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Volume 12 Number 2/3
October, 1996 |
 Found
Objects |
|
| [?] Aircraft Safety Wire (TIGHAR Artifact
2-3-V-3) |
| Date Found: |
February 1996 during TIGHAR’s NIKU III Preliminary
expedition. |
 |
| Materials analysis: |
United Technologies, Hamilton Standard Propeller Division |
| Report date: |
August 26, 1996 |
| Description: |
This is a length of 304 stainless steel wire 6.75 inches long
comprised of two strands of .010 inch wire twisted together in a very even
left-hand twist with an average pitch of .564 inches. There is a 90 degree
bend located approximately .582 inch from one end. |
| Condition: |
Both ends of the wire have been cut. There is no
evidence of failure from fatigue or high tensile loading. The wire is in excellent
condition. |
| Identification: |
This is aircraft safety wire, also known as lock
wire, of a type widely available from the 1930s onward. |
| Commentary: |
Although as innocuous an artifact as could be imagined,
this is yet another object found on Nikumaroro which was, at one time, part
of an airplane. The only clues to its origin may be its somewhat unusually
long tail and the fact that its twist may have been hand-done rather than twirled
with special safety wire pliers. Early mechanics prided themselves on the precision
of their lock wire work. |
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