One point I haven't seen discusssed is the cleaning.
After sanding/rubbing up the area around the puncture hole, the residue is
rubber dust(y) and needs to be scraped/cleaned off.
One way to do it on the road was to put drop of cement on the area, spread
it about the patch size and quickly scrape it off with the metal scraper
straight edge while wet to collect residue and allow glue to stick to patch.
If I remember some of the kits actually came with this instruction.
In the shop a good quick dry like naphta or something like 70-100% rubbing
alcohol can be used with a clean rag, left to dry and then the cement
applied.
Regularly replacing the little glue tubes for road use may seem like a good
maintanence thought.
I usually put two drops of cement on the tube,
I let it dry between coats and then the glue gets nice and sticky for the
patch to adhere itself.
Squeezing the patch down hard is somewhat important too after sticking the
patch in place.
Ted Ernst
Palos Verdes Estates
CA USA
> The tire patch kits that I remember from the late 40s through the 1960s
> were Camel brand. They came in a 2" round cardboard "can" with metal ends.
>
> The cap had a "grater" like surface for roughing up the rubber area to be
> patched.
>
> There were also some larger kits in cans plus a flat metal container with
> rounded ends like those used for pipe tobacco.
>
> The repair kits came with a tube of cement. They also sold the cement in
> several sizes of brush top cans.
>
> The cans and packages had graphics that looked like a Camel cigarette pack
> except with a light blue sky.
>
> http://tinyurl.com/
>
> My dad used these kits to patch our rubber hip boots and waders that we
> used for fishing. Later I did it myself.
>
> I worked a truck stop for several summers fixing tires.
>
> There are 2 reasons to scuff up the rubber surface. The first is to remove
> any mold release material and the second is to remove the hard vulcanized
> rubber surface and expose the softer rubber underneath. Patches wont stick
> very well to a contaminated surface.
>
> The "glue" further softened the rubber so that the unvulcanized rubber in
> the patches would adhere better.
>
> The process is via a rubber to rubber bond, the patches are not glued on.
>
> I had 2 flats this past Saturday. The first flat was caused by a goat head
> in my front tire, the second by a glass shard in the rear.
>
> I only carry 1 spare tube so I had to patch the rear one with a Rema tire
> repair kit. The new "glue" that comes in these kits is useless! It's like
> rubber cement for paper! I had to use 2 patches because the first one
> didn't stick!
>
> I'm going to have to find some of the old cancer causing stuff that works!
>
> Chas. Colerich
> Oakland, CA USA
>
> Chas. Colerich
> Oakland, CA USA
>
> Reid Fisher wrote:
>> Seconding Don's recollection from the 60's of the cardboard sort of
>> oval/rectangle tube with the metal end for roughening the rubber.
>>
>>>From what I'm finding in my Dad's stuff, generic inner tube patch kits
>>>were basically the same in the late 1930's to 1941 (the years he could've
>>>bought them). Didn't find any glue tubes.
>>
>> Reid Fisher
>> San Martin, California