More uses for duct tape

[sabreuse]

From the Police Report column of the Jackson County (Colo.) Star, listing a hunting accident on Oct. 6 in the south of the county: "A hunter shot a deer and was apparently trying to arrange his rifle on the antlers for a trophy photo when the gun fired, blowing off the man's thumb and part of his hand. When medical personnel arrived, the man had wrapped the wounded hand in duct tape." [Jackson County Star, 10-11-01]

[Caithdein]

Why not - they used to superglue battlefield injuries together in World War I to stop them bleeding while the injured party were moved to a hospital.

Im sure duct tape would be just as effective. Its got to hurt when you tear it off though.

[lochinvar]

They had superglue in World War I?

[Caithdein]

Yup

wont have been exactly the same stuff as todays but thats when it was invented

just to hold injuries closed and stop em bleeding

Its scary the amount of useless information i know

[Inquartata]

I doubt very much that tearing duct tape off of a thumb that had already been severed would hurt too badly...

[Catlady]

The deer strike back, yahoo! Okay, so the deer was dead at the time--that's just a minor detail. Not to enrage any hunters on the board--whatever floats your boat as long as you don't mistake me, or my pets,or family members for a deer--but I've always agreed with the comedian who said hunting would be much fairer and more exciting if the deer could shoot back. Oh well, off topic again. <img src="graemlins/freak2.gif" border="0" alt="[Freak]" />

On the Super-glue topic, I didn't know they had and used it during WWI either, although it wouldn't suprise me. I do know however that there is such a thing as surgical skin glue that is used, mostly in the ER I believe, to close wounds.
Yes, I too am a fount of useless (mis)information. I'm not always sure what I did with my car keys, or which hand is my right, but this kind of stuff, I'm all over

[Mergs]

One of the scenarios we were presented with during training for deployment to Bosnia was what to do with someone who approaches the patrol holding a grenade in both hands with the pin pulled. The solution (and it would have taken someone with the gonads of Godzilla to do) they told us was to calmly and slowly walk up the the person and when you were right up to them quickly put both your hands around theirs and hold on for dear life until the guy that was carrying the roll of duct tape could wrap both your and their hands together! Bottom line was that anytime we went out we were supposed to carry a roll of duct tape!

As for the surgical glue, I caught my wife's nephew trying to use 5-minute epoxy to close a cut on his thumb! Sigh. But if McGiver can do it........

[Inquartata]

World War I? Try this----

Neanderthals Made High-Tech Superglue

By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News

Jan. 16 — Neanderthal tools were built to last, according to a recent analysis of artifacts that revealed Neanderthals made a strong, relatively high-tech adhesive to affix wooden handles to flint stone knives.

The discovery suggests that, despite their bumbling reputation, Neanderthals were perhaps as intelligent and industrious as early modern humans.
Neanderthals appeared approximately 230,000-300,000 years ago and are believed to have gone extinct 30,000 years ago.

The ancient "superglue" was detected on two tool remnants excavated at a site called Koenigsaue in the northeastern foothills of the Harz Mountains in Germany. The first object had a big Neanderthal fingerprint on one side, and grains of wood on the other. The second, smaller object appeared to have been molded by hand. Findings are published in the current issue of the European Journal of Archaeology, which is issued by SAGE publications and the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA).

The adhesive, a form of birch pitch, is tricky to make, and would even be difficult for modern manufacturing plants to duplicate, according to the report.

Author Dietrich Mania and his team, from Freidrich-Schiller University in Jena, wrote that the smoldering process required to turn birch bark into pitch "must be carried out at the correct temperatures and under exclusion of oxygen in order for the biologically conditioned distribution patterns of extractable birch bark components to be maintained."

They explained that birch only turns into usable glue between 340-400 degrees Centigrade. Lower temperatures prohibit resin in the wood from melting and higher temperatures would burn tar exuded from the birch.

" ... The very fact that birch bark pitch was identified (in the artifacts) already proclaims the intellectual and technical abilities of the Neanderthals," concluded the researchers.

Chris Stringer, head of human origins in the Department of Paleontology at The Natural History Museum in London, did not wish to directly comment on Mania's paper, but suggested that the news adds to the argument that Neanderthals were not instantaneously killed off by supposedly superior Cro-Magnons — early modern humans.

"These days, both DNA and morphological studies support the majority view that Neanderthals were indeed a separate lineage, and probably species, to modern humans," said Stringer. "But equally there is growing evidence from dating techniques that Neanderthals did not vanish overnight, and that in some ways they were as behaviorally sophisticated as Cro-Magnons."

Stringer added that researchers hoped to next study Neanderthal fossils from western Asia, which could solve the mystery behind the apparent Neanderthal extinction.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The story is from here: <a href="http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20020114/neanderthal.html" target="_blank">http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20020114/neanderthal.html</a>

[HilandDoug]

Yes, but the REAL test of intelligence for the Neanderthal:

Which weapon did they fence?

[Jeeves]

The super glue used in the emergency room is a cyanoacrylate type. Goes by the trade name Dermabond. The glue has a slight blue tint to it.
It is non-toxic (DUH). Comes in a crush activated ampule with a cotton applicator end. Dermabond has the ability to stay on a clean, non-stressed/stretched skin area for 24 to 72 hours.
That time frame should be long enough for the edges of the laceration to approximate and seal.
Dermabond peels off with the old top skin layer as your body makes new skin cells.
Dermabond along with steristrips are used as a non invasive laceration repair to a area on the body that does not stretch or flex much.
I have no idea how long this product has actualy been in use.

[fred]

Given that these were German Neanderthals, their level of technical sophistication should not be surprising :-) When the Neanderthal beer brauerei is finally discovered, the real reason for their decline will be understood....

It's also possible that Neanderthal weapons techs became embroiled in debates on the relative merits of birch pitch, superglue, and Duco cement in holding down blade wires and were ambushed Cro-Magnon sabreurs

[Zelda]

Jeeves, you have been reading a few too medical catalogues in Down time in ER havent you???

[HilandDoug]

I'll go with fred's hypothesis. Makes sense to me.

[Jeeves]

Zelda,
The Derma bond info is just common knowledge to any Emergency Room nurse whos been in on 15 or more laceration repairs in a 12 hour shift.
An added bonus is...
It's also really great for fixing blade wires that have popped up in a small spot from the groove. Thats what down time is for. A fact that is not known to many E. D. nurses.

[Zelda]

Isnt it the fact that fencers can find a use for anything?

[Inquartata]

If so, can we find some use for the FIE, please?

[Zelda]

Inquarta, some things are extraneous in whatever capacity your tend to use them!