Leak Seeker is spread on the tyre and shows up even the smallest puncture. It is also useful to check that a repair is satisfactory.
Price of the kit, which is available only to the trade, is £5 12s, 6d. and a replacement tube with 40-ft. of Multi-Plast costs £3 1 Is. 9d.