Hey guys. Mark here from back in the old days. The website wouldn’t accept my login for my username so I had to use this one instead. Anyway….
I need some help from someone in commercial/industrial construction. My wife has had two tire punctures in the last 2 weeks. I strongly suspect it’s happening at her place of employment. I’ve attached a photo of the little guy. It appears to be a pin of some sort. stainless steel, about 1-1/4″ long and about the thickness of 12 guage wire. She works in a hospital which is attached to a university. there is a lot of construction going on all around her building and parking area.
Now, if it wasn’t stainless steel, I would say it looks exactly like the trigger pin on a framing nail gun.
So… Any of you guys who do a lot of hospital construction recognize this lil’ thingy? Or at least have a theory as to what it might be? the fact that there were two incidents tells me that there must be a bunch of them laying around out there.
Thanks, Mark
Replies
Looks somewhat like the cut off from a pop rivet. If it is one end will show tool marks from being cut in to.
stub of SS filler rod from TIG welding?
Unfortunately, pins of that sort are used to hold together all sorts of things, so it will be hard to guess the culprit. Especially, plastic boxes may have hinges utilizing such pins, but I've also seen pins of that sort holding together joints in steel bands, and a bunch of other places I can't remember at the moment.
I'd pursue the plastic box theory first -- are there any broken plastic boxes laying around?
Do note that SS is not particularly magnetic, so if the site is being swept for nails, etc with a magnet, these pins might be missed.
Looking at it again, I'm remembering that pins like that are often used to hold together tubing assemblies for administering oxygen, etc. One would normally expect that any such assemblies to be disposed of as medical waste, but it's possible that a bunch were tossed as regular trash, or perhaps were put to use on the construction site for some purpose (I can imagine using the tubing to tie things together, perhaps).
2 flats in 2 weeks
for something without a head and that frequency of flat, I'd go look at where dw drives. The chances of a small headless rod getting thru a modern tire twice statistically indicates there are a LOT of thes laying in ;the road.
Go look, follow back to source.
Or, these are siding nails or similar the head wore off being dirven on after thru the tire?
Post a pic of the construction site, very difficult to 'slueth' with only a partial clue.
/closeup of end of 'pin'. Cut end, rounded, work, concrete abrazed, etc ?
Well getting a closer - up photo of the rod just isn't happening. Everything I try just winds up all blurry. the end that was inside the tire is pristine, no scratches or tool marks squared off end, not cut or clipped. The "street" end looks the same, but with road abrasions. Frankly it could have looked like anything before being driven on.
Where she works is surrounded by hospital sattelite buildings in various stages of construction. Several large buildings housing labs, outpatiet clinics, etc. plus a couple of parking ramps.
I had the same opinion about the fact that this happened twice indicating there must be a lot of the little devils laying about. I am planning on stopping by there the next time I'm in the neighborhood and looking around.
I've done quite a bit of work in and around hospitals, but it's been limited to doors, door hardware, cabinets, that type of thing. Plus, it's been many years since I've done any of that. I haven't done much with equipment and fixtures which is where I am suspecting the stainless steel is coming from.
The place she works is actually very employee-friendly and if I manage to discover that the construction is causing it I have no doubt that they will at least offer to reimburse her for the tire (One tier needed to be replaced, the other they were able to patch.)
On side note. I have always bought the "road hazard" protection on the tires for my work trucks. It's paid for itself many times over. Construction sites tend to be hazardous in that regard. My wife on the other hand never saw the point and considered it a waste of money. AND... In her defense... In over thirty years of driving, this is the first time she has ever had a flat! Seriously.
Needless to say, This little adventure has changed her mind about all that.