GB1307225A - Connecting devices - Google Patents

Abstract

1307225 Links ALBRIGHT & WILSON Ltd 14 July 1970 [24 July 1969] 37245/69 Heading F2K A mechanical and/or electrical linkage comprises a connecting member in contact with a thermite mixture, i.e. any mixture of oxidizing and reducing agents, but preferably substantially 30% of silicon and 70% of red lead by weight which is fused or destroyed upon ignition of the mixture without substantial evolution of gas. In a mechanical linkage in an oceanographic apparatus having weighted and buoyant components connected at 3, 4 to a body 1 of polypropylene and a loosely fitting cap 2 an aluminium tie-rod 7 having a constriction 8 is surrounded by a thermite mixture 10 which may be fused upon ignition of the mixture by an igniter 13 having a filament 13A and electrical connections 13B which may be activated by a sonar device. When the rod 7 severs the cap 2 and buoyant device may float free. The device may be used as a means of irreversibly disrupting an electrical current or in an electrical one-shot device where the connecting member mechanically restrains the closure of a relay.