Help identify this mystery clamp I got

[Razorhunter]

A buddy scored this in a lot of old clamps recently. I never seen one like it. Clamp is stamped "5min Vulcanizer" and has a star/cross shaped pad on the clamp screw. What is this actually used for, and what does it have to do with vulcanizing (rubber use/work? of some type?)

 

[M_George]

It's for pressing patches on inner tubes.

 

[BajaScout]

Sent from my iPhone using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[unslow1]

Thanks for posting I have a couple of those and had no idea what they were for.

 

[lilredex]

That's only part of the story. They were used with patches that were attached to a little tin affair that you lit on fire, which vulcanized the patch onto the tube. Still have a few of them in my patch box.

 

[driftpin]

Probably for a 'hot-patch,' which I used to use on motorcycle tires riding off-road enduros and hare scrambles in the early 1970's. They worked very-well, when the tube was clean and dry.

Some supplies for this:
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=hot+vulcanizing+patches

 

[Razorhunter]

Cool thanks guys

 

[Maui]

You’d have to scuff up the surface of the tube where the patch would go with coarse grit sandpaper so it would adhere properly. We used these when I was a kid to patch the tubes on our bikes. And yes, you would use a match to set the backing material on fire. Once it was out you’d wait a certain amount of time and then unclamp the tube, peel the metal plate off and you were all set. They worked quite well if you prepped everything properly.

Maui

 

[Milton Shaw]

They also made a larger size that would reach into the tire to hold a patch to repair the tire. Something on the order of 8 to 10 inches overall. They worked very well, the vulcanized patch would spread out into the hole and sometimes would seep out where you could see it in the tread. There were a lot more tire repairs before radial tires came along and were so much harder to puncture. My dad told about a car his father bought during the depression that they had 36 flats on the way home, this was on a Ford T model that came with flat repair tools. Eventually they were cutting patches for the tires out of shoe tongues as you could see through the tires.

 

[Mick56]

I've got a Monkey Grip kit that I've had on the shelf a long time.

 

[rharman]

I remember those kits from my old Schwinn Sting-Ray days.

 

[seber]

I still have a large tin full of Camel hot patches. But even tractors run tubeless tires today so it just sits on the shelf with the clamp and looks old.