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I know exactly what this is and what it was used for.

Can anyone hazard a guess as to it's exact use.

I can tell you it (they) were made in 1966 at Footprint Tools.

There's also an interesting (well I think it is) story attached to this particular one.

(Actual size is about 3ft long)

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I know exactly what this is and what it was used for.

Can anyone hazard a guess as to it's exact use.

I can tell you it (they) were made in 1966 at Footprint Tools.

There's also an interesting (well I think it is) story attached to this particular one.

(Actual size is about 3ft long)

They are 3 foot long for a reason, either for leverage or lifting hot items. I will go for lifting sheet material out of a forge/furnace.

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They are 3 foot long for a reason, either for leverage or lifting hot items. I will go for lifting sheet material out of a forge/furnace.

You've made a start with leverage Stuart.

Here's a bit clearer picture of the end. Look closely.

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You've made a start with leverage Stuart.

Here's a bit clearer picture of the end. Look closely.

Leverage, used to move/manhahdle bales cotton, hay or similar stuff

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Leverage, used to move/manhahdle bales cotton, hay or similar stuff

Sheet steel cutter. W/E.

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Sheet steel cutter. W/E.

It is for cutting sheet metal, :) but in a very specific situation.

I'll leave it a bit longer to see if anyone knows, or can guess, exactly what.

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It is for cutting sheet metal, :) but in a very specific situation.

I'll leave it a bit longer to see if anyone knows, or can guess, exactly what.

" Prefabs " [ the dismantling of ]. W/E.
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A decent stab W.E. but not correct.

I forgot about this one.

It is in fact exactly what it looks like - a giant tin opener. Specifically, it's for cutting into wrecked carriages in rail accidents.

It was made in about 1967.

I was apprenticed at Footprint Tools in the 60's

One day the owner, Mr Jewett, came up to the toolroom with a drawing of this piece of equipment, and asked our foreman to make (I think maybe about half a dozen ) samples for British Rail. (was it called British Rail at that time?)This was to be a prototype with a possibility of going on to manufacture lots of them. All the blokes ducked out of doing them, so it fell to me to put my life on the line and make them. The Idea worked, but some other firm probably came up with a better price or design because I don't think we got the job.

Anyway the interesting (to me) bit is:

Some 30 years later I was working at Atkinson's garage at the bottom of Newhall Road, painting lorries. In the shop next-door they did the repairs for (amongst others) B.R.S. - later re-named XL Logistics. I went round one day and asked to borrow a bar to lever with. A bloke handed me this saying

"I don't know what it's supposed to be for, but I use it for bending sheet steel."

Imagine my surprise when I realised it was one of my "Can Openers". He told me he'd got it from a BRS wagon which worked out of the railway yard.

I know it's one that I made because it's obviously hand made, and they weren't given a proper finishing as they were just prototypes.

I bought it off him (for a fiver I think)

Couldn't not do really.

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It is in fact exactly what it looks like - a giant tin opener. Specifically, it's for cutting into wrecked carriages in rail accidents

A tin opener for cutting into crashed railway carriages :o

Now on the London underground, Paris Metro and on the Tokyo rail system where passengers are crammed in like SARDINES,

Do the carriages have a giant key on the side which winds a strip of metal off the carriage in case of emergency? lol

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A tin opener for cutting into crashed railway carriages :o

Now on the London underground, Paris Metro and on the Tokyo rail system where passengers are crammed in like SARDINES,

Do the carriages have a giant key on the side which winds a strip of metal off the carriage in case of emergency? lol

Yes Dave, here's the later improved version. :)

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Yes Dave, here's the later improved version. :)

Somewhere else in the transport section mention has been made of railway loading gauges where the dimensions of the trains are matched by tunnel and bridge heights, platform heights and positions (so that there is little gap to mind when it says "mind the gap") and so on so that it is not possible by rail to transport large items with a size or shape that wont fit these dimensions.

Now that sardine tin key safety feature seems to protrude too far beyond the side of the carriage for safety, it could for example hit a train going the opposite direction on an adjacent track.

Then again the key could double as a mail bag arrester (the thing that picks up mail bags from the trackside without the train having to stop) on the mail train lol

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Now that sardine tin key safety feature seems to protrude too far beyond the side of the carriage for safety, it could for example hit a train going the opposite direction on an adjacent track.

Then again the key could double as a mail bag arrester (the thing that picks up mail bags from the trackside without the train having to stop) on the mail train lol

They soon discovered the problem Dave.

They came up with this solution. :o

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Back to your original post on the "tin opener" you actually own.

Is this a piece of equipment carried by rescue workers and therefore brought by them to the scene of an accident.

Or is there one actually on the train, in a glass cabinet with a sign that says "In case of accident break glass" lol

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Back to your original post on the "tin opener" you actually own.

Is this a piece of equipment carried by rescue workers and therefore brought by them to the scene of an accident.

Or is there one actually on the train, in a glass cabinet with a sign that says "In case of accident break glass" lol

I never knew Dave.

I had always assumed they were supposed to be carried on the trains, but your question makes me think that that wouldn't be such a good idea. Rescuers could spend more time looking for the "tin opener" than rescuing people. I'd never really thought about other possibilities.

Maybe the idea was never carried through, which means that my "sample" could be the only one left. I really don't know. Possibly someone who used to work on the railways may know the answer.

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I never knew Dave.

I had always assumed they were supposed to be carried on the trains, but your question makes me think that that wouldn't be such a good idea. Rescuers could spend more time looking for the "tin opener" than rescuing people. I'd never really thought about other possibilities.

Maybe the idea was never carried through, which means that my "sample" could be the only one left. I really don't know. Possibly someone who used to work on the railways may know the answer.

If carried by rescue teams this would enable them to cut into the carriage to release trapped and / or seriously injured passengers.

If one was carried inside the train in a prominent place it would give uninjured but trapped passengers a means of escape by cutting themselves out.

However, unlike a normal tin opener this one may need some skill to use it, and the usual way to escape from a trapped train is simply to smash a window out, hence the "In case of accident break glass" box which usually contains a small hammer capable of breaking the toughened glass used in railway carriage windows.

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If carried by rescue teams this would enable them to cut into the carriage to release trapped and / or seriously injured passengers.

If one was carried inside the train in a prominent place it would give uninjured but trapped passengers a means of escape by cutting themselves out.

However, unlike a normal tin opener this one may need some skill to use it, and the usual way to escape from a trapped train is simply to smash a window out, hence the "In case of accident break glass" box which usually contains a small hammer capable of breaking the toughened glass used in railway carriage windows.

I think I'd err on the side of Rescue teams carrying them.

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I think I'd err on the side of Rescue teams carrying them.

In that case they could have other uses than just railway carriages, cars, vans trucks, any vehicle with a relatively thin sheet metal body.

Quite a handy tool really.

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