Hey you old-timers ...

[Thumper]

I mean REALLY old-timers! You know ... like Bucky. ;)

Remember these? I was digging through a nasty old shed at an estate sale today, pulled this out of an old rusty tool box and bought it for a quarter. Ya' NEVER went anywhere without carrying one in your car for those on-the-road tire repairs. Kind of a cool old nostalgic piece. No clue when this one was made, but I found an ad from January, 1918! http://books.google.com/books?id=JxwfAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA166&lpg=RA1-PA166&dq=shaler+5+minute+vulcanizer&source=bl&ots=cm03MKZi8l&sig=OvTSvXDEefPtcwIh6MXHP2B1DIc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=B7ybU6HmN_S1sAS7wIDwCA&ved=0CEEQ6AEwATgK#v=onepage&q=shaler%205%20minute%20vulcanizer&f=false

Here's mine ...

3127 3128

[BarryBobPosthole]

I don't know what they're called But is that the old clamp for pressing a patch on an inner tube? Inner tubes were a big part of my life, as in how to acquire them for swimming. Tractor inner tubes were best. I've patch a hunnerd of them.
But I eon't know if that's what that is.

BKB

[Thumper]

That's it Posty (see the link posted above). And I'm with you on the tractor inner tubes. Truck tubes were popular too and probably the best fit for most people. I couldn't tell you how many of those big mutha's I've patched for float trips down the river. I had one tractor tube that was the PERFECT size for a big ol' Coleman cooler once. That cooler would wedge into that tube like it was custom-made for the task. I'd run an umbilical from my float tube to the cooler tube and it'd float behind me to help keep everyone ... ummm ... hydrated. Made a great floating bar! I couldn't begin to tell you how many float trips down the Colorado River I made with that rig! :D

'Course, back in the days of inner tubes and single ply/balloon tires .. EVERYONE had a "5 Minute Vulcanizer" in their car.

[BarryBobPosthole]

We floated the Ichatucknee in Florida and the Guadalupe in Texas on tubes many, many times. Made it handy to hitchike up river and just jump in and float back to your camp.
BKB

[Thumper]

I used to float down the Tuckasegee River in North Carolina and after a predetermined number of hours, my grandmother would drive down to pick me up at my usual stopping point. My grandparents lived right on the river and I'd jump in just below the old homestead. When I lived in California, a group of us were always camping along the Colorado River and a couple of the wimmins would usually stay behind to bring p/u trucks down river and pick us up.