Breaking glass ?

mete

mete

Joined
Jun 10, 2003
Messages
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Three women died when their suv went into the Passaic river in NJ today. Neither the women nor passesbys had anything to break the windows. I know there are tools for that purpose . Where can you buy them ?
 
Mete,
Most any hardware store will have the hand held, spring loaded
nail setters which EMT's use to shatter car windows durring
rescue operations.

Russ
 
A springloaded center punch works great for breaking tempered glass (side and rear windows on the vast majority of automobiles). You don't have to worry about having room to swing. And some center punches come with clips so you can clip it to your visor. Any kind of striking tool should have a hard point to shatter the tempered glass. I once tried to bust a side window (not at work) with a hammer and it took me two tries. The first try the hammer almost bounced back in my face. :eek:
 
Mete,
One source is a carbide tipped lathe cutting tool, especially one with the triangle attached insert.
If the car is already filled with water, the spring loaded, carbide tipped tool is better.
 
CapCase said:
And some center punches come with clips so you can clip it to your visor.
Click to expand...
A center punch is probably the best tool for the job, and they're cheap and convenient enough, too.

But clipping it to a visor is the worst idea possible, since in a crash anything that isn't secured will fly around the cabin, endangering the passengers more than helping them.

Even the glove box isn't necessarily secure. It can pop open and the contents will also go violently airborne.
 
We drive in the rivers here all the time. I'd just open my door and walk to the riverbank. :confused: Kevin in Arizona
 
I older cars with no power door locks the easiest way to open the doors was to let the water fill the car and then open the door as the pressure would be equalized making it easier to get out. Todays cars are hazardous in that aspect because the electronics fry out in seconds after hitting the water. So unless you had the doors unlocked when you hit the water you will have to break the glass to get out. The LifeHammer is an excellent tool for the job.
 
Everybody should have a Microtech Scarab or Makora in case they have to break their car window. Plus, as a small side benifit, it can also be used as a knife. :cool:
 
Reminds me of a war story.

Back in the early 70s, we had a report of a car driving into the local River Des Peres. Not really a river, it's an enormous storm drain that fills to the bank each spring when the Mississippi goes to flood stage.
We responded, and indeed found a set of tire tracks leading into the muddy water, which would have been 30-40' deep at this point.
So, the FD rescue crew was called, as was the local Scuba-rescue team.
The lads were just getting their gear on and starting into the drink when an odd-looking car pulled up.
It was one of those little German-made "Amphi-cars" that were available back then, driven by a nice little German guy.
"are you looking for me, perhaps?"
He'd seen the news footage, and realized someone had seen him drive into the river. Did it all the time; he even used the thing to cross the Big Muddy now and then to aviod traffic on the bridges!
 
Esav Benyamin said:
A center punch is probably the best tool for the job, and they're cheap and convenient enough, too.

But clipping it to a visor is the worst idea possible, since in a crash anything that isn't secured will fly around the cabin, endangering the passengers more than helping them.

Even the glove box isn't necessarily secure. It can pop open and the contents will also go violently airborne.
Click to expand...

Okay. Any suggesstions as to where I can keep my center punch safely and securely?
 
Velcro tape it to your dashboard perhaps? Or some sort of clip mounting system (like for a flashlight)?
 
I would think a springloaded window punch would be needed if you were going to be using it underwater. I'm not sure, but if you were under water, I don't think you would be able to swing any other tool (even something like a carbide breaker) hard enough to break the window.

When I read that article, I was thinking about this same issue. First, I thought about how the electronics would be fried and therefore the doors locked. My thoughts concerning this - is it not possible for car manufacturers to build into their cars some sort of mechanism/system that would cause the doors to unlock if the power in the car dies (as when the car is submerged)? Second, I was thinking about how I would try to open the windows. I used to be in a fire department and I had some practice in breaking windows on cars. Not much force is needed if you are using a window punch (even non-spring loaded), but I wonder if that would be different under water. I think that it would, but that could be wrong.
 
i agree that spring loaded center punches are best, and most reliable, for this application. what about attaching it to the seat belt, in a sleeve or holster of sorts, along with a bm rescue hook to cut said seat belt.

though tempered glass shatters nicely when struck in a corner with a center punch (remember that you have to do it in corners of the window, not the center), i suspect that the pressure difference underwater would actually help the process. once the first crack, how can it help but break?

k
 
shanshui75 said:
what about attaching it to the seat belt, in a sleeve or holster of sorts, along with a bm rescue hook to cut said seat belt.
Click to expand...
That sounds good to me. How about some kind of zippered pouch built into the seat belt, like a money belt?
 
Excellent responses.Being a certified curmudgeon I don't have electric locks or windows !!! www.mcmaster.com has a number of spring loaded center punches , I guess the bigger the better. I did have to break a car window , with a rock, and did find that a center hit doesn't work because the window flexes and absorbs the inpact.
 
Esav Benyamin stated:
A center punch is probably the best tool for the job, and they're cheap and convenient enough, too.

But clipping it to a visor is the worst idea possible, since in a crash anything that isn't secured will fly around the cabin, endangering the passengers more than helping them.
Click to expand...

I guess we need to remove the punches from the visors of our fire apparatus then. :rolleyes:

The punches I've seen with clips are about the size of a pen and they clip pretty securely. If a person is belted properly they should never come in contact with one. Although flying objects in a car can be a hazard, from what I have seen in my twenty year career of working motor vehicle accidents, the real hazard is coming into contact with the car itself. Banging into the interior of the car (especially if unbelted) or having the car intrude into the occupants' space. Or the occupant being thrown from the vehicle (if unbelted) and having the vehicle land on them. I have heard the story "He/She was lucky not to be wearing a seatbelt because they were thrown from the car!" many times (but never at a wreck I have worked). That is an understatement, if the person is thrown from the car they are extremely lucky to survive because the car is going in the same direction as they are. I have had to get many a car or truck off of someone. So I highly recommend everyone wear their seatbelts. :) As to keeping a center punch in your car, place it wherever you feel is safe.
 
Another more costly suggestion would be to buy a soft top convertible. Then all you need at the most is a knife to cut the top.

I keep a life hammer in my car in the glove box. Tried to velcro it but it just came off so i just keep it in the glove box. But would it be easy to use underwater?

I guess the first thing you do when you're in the water is put the windows down. I don't know how fast the electronics will fry but i'm guessing that it'll take a while before it happens.

You really need a specialist tool to break the window efficiently. Had a house on fire near my house years ago. A car was in the porch and they needed to move it 'cos it might explode so they wanted to break the windows and they tried throwing one of the garden pots at it and it just bounced back.
 
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