super glue

[JOHN DUNCKER]

I am a long time modeller. Many of us use superglue. To control the quantity and exact placement we often use a very thin tube [ capillary ] poked into the nozzle.

So you would get close to the component and apply the tube to the desired location and squeeze. But sometimes the tube would stick and you would pull it free. If you did this a drop of superglue would be flicked off the end of the tube. Sometimes it would be on a trajectory intercepting your eye. I had a tiny dot of super glue on one lens of my glasses. I learned not to pull the tube free with some shielding. But others did superglue their eyes shut. The eye would free itself in about a week without any intervention.

 

[goldstar31]

So it is still a bit of an old wives' tale as it was apparently only discovered by accident in 1942 when - trying to make plastic gunsights- not very well. And then it was resurrected- or something like that, by Dr Coover in the early 1950's when it came into common use.

For my part, I recall the RAF and dentists joining Perspex/Plexiglas with chloroform or acetone in the late 1940's.
Perhaps we can now put the myths to bed, shut our eyes and sleep on it.

Regards

Norman