Outstanding information. I was once an aircraft electrician and taught approved wiring practices to mechanics. The modern solder sleeve splice practically revolutionized the task of splicing and sealing wires on aircraft. I believe it was developed by Raychem, now Tyco TK Connectivity Raychem. It combines a tube of heat-shrinkable material such as polyolefin with sealing inserts and a band of solder in the center. The solder ring may have dye on it which disappears as the hot solder flows, indicating a successful union, It is used with an external heat source, preferably a regulated-temperature heat gun, and does an excellent all-in-one job of securing the wires, ensuring conductivity, and sealing the splice against the environment. Aircraft-quality splices are expensive, but China now produces floods of inexpensive copies that are quite useful in many wiring jobs. I was also reminded of the portable soldering irons we used before the onset of battery-powered soldering devices. A copper cylinder with a soldering tip unscrewed from a wooden handle to allow loading of a shotgun-style cartridge that heated very rapidly when you released a firing pin. Indoors, the tip stayed hot long enough to solder several connections. Outdoors on a cold and windy night you had to work very quickly to get anything done.
Interesting information, I have not thought about the need for portable irons I have a old mains voltage iron with a huge bit and I see how a pyro cartridge could be used for a heat source. Thanks.
I'm an auto mechanic, and those heat shrink solder-sleeves have been modified and made their way into automotive repair circles. The typical heat shrink self-soldering butt splice that I encounter is actually a standard butt splice crimp connector with a blob of solder inside the middle of it, wrapped in a seamless tube of heat shrink tubing covered on the inner surface with hot-melt glue or sealant of some sort. The method of application is that you insert both wire ends you wish to splice, crimp using an insulated connector crimping tool of the appropriate size, and then apply heat from a heat gun. The connection is already securely made after crimping, but heating the device causes the hot melt glue or sealant to melt, the heat shrink to shrink, and the solder to melt. This results in a joint that has in mere seconds been guarded against water ingress (extremely important in automotive work), as well as doubly insured to be electrically sound, by means of being both securely crimped and then soldered. I know I probably don't "need" to crimp them, but I do anyways, nothing like a little "belt and suspenders" type insurance when it comes to automotive wiring repair (something that is difficult to access, and therefore I wish to not have to go back to fix it again).
I haven't got many of them left, but a friend in the MoD gave me one of them wire joining kits comprising the heatshrink tube with a metal sleeve inside and the solder with a dye ring the rest of the kit is a refillable gas air heating "wand" with a curled heating plate that hooks round the solder connector (it guides the hot air around the joiner not physically touching it).
I remember using those at school in Edinburgh, Scotland in the early 1960s. I was the sergeant of the signals platoon, part of the schools Combined Cadet Corps. These self-solderiing sleeves were used for joining copper or copper cored steel field telephone cables. We had two different types, one for joining copper cables and one for joining copper cored steel cables.
(Sorry, might have pressed the wrong like button) Same here, we were still using them in the CCF in late 1970's. There must have been thousands and thousands made - not just an SOE item but a universal quick splice for field phone cable that was usually run out of back of Universal (Bren) Carrier in WW2. The cable had a mixture of steel wire strands for strength and copper wires for conductivity. The cable was so old that you needed to scrape off the oxide before making the joint. One cable laid with an earth return. Do you remember having to water the earth spike?
Yuck but yes definitely would be a bit more conductive but as I say when you got to go you got to go but in some cases might be helpful in the field situation even to let some of that fluid loose might be a little more comfortable LOL
I was wondering why this would be a special ops only sort of item, awesome idea of course but I wouldn't exactly call it the most 'revolutionary' concept that needs to be hidden from the enemy and it's probably a lot more useful outside of the spec ops guys purposes too.
Dont know if they still make them, but in the early eighties we used vulcanising patches for repairing punctures in truck tubes. They were a shallow, pressed tin, open top container filled with pink fibrous material and a rubber patch on the bottom. We'd scuff up the area, peel off the plastic from the rubber and clamp the piece over the hole. Then scratch away a bit of the pink and ignite it with a match. It would burn steadily and slowly enough not to ignite the tube, but just enough to vulcanise the patch to the tube, very much like the stuff you showed. Chemically controlled tempreture.
I found a video demonstrating one of those patches, branded "Camel." In it, they lamented that the patches are no longer manufactured due to either an environmental or safety concern, I can't remember which. The instructions also indicated that they should be ignited with a lit cigarette. I'm not entirely sure why a match or lighter would work differently.
We have fancy glues for that these days, built into the patch and activated by heat. I got to watch one being applied once because I was the only customer at the time, and also got to pet the shop dog.
My bicycle inner tube was fixed a few times; from punctures of devil head weed on our favorite shortcuts. All until self sealing tubes came along. Thank for the memory.
Even if this channel never blows up, we lucky few will be forever thankful we found it. Endlessly fascinating. Although, as a middle-aged chemical plant engineer history buff former R&D with several patents in production, it appears I may be the ideal demographic.
I expect shellac was used as the binder in the pyrotechnic composition to desensitise and waterproof it. This was a very commonly used binder in pyrotechnics so would probably have been the natural choice here.
That must have been super high speed back in the day. I once watched a video about lineman running field telephone wires and the “correct” military manual way of securing the communications wire took quite a bit of time. That would be much quicker. Very cool video.
i was just watching a video about splicing field wire, and you're right it took a long time, especially with the rubber coating that was much harder to strip as compared to plastic coatings used today.
Yes! Field telephone wires were and still are a pain to splice together. I think these are made originally just for that. Blasting wires were and still are easy and quick to connect so these are not useful for those but if you have only field wire at hand, then this makes sense to use quickly connect wires. Or if you need a more permanent installation for the explosives, like more than couple of hours, BOOM in few days, you would make the explosion connection with field wire.
I used to use those self soldering sleeves in the mid 1960's when I was in the school 'CCF' (Combined Cadet Force) for joining military telephone lines. Nothing secret or clandestine when we used them !
Best dressed presenter on YT, well at least from the waist up, who knows if he is wearing pajama bottoms behind the desk? Another informative video thanks.
Very elegant. I used to have some of the propylactic abrasive engine destroyers. To keep the oil filter from removing the abrasive from the oil, the abrasive was coated on bits of cork, This kept the abrasive floating on the oil in the pan, allowing it to remain in contact with the cylinder walls wher it could do damage.
@@WOFFY-qc9te When those devices were developed, many if not most vehicles didn't have oil filters. Today, they would not be so effective, even with more modern abrasives.
Thanks, I recall that some were splash lub so no oil pump and filter. I know during WWII there were a few tricks used by the 'operatives' to disable kit. Best@@untermench3502
I dont know, modern car engines have much tighter tolerances than yesterdays cars. Add to that the fact that when the oil filter flow through rate drops low enough, the oil filter is bypassed.
@@juslitor Those devices were developed in WWII for use by partizans. They were good for the time and are just of historical interest. There was a family of fuel and oil additives that were developed for use during the War, and unfortunately, this is not the forum for their discussion.
The orange stuff that boubbles out is most likely rosin (or colophony), which is a pine resin product used as flux for soldering (this little amber-colored paste you get in every soldering kit? it lowers melting point of metal and helps with adhesion, which is around 180 C for tin, fairly low for metals actually). It's actually amazing that pyrotechnics on the outside produce enough heat to melt metal inside the tube, without visible flame!
remember though that the pyro mixture is only 'heating' the copper tube beneath it... so flux/rosin is not needed for heating the tube... the wires and solder are inside the tubing.
It doesn't really lower the melting point that much. It's just used because it is acidic while (and only while) hot and therefore removes oxide layers on the parts to be soldered, but doesn't corrode them further when the joint has cooled down. For pipework etc. something stronger is used, typically zinc chloride in diluted hydrochloric acid, but this needs to be cleaned off later, and should never be used for stranded wire. You will never ever get it all out and a few months-years later the wire crumbles into a green powder.
Wow this is really good to know. I'm sure I've definitely effed up some projects now that you mentioned how it's different. Green death of a wire sucks.
i have a kit made around the 60's that is a bunch of solder butt splices like this, only they also include heat shrink and adhesive to create a watertight seal. they don't self heat though and require a butane torch in the shape of a pen. my gramps called it his "field solder kit" and he used it all the time, almost daily, to work on stuff in the field. it saved him a LOT of time or running back to a 120vac power source to run his solder iron or a heat gun. i've never heard of a self heating butt splice until this video, but it makes perfect sense. super cool piece of kit and i'd love to have a box today! there have been many times where getting my butane torch pen into position was actually not really possible without melting something or burning myself (or someone else)
I'm guessing that the heating accelerant of these "instant solder connectors" was of similar formulation to the compound that was used in "Hot Patches" back in the day to repair inner tubes?I believe that the Hot Patch products were removed from sale in the 1980's for obvious reasons. ( noxious smoke and fire hazard). I recall being very disappointed when "Hot patches" were no longer available as we used them to great effect to quickly repair the tubes on our bicycles via vulcanization rather than with an adhesive. The hot patch kit contained the following items:A number of small, formed, diamond shaped, sheet metal trays with the recessed side filled with the heating accelerant. Each tray also had a section of thin rubber sheet bonded to the center of the flat side. This rubber "patch" section was about twice as thick as a common inner tube and there was a matching piece of thin plastic sheet covering and protecting the outside surface of the rubber patch that had to be removed before applying the tray to the tube. The kit also included a small cast aluminum vise that was used to hold the metal tray securely against the inner tube. Basic operation was to load the vise with the rubber patch centered over the damaged part of the tube and then touch a match to one of the raised ridges on the surface of the heating accelerant material inside of the tray. The ignited heating material would then burn steadily across the inside of the tray with a fair amount of smoke until it was all consumed. It was important to NOT let any portion of the inner tube ( or human flesh) touch any part of the tray as the heating cycle would easily melt the tube and-or brun the crap outta you. Also important was to allow the whole assembly to cool down before disassembly. I recall having some burnt fingers and destroying a few inner tubes along the way during the learning process. The whole operation served to feed any young pyromaniac's "burning" desire .
The burning material would be very similar to old type rubber tyre tube hot vulcanising patches. You would place the patch over the puncture, clamp it tight with a special tool and then ignite an oval shaped tray which contained the Sulfur iron powder composite. I can smell this from here!
I once met an EX WWII SOE Operator sitting on a London tube train - my attention was drawn because he was reading a book with funny writing (Farsi - Persian) a languages Don from Oxford who'd parachuted into Yugoslavia to liase with the resistance. An almost completely unoticeable, speccy little bloke - exactly what you would want for an agent! Fascinating man (and a brave 18 year old too, he knew exactly what the Gestapo would've done to him)
You can still buy something similar, they are called solder splices. Admittedly they don’t have the combustable material, you have to use a heat gun. But if you were that committed to the bit i guess you could always melt one with a match.
This episode is too cool. I kind of want some of these things. They seem like they could be a lifesaver out in the field where a soldering iron can't easily go. Keep up the good work Gilles!
thank you so much , ever since i heard about them in a element maker video i was looking for the composition and chemistry behind it , you're doing the lord's work with this channel
I remember coming across a soldered tin box containing 50 of these at work back in the 90's. Seeing that they can go for £6+ on ebay, I wish now that I'd kept hold of them!
Minor correction, at 3:44 that is not solder, it's flux, strong acids that remove the oxidized metal on the surfaces of the wire/capsule sleeve to ensure a "bare" metal surface so that strong intermetallic bonding can form between the solder and the wire/sleeve. in this bonding, the surface of the metal forms an alloy with the solder, it's really a cool reaction. check out le google for excellent SEM cross-sections of proper solder joints with strong intermetallic bonding. the flux is usually solid or gel-like at room temp, and liquid at soldering temp. also really cool at 3:28 to see the surface tension / capillary action of the just-liquidized solder auto-center the sleeve. would be cool to cross section that sleeve and inspect the joint. thanks for an interesting video, much love
Very interesting as always! If it is FeS as product around the sleeve drop some hydrochloric acid on it, it will bubble and smell like rotten eggs (H2S). Befor reaction Fe should be magnetic. The acidic solution of FeS should react to thurnbuls blue.
Interesting. There are probably a number of benefits to these. 1) really good connections. Soldered electrical connections are some of the best. 2) easy to do, any soldier without much training can now make fantastic soldered connections 3) fast to do (time saves lives if someone is shooting at you) 4) low failure rate if one is blowing up a bridge you really want all the explosive to go off 5) high connectivity and less noise if done on phone lines, less loss if setting off explosives with a battery 6) allows the wires to handle all weather conditions. If you are setting up explosives to ambush the enemy attacking your position in snow or rain in a few days. 7) light weight easy to pack in, does not require a torch or soldiering iron ect 8) reduces the need to check the connections if you know it is going to work you can get out of there. 9) knowing it is going to go off allows you to take more risks (aka explode the tracks as the train is coming derailing the train). Overall pretty Cool little device!
If you want to confirm the presence of ferrous sulfide, you can always add a drop or two of HCl to it (preferably outside) and it should theoretically start generating hydrogen sulfide. Ferrous sulfide finds home in many hobby chemists labs as a cheap method of hydrogen sulfide storage. Your presentations are great, I’m glad I found this channel!
@CanadianMacGyver Canadian MacGyver?? i thought this was a different channel? yer doin killer work. ❤ i remember around 15 years ago wired magazine had a quiz in it to find out what kind of geek you were. i was a "gadget geek", and the motto of that was, "there is one God, and his name is MacGyver."
Really well done vid, and interesting. There is a “NEW MODERN Connector” available which is very similar. It’s a shrink tube type connector,with low melt solder inside. Functions same as your demonstration except no self contained ignition, the solder is activated with a lighter. I wonder if the inventor was aware of this vintage devices. What’s old, is new again. I spend a lot of time looking at old patents, and many inventions were limited by materials of the day. Lots of clever ideas have been patented.
My guess as to the material inside the tube would be either thin diameter strips of solder held in place by rosin (also acts as the flux) OR silver-bearing solder paste which is solder and flux paste combined. Either could be melted with relatively low heat (
Probably used for telephone lines etc. where you expected the joint to last for some time. For blasting wires I assume twisting them together would be enough as they are not likely to be left exposed to the elements for any lenght of time. Even today blasting cap wires come with a kind of "wire nut", a plastic sleeve in wich one wire is already attached and you insert the other one and give it a few twists to connect and insulate the wires.
I have seen these, long ago. Though I could not see how the ones I saw would have been SOE? They might well have been in greater circulation, such as for signals corps use. But thanks for delving into this.
The housing estate I grew up on was the site of a dummy airfield and factories, Pangshanger Aerodrome and Moneyhole Lane Park now in Welwyn Garden City the home of the "Wel" series of SOE gadgets. The real airfield and real De Havilland Aircraft Factories were a few miles away in Hatfield.
i forgot where i saw it but there was a video about using these for field telegraph lines and not blasting, the way it burns looks like hookah charcoal which is charcoal with gunpowder in it
Yeah, these are definitely meant to be used with field telegraph (or telephone) wires, not blasting wire. But these make it possible to quickly use the field wire for blasting if it is the only wire at hand.
And all it's missing to be perfect is a roll of heat shrinking insulation tube to slide over one wire, set the sleeve, ignite it, push together when solder starts dripping wait until it stops dripping but almost too hot to touch bare handed, crack the scaling off with pliers and quickly pull the shrink tube insulation over the join and let the remaining heat shrink the insulation tight.
These are too cool. I'm half tempted to hunt around on e-bay or similar and try to pick up a few. I have access to a micro analysis lab and we just picked up a uxrf and an SEM with EDS capabilities. Would be really neat to try and verify the composition using these instruments. I am inclined to agree with your assessment of the composition being some sort of ferrous material with sulfur. I'll have to come back and update this comment if I find some of these and have the time to do some elemental analysis.
Thank you for sharing this incredible piece of history. I carry around a butane soldering torch/iron for my field needs (the bernzomatic one), but I want to make my own version of these now so I can always have a joint or two on standby for emergencies and when I don't have my field kit. Would be a perfect addition to a mini tool kit. Make them to modern lead-free specification and I bet I know a lot of folks who'd want a pack or 5. Thanks again for making such informative and interesting videos.
On the one hand it seems that crimps would work just fine for that application. Oh the other hand I think solder is the lowest resistance connection, and is unlikely to pull apart.
As an retired Avionics Technician? Yeah, I heard about these. As an Ordnance handler? I would never put that near anything that goes boom. I can see them using that in WWII for setting explosives, but also? I would use that to tap into telegraph and phone lines, or tap into railroad signals lines which were a form of telegraph back then.
Hey man, I like your content, it’s very in depth, well researched and presented quite well. I do wanna say- I think you’re releasing too much, too fast. I really preferred your longer in depth format, that released every once in a while, over this newer format, that’s about 10min average, seemingly a couple times a week. I’m going to watch either way, because I like what you’re making. I’m just saying- take your time, we’re watching. Maybe bunch these together, and do a bi-monthly release?
Maybe the binder is something like hydrated lime, i guess the need to add water or another electrolytic solution was sop, this would make sense if lime was used.
I don't think any operative out in the field bothered to scrape of the sodering material. It's not intended for long-term use. Wrap it with electrical tape (if at all) - good enough.
I Dont see anything useful about these if used to connect blasting caps with blasting wire. Blasting wires are normally just quickly twisted together, they are very quick and easy to twist and make secure enough connection for the intented temporary use. However, for sabotage missions behind enemy lines, these would be useful in many places where dealing with field telephone wires or even mains electricity wires where the wires are very stiff and hard to twist together and require much more permanent an reliable connection. Then again if you just have stiff field telephone wire available for blasting caps, these would make it possible to use that for blasting caps. Field lines were (and still are) stiff steel wires that were really really stiff compared to thin copper wires that you can twist connect easily. This would make the process of connecting field wires much faster.
I was thinking along the same lines, but considered maybe it was for longer term delayed charges, like waiting to blow a bridge until there was traffic on it, and where it might be several days or weeks before that occurred. That's the only reason I can think of to solder that type of connection.
Another interesting one Gilles. Funny coincidence- recently google's ad algorithm has been feeding me ads for the modern equivalent to these gadgets.Not sure why!
I realized I can put a tiny piece of solder into a crimp connector and heat it with a lighter. If it's good with heat shrink it CAN work but it's not 100%. They sell them too. If it was a low temp solder paste it would work good. Also using a flame to heat it not iron or hot air.
How they most likely actually connected detonation wires: Strip insulation from both ends, twist ends together, insulate, done. It works just as good. But the self-soldering sleeve is a nice gadget for more permanent connections.
Wouldn’t wax be useful for waterproofing these? Same way firearm cartridges are dipped in wax to seal the primer and crimping around the bullet? Or would it just ruin the whole thing?
these are the super sneaky kind of this device but I've seen examples from around ww2 or korea and onwards for joining battlefield telephones. they were larger and didn't have the same kind of burn
Offer a close-up of the opened box & I bet a matchbox collector would be able to identifty which factory made it. For instance, is it a Briant & May of London box?
Outstanding information. I was once an aircraft electrician and taught approved wiring practices to mechanics. The modern solder sleeve splice practically revolutionized the task of splicing and sealing wires on aircraft. I believe it was developed by Raychem, now Tyco TK Connectivity Raychem. It combines a tube of heat-shrinkable material such as polyolefin with sealing inserts and a band of solder in the center. The solder ring may have dye on it which disappears as the hot solder flows, indicating a successful union, It is used with an external heat source, preferably a regulated-temperature heat gun, and does an excellent all-in-one job of securing the wires, ensuring conductivity, and sealing the splice against the environment. Aircraft-quality splices are expensive, but China now produces floods of inexpensive copies that are quite useful in many wiring jobs. I was also reminded of the portable soldering irons we used before the onset of battery-powered soldering devices. A copper cylinder with a soldering tip unscrewed from a wooden handle to allow loading of a shotgun-style cartridge that heated very rapidly when you released a firing pin. Indoors, the tip stayed hot long enough to solder several connections. Outdoors on a cold and windy night you had to work very quickly to get anything done.
Interesting information, I have not thought about the need for portable irons I have a old mains voltage iron with a huge bit and I see how a pyro cartridge could be used for a heat source. Thanks.
I am an Avionics tech. I use these. They are wonderful.
I'm an auto mechanic, and those heat shrink solder-sleeves have been modified and made their way into automotive repair circles.
The typical heat shrink self-soldering butt splice that I encounter is actually a standard butt splice crimp connector with a blob of solder inside the middle of it, wrapped in a seamless tube of heat shrink tubing covered on the inner surface with hot-melt glue or sealant of some sort.
The method of application is that you insert both wire ends you wish to splice, crimp using an insulated connector crimping tool of the appropriate size, and then apply heat from a heat gun. The connection is already securely made after crimping, but heating the device causes the hot melt glue or sealant to melt, the heat shrink to shrink, and the solder to melt. This results in a joint that has in mere seconds been guarded against water ingress (extremely important in automotive work), as well as doubly insured to be electrically sound, by means of being both securely crimped and then soldered.
I know I probably don't "need" to crimp them, but I do anyways, nothing like a little "belt and suspenders" type insurance when it comes to automotive wiring repair (something that is difficult to access, and therefore I wish to not have to go back to fix it again).
@@WOFFY-qc9te ב''ה, commonly was just a butane cartridge by 1980s-2000s. Maybe there's some other wacky stuff out there.
I haven't got many of them left, but a friend in the MoD gave me one of them wire joining kits comprising the heatshrink tube with a metal sleeve inside and the solder with a dye ring the rest of the kit is a refillable gas air heating "wand" with a curled heating plate that hooks round the solder connector (it guides the hot air around the joiner not physically touching it).
I remember using those at school in Edinburgh, Scotland in the early 1960s. I was the sergeant of the signals platoon, part of the schools Combined Cadet Corps. These self-solderiing sleeves were used for joining copper or copper cored steel field telephone cables. We had two different types, one for joining copper cables and one for joining copper cored steel cables.
(Sorry, might have pressed the wrong like button) Same here, we were still using them in the CCF in late 1970's. There must have been thousands and thousands made - not just an SOE item but a universal quick splice for field phone cable that was usually run out of back of Universal (Bren) Carrier in WW2. The cable had a mixture of steel wire strands for strength and copper wires for conductivity. The cable was so old that you needed to scrape off the oxide before making the joint. One cable laid with an earth return. Do you remember having to water the earth spike?
@@jonathanflatman Yes to the earth spike but not with water 😄😄 A more conductive fluid.
Yuck but yes definitely would be a bit more conductive but as I say when you got to go you got to go but in some cases might be helpful in the field situation even to let some of that fluid loose might be a little more comfortable LOL
I was wondering why this would be a special ops only sort of item, awesome idea of course but I wouldn't exactly call it the most 'revolutionary' concept that needs to be hidden from the enemy and it's probably a lot more useful outside of the spec ops guys purposes too.
@@RyTrapp0 They were standard issue to Signals Corp telephone linesmen.
Dont know if they still make them, but in the early eighties we used vulcanising patches for repairing punctures in truck tubes. They were a shallow, pressed tin, open top container filled with pink fibrous material and a rubber patch on the bottom. We'd scuff up the area, peel off the plastic from the rubber and clamp the piece over the hole. Then scratch away a bit of the pink and ignite it with a match. It would burn steadily and slowly enough not to ignite the tube, but just enough to vulcanise the patch to the tube, very much like the stuff you showed. Chemically controlled tempreture.
I found a video demonstrating one of those patches, branded "Camel." In it, they lamented that the patches are no longer manufactured due to either an environmental or safety concern, I can't remember which. The instructions also indicated that they should be ignited with a lit cigarette. I'm not entirely sure why a match or lighter would work differently.
We have fancy glues for that these days, built into the patch and activated by heat.
I got to watch one being applied once because I was the only customer at the time, and also got to pet the shop dog.
I, too, was reminded of these patches and lament their demise.
@@kevinmartin7760 I remember using those patches.
My bicycle inner tube was fixed a few times; from punctures of devil head weed on our favorite shortcuts. All until self sealing tubes came along. Thank for the memory.
Even if this channel never blows up, we lucky few will be forever thankful we found it. Endlessly fascinating. Although, as a middle-aged chemical plant engineer history buff former R&D with several patents in production, it appears I may be the ideal demographic.
Yeah it's kind of an exponential curve (near) 100k subs is right at the crest of where numbers go up dramatically @DOOMAO
I expect shellac was used as the binder in the pyrotechnic composition to desensitise and waterproof it. This was a very commonly used binder in pyrotechnics so would probably have been the natural choice here.
That sounds good. My thoughts was sugar but it isn't waterproof .
It might be nitrocellulose
from my experience, nitrocellulose reaction speed runs away with increased temperatures@@user-pe4bv7vm2y
That must have been super high speed back in the day. I once watched a video about lineman running field telephone wires and the “correct” military manual way of securing the communications wire took quite a bit of time. That would be much quicker. Very cool video.
i was just watching a video about splicing field wire, and you're right it took a long time, especially with the rubber coating that was much harder to strip as compared to plastic coatings used today.
Yes! Field telephone wires were and still are a pain to splice together. I think these are made originally just for that. Blasting wires were and still are easy and quick to connect so these are not useful for those but if you have only field wire at hand, then this makes sense to use quickly connect wires. Or if you need a more permanent installation for the explosives, like more than couple of hours, BOOM in few days, you would make the explosion connection with field wire.
Was about to ask why not just tie/splice it together
Ah, yes, the Western Union Pigtail Splice. One of the first demo wire connections you learn as a combat engineer.
Fascinating. I was Brit army mechanic in the 80s and we had these in workshop stores back then. 😊
I used to use those self soldering sleeves in the mid 1960's when I was in the school 'CCF' (Combined Cadet Force) for joining military telephone lines. Nothing secret or clandestine when we used them !
Best dressed presenter on YT, well at least from the waist up, who knows if he is wearing pajama bottoms behind the desk? Another informative video thanks.
PJ bottoms. What we learned from the pandemic and all of those people caught at home on video chats, is that it could be anything, or nothing at all.
Pants are overrated 😃 #MWOP
I prefer to imagine the Tinkerbell TU TU and clown shoes… I think I’m weird… 😂😀
Yes, his suits are better than Reviewbrah's that's for sure.
Pants are prison!
I want you and Technology Connections to start a public access channel in the 80s together
That would be truly something to see.
It would be great to see Ben at Applied Science reverse engineer the chemistry and engineering of this and make a new one from scratch.
More of a Cody's Lab sort of thing, really.
Very elegant. I used to have some of the propylactic abrasive engine destroyers. To keep the oil filter from removing the abrasive from the oil, the abrasive was coated on bits of cork, This kept the abrasive floating on the oil in the pan, allowing it to remain in contact with the cylinder walls wher it could do damage.
Oooo naughty boy.
@@WOFFY-qc9te When those devices were developed, many if not most vehicles didn't have oil filters. Today, they would not be so effective, even with more modern abrasives.
Thanks, I recall that some were splash lub so no oil pump and filter. I know during WWII there were a few tricks used by the 'operatives' to disable kit. Best@@untermench3502
I dont know, modern car engines have much tighter tolerances than yesterdays cars. Add to that the fact that when the oil filter flow through rate drops low enough, the oil filter is bypassed.
@@juslitor Those devices were developed in WWII for use by partizans. They were good for the time and are just of historical interest.
There was a family of fuel and oil additives that were developed for use during the War, and unfortunately, this is not the forum for their discussion.
The orange stuff that boubbles out is most likely rosin (or colophony), which is a pine resin product used as flux for soldering (this little amber-colored paste you get in every soldering kit? it lowers melting point of metal and helps with adhesion, which is around 180 C for tin, fairly low for metals actually). It's actually amazing that pyrotechnics on the outside produce enough heat to melt metal inside the tube, without visible flame!
remember though that the pyro mixture is only 'heating' the copper tube beneath it... so flux/rosin is not needed for heating the tube... the wires and solder are inside the tubing.
It doesn't really lower the melting point that much. It's just used because it is acidic while (and only while) hot and therefore removes oxide layers on the parts to be soldered, but doesn't corrode them further when the joint has cooled down.
For pipework etc. something stronger is used, typically zinc chloride in diluted hydrochloric acid, but this needs to be cleaned off later, and should never be used for stranded wire. You will never ever get it all out and a few months-years later the wire crumbles into a green powder.
Wow this is really good to know. I'm sure I've definitely effed up some projects now that you mentioned how it's different. Green death of a wire sucks.
i have a kit made around the 60's that is a bunch of solder butt splices like this, only they also include heat shrink and adhesive to create a watertight seal. they don't self heat though and require a butane torch in the shape of a pen. my gramps called it his "field solder kit" and he used it all the time, almost daily, to work on stuff in the field. it saved him a LOT of time or running back to a 120vac power source to run his solder iron or a heat gun. i've never heard of a self heating butt splice until this video, but it makes perfect sense. super cool piece of kit and i'd love to have a box today! there have been many times where getting my butane torch pen into position was actually not really possible without melting something or burning myself (or someone else)
That photo at 00:45, that is an epic photo. The real life Inglourious Basterds are way scarier-looking than the movie version.
You are an Archaeologist of forgotten history Sir. Regards from Vancouver Canada . Stephen Hedman
Excellent! Professor Poliakoff demonstrated a similar device on the Periodic Videos channel.
I'm guessing that the heating accelerant of these "instant solder connectors" was of similar formulation to the compound that was used in "Hot Patches" back in the day to repair inner tubes?I believe that the Hot Patch products were removed from sale in the 1980's for obvious reasons. ( noxious smoke and fire hazard).
I recall being very disappointed when "Hot patches" were no longer available as we used them to great effect to quickly repair the tubes on our bicycles via vulcanization rather than with an adhesive.
The hot patch kit contained the following items:A number of small, formed, diamond shaped, sheet metal trays with the recessed side filled with the heating accelerant. Each tray also had a section of thin rubber sheet bonded to the center of the flat side. This rubber "patch" section was about twice as thick as a common inner tube and there was a matching piece of thin plastic sheet covering and protecting the outside surface of the rubber patch that had to be removed before applying the tray to the tube.
The kit also included a small cast aluminum vise that was used to hold the metal tray securely against the inner tube.
Basic operation was to load the vise with the rubber patch centered over the damaged part of the tube and then touch a match to one of the raised ridges on the surface of the heating accelerant material inside of the tray.
The ignited heating material would then burn steadily across the inside of the tray with a fair amount of smoke until it was all consumed.
It was important to NOT let any portion of the inner tube ( or human flesh) touch any part of the tray as the heating cycle would easily melt the tube and-or brun the crap outta you. Also important was to allow the whole assembly to cool down before disassembly.
I recall having some burnt fingers and destroying a few inner tubes along the way during the learning process. The whole operation served to feed any young pyromaniac's "burning" desire .
The burning material would be very similar to old type rubber tyre tube hot vulcanising patches. You would place the patch over the puncture, clamp it tight with a special tool and then ignite an oval shaped tray which contained the Sulfur iron powder composite. I can smell this from here!
Awesome. It's hard to argue with simplicity.
I once met an EX WWII SOE Operator sitting on a London tube train - my attention was drawn because he was reading a book with funny writing (Farsi - Persian) a languages Don from Oxford who'd parachuted into Yugoslavia to liase with the resistance.
An almost completely unoticeable, speccy little bloke - exactly what you would want for an agent! Fascinating man (and a brave 18 year old too, he knew exactly what the Gestapo would've done to him)
You can still buy something similar, they are called solder splices. Admittedly they don’t have the combustable material, you have to use a heat gun. But if you were that committed to the bit i guess you could always melt one with a match.
no, with a jet lighter.
Someone give NileRed a poke about making a project out of this.
This episode is too cool. I kind of want some of these things. They seem like they could be a lifesaver out in the field where a soldering iron can't easily go. Keep up the good work Gilles!
thank you so much , ever since i heard about them in a element maker video i was looking for the composition and chemistry behind it , you're doing the lord's work with this channel
I remember coming across a soldered tin box containing 50 of these at work back in the 90's. Seeing that they can go for £6+ on ebay, I wish now that I'd kept hold of them!
Minor correction, at 3:44 that is not solder, it's flux, strong acids that remove the oxidized metal on the surfaces of the wire/capsule sleeve to ensure a "bare" metal surface so that strong intermetallic bonding can form between the solder and the wire/sleeve. in this bonding, the surface of the metal forms an alloy with the solder, it's really a cool reaction. check out le google for excellent SEM cross-sections of proper solder joints with strong intermetallic bonding. the flux is usually solid or gel-like at room temp, and liquid at soldering temp. also really cool at 3:28 to see the surface tension / capillary action of the just-liquidized solder auto-center the sleeve. would be cool to cross section that sleeve and inspect the joint. thanks for an interesting video, much love
PS you got my sub, looking forward to more :) !
Very interesting as always! If it is FeS as product around the sleeve drop some hydrochloric acid on it, it will bubble and smell like rotten eggs (H2S). Befor reaction Fe should be magnetic. The acidic solution of FeS should react to thurnbuls blue.
I think why the wires are supposed to be pushed in further is so solder carries less current
I imagine the tube/body being made out of copper probably gave it a bit more margin of error
I love this channel. Very Technology Connections esque and that's a good thing. ❤❤
Interesting. There are probably a number of benefits to these. 1) really good connections. Soldered electrical connections are some of the best. 2) easy to do, any soldier without much training can now make fantastic soldered connections 3) fast to do (time saves lives if someone is shooting at you) 4) low failure rate if one is blowing up a bridge you really want all the explosive to go off 5) high connectivity and less noise if done on phone lines, less loss if setting off explosives with a battery 6) allows the wires to handle all weather conditions. If you are setting up explosives to ambush the enemy attacking your position in snow or rain in a few days. 7) light weight easy to pack in, does not require a torch or soldiering iron ect 8) reduces the need to check the connections if you know it is going to work you can get out of there. 9) knowing it is going to go off allows you to take more risks (aka explode the tracks as the train is coming derailing the train). Overall pretty Cool little device!
If you want to confirm the presence of ferrous sulfide, you can always add a drop or two of HCl to it (preferably outside) and it should theoretically start generating hydrogen sulfide.
Ferrous sulfide finds home in many hobby chemists labs as a cheap method of hydrogen sulfide storage.
Your presentations are great, I’m glad I found this channel!
I considered doing that test (I have muriatic acid on hand) but didn’t want to muck about with H2S.
@@CanadianMacGyver that’s fair, haha, I don’t blame you. The only thing worse than the smell are the headaches.
@CanadianMacGyver Canadian MacGyver?? i thought this was a different channel? yer doin killer work. ❤
i remember around 15 years ago wired magazine had a quiz in it to find out what kind of geek you were. i was a "gadget geek", and the motto of that was, "there is one God, and his name is MacGyver."
' Sour Gas ' is nasty stuff. Any RigPig can vouch!
Thumbs up, looking at those precedes the modern solder sticks,great video, enjoy them all
I know that I saw a good youtube video on these a while back, but I cannot find it again. Cool to see more on them.
Really well done vid, and interesting.
There is a “NEW MODERN Connector” available which is very similar. It’s a shrink tube type connector,with low melt solder inside.
Functions same as your demonstration except no self contained ignition, the solder is activated with a lighter.
I wonder if the inventor was aware of this vintage devices. What’s old, is new again. I spend a lot of time looking at old patents, and many inventions were limited by materials of the day. Lots of clever ideas have been patented.
My guess as to the material inside the tube would be either thin diameter strips of solder held in place by rosin (also acts as the flux) OR silver-bearing solder paste which is solder and flux paste combined. Either could be melted with relatively low heat (
Another good video. I must say, I like the shorter format. Sometimes I can't work in a whole, full episode. This stuff fits the bill.
Even the box is cool.
I tried these new-fangled, self-soldering sleeves...but then I couldn't get my jacket on.
Early gadget from Q branch.
These things are great for some of my little household projects...and I haven't burned the house down yet, so I guess I'm using them right.
Probably used for telephone lines etc. where you expected the joint to last for some time. For blasting wires I assume twisting them together would be enough as they are not likely to be left exposed to the elements for any lenght of time. Even today blasting cap wires come with a kind of "wire nut", a plastic sleeve in wich one wire is already attached and you insert the other one and give it a few twists to connect and insulate the wires.
Built to last! That's almost 80 years old (if original), and it still does it's job.
That's so cool - Thanks to both of you !
😎👍
Awsome video would be cool to see a short on a half cut of one thats been used!
I want to say they still make these.
I've used them myself but not that style.
I got them from an old timer who worked on the railroad
They use things like that to weld rails together these days, but bigger and with thermite.
I have seen these, long ago. Though I could not see how the ones I saw would have been SOE?
They might well have been in greater circulation, such as for signals corps use.
But thanks for delving into this.
The housing estate I grew up on was the site of a dummy airfield and factories, Pangshanger Aerodrome and Moneyhole Lane Park now in Welwyn Garden City the home of the "Wel" series of SOE gadgets.
The real airfield and real De Havilland Aircraft Factories were a few miles away in Hatfield.
Very cool, thank you to Timothy and of course thank you to Gilles
Thank you. There is a modern version of this available to join two small wires. Their ad came up at the end of your video. Nothing is really new.
As someone with a qualification in electronics who has no problem at all soldering wires together or using heat-shrink tubing, I sneer at those.
@@SkorpychanI probably should have added that nothing is really new.
Never seen anything like that before, looks very useful
Next time I install a new stereo in my car, I'll be sure to use a dozen of these
That's really cool.... but it's probably a lot easier to just crimp the wires together or wire nut them. 😂 Great presentation. 👍
Cool, I need a pack of these
What an ingenious idea. I would use these today.
i forgot where i saw it but there was a video about using these for field telegraph lines and not blasting, the way it burns looks like hookah charcoal which is charcoal with gunpowder in it
Yeah, these are definitely meant to be used with field telegraph (or telephone) wires, not blasting wire. But these make it possible to quickly use the field wire for blasting if it is the only wire at hand.
And all it's missing to be perfect is a roll of heat shrinking insulation tube to slide over one wire, set the sleeve, ignite it, push together when solder starts dripping wait until it stops dripping but almost too hot to touch bare handed, crack the scaling off with pliers and quickly pull the shrink tube insulation over the join and let the remaining heat shrink the insulation tight.
Perhaps similar chemistry to self heating soup. They were made by Heinz. Very grateful for one in a blizzard up a Welsh mountain fifty years ago.
These are too cool. I'm half tempted to hunt around on e-bay or similar and try to pick up a few. I have access to a micro analysis lab and we just picked up a uxrf and an SEM with EDS capabilities. Would be really neat to try and verify the composition using these instruments. I am inclined to agree with your assessment of the composition being some sort of ferrous material with sulfur. I'll have to come back and update this comment if I find some of these and have the time to do some elemental analysis.
*_Periodic Videos_* also did a segment on these devices.
Very cool ! great video !
I have used them, they work well.
Never used them, but they were demonstrated to our ACF Signals Cadet cadre in ~1991
The way it burns is remanisant of old school hot tire patches.
I could see those being useful still today.
This is a fascinating topic and a very clear explanation as usual. Greetings from Bob in Brandon.
Thank you for sharing this incredible piece of history. I carry around a butane soldering torch/iron for my field needs (the bernzomatic one), but I want to make my own version of these now so I can always have a joint or two on standby for emergencies and when I don't have my field kit. Would be a perfect addition to a mini tool kit. Make them to modern lead-free specification and I bet I know a lot of folks who'd want a pack or 5.
Thanks again for making such informative and interesting videos.
these were also used to do in-the-field soldering if you didn't have an
available soldering iron, or source of electricity to make said iron work.
Hey I have a few full boxes of these! I thought the were really neat
On the one hand it seems that crimps would work just fine for that application.
Oh the other hand I think solder is the lowest resistance connection, and is unlikely to pull apart.
filtered (mesh screen) pine sap is a great binder as is parafin wax. I'd wager soot + parafin as binder.
As an retired Avionics Technician? Yeah, I heard about these. As an Ordnance handler? I would never put that near anything that goes boom. I can see them using that in WWII for setting explosives, but also? I would use that to tap into telegraph and phone lines, or tap into railroad signals lines which were a form of telegraph back then.
This is so interesting, thank you Gilles !
I'd buy these today.
Hey man, I like your content, it’s very in depth, well researched and presented quite well.
I do wanna say- I think you’re releasing too much, too fast.
I really preferred your longer in depth format, that released every once in a while, over this newer format, that’s about 10min average, seemingly a couple times a week.
I’m going to watch either way, because I like what you’re making.
I’m just saying- take your time, we’re watching.
Maybe bunch these together, and do a bi-monthly release?
They were used to connect field telephone wires by linesmen so not just SOE
It reminds me of a patch kit. My father's used to patch intertubes. Light it and it would burn across the surface creating a . seal
Amazing, i ve never that in my life.... thanks for the video
VERY VERY COOL.THANK YOU
Way cool!
Maybe the binder is something like hydrated lime, i guess the need to add water or another electrolytic solution was sop, this would make sense if lime was used.
Dextrin as a binder of the Iron and sulfur.
Dipping in wax was a commom way of waterproofing matches and fire starting kits . Does it feel waxy ?
I don't think any operative out in the field bothered to scrape of the sodering material.
It's not intended for long-term use. Wrap it with electrical tape (if at all) - good enough.
I Dont see anything useful about these if used to connect blasting caps with blasting wire. Blasting wires are normally just quickly twisted together, they are very quick and easy to twist and make secure enough connection for the intented temporary use. However, for sabotage missions behind enemy lines, these would be useful in many places where dealing with field telephone wires or even mains electricity wires where the wires are very stiff and hard to twist together and require much more permanent an reliable connection. Then again if you just have stiff field telephone wire available for blasting caps, these would make it possible to use that for blasting caps. Field lines were (and still are) stiff steel wires that were really really stiff compared to thin copper wires that you can twist connect easily. This would make the process of connecting field wires much faster.
I was thinking along the same lines, but considered maybe it was for longer term delayed charges, like waiting to blow a bridge until there was traffic on it, and where it might be several days or weeks before that occurred. That's the only reason I can think of to solder that type of connection.
yeah, for that purpose you would use field phone wires and not blasting wire. So there is a use for blasting also! But not with blasting wire.@@JCWren
Another interesting one Gilles.
Funny coincidence- recently google's ad algorithm has been feeding me ads for the modern equivalent to these gadgets.Not sure why!
I realized I can put a tiny piece of solder into a crimp connector and heat it with a lighter. If it's good with heat shrink it CAN work but it's not 100%. They sell them too. If it was a low temp solder paste it would work good. Also using a flame to heat it not iron or hot air.
very interesting thank you for sharing, the modern day equivalent is the wago 221-2401 inline.
How they most likely actually connected detonation wires: Strip insulation from both ends, twist ends together, insulate, done. It works just as good.
But the self-soldering sleeve is a nice gadget for more permanent connections.
Very cool
Wouldn’t wax be useful for waterproofing these? Same way firearm cartridges are dipped in wax to seal the primer and crimping around the bullet?
Or would it just ruin the whole thing?
these are the super sneaky kind of this device but I've seen examples from around ww2 or korea and onwards for joining battlefield telephones. they were larger and didn't have the same kind of burn
I bet these were used in all kinds of scenarios. Tanks, aircraft, any machines that needed fast repairs.
extremely interesting! imagine if they had wago's!
Strangely we used them in the UK Royal Signals and in the Civil Defence Corps during the cold war.
Fantastic, as always!
Very cool thank you for sharing
Very neat indeed.
Offer a close-up of the opened box & I bet a matchbox collector would be able to identifty which factory made it. For instance, is it a Briant & May of London box?
ALL I CAN SAY OUR CCF AT SCHOOL HAD THEM IN STOCK IN THE LATE 1960 S
they need to start making these again. the "bad crimping plague" is gonna be a far worse fire hazard than these lil sparklers.