Can a punctured tire be repaired by injecting it with pitahaya nectar?
Hsieh Wen-yuan, a retired Central Police University instructor who is renowned in Taiwan for his ability to crack locks and prevent burglary, recently discovered that the common fruit known as pitahaya, or “dragon fruit,” naturally contains nectar that can be used to repair punctured tires. All you have to do is take the nectar extracted from the fruit and inject it into the tire where air is usually inserted, and the flesh and fiber of the fruit will automatically repair the punctured tire within a second of being punctured, allowing you to continue using the tire.
Hsieh used a nail to puncture a basketball, which caused it to start leaking air and making a hissing sound, but in less than two seconds the nectar he had previously put inside the ball filled the hole and the hissing ceased immediately. Aside from some red juice left on the surface of the ball, everything else about the ball appeared normal. The hole was no longer visible and the ball could be used normally. Hsieh also demonstrated how the nectar works on tires for motorcycles and bicycles.
Photo: Yao Yueh-hung, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者姚岳宏
Hsieh says that when he was driving to visit a friend in southern Taiwan three years ago, he had several jin (one jin equals 600g) of pitahaya in his trunk. When friction was created between the fruits as they rolled around when the car moved, the fruit produced a peculiar, highly adhesive fluid, which stuck to a basketball in his trunk. Eventually he and one of his friends began studying nectar extracted from the fruit.
According to his experiments, Hsieh says that the nectar works as long as the hole punctured is 0.6cm or smaller, but that he is still working on improving his formula for vehicles since the loads they bear can differ so much.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
Photo: Yao Yueh-hung, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者姚岳宏
輪胎裡注入火龍果液,在破胎時,可以自動補胎?
在國內開鎖防盜界頗具知名度的警大退休教官謝文苑,日前意外從常見水果火龍果中,發現出可自動補胎的「天然防釘液」,只要事先將火龍果萃取出來的液體從灌氣處注入輪胎,就算行進間扎到釘子,裡面含果肉纖維的成分,可在一秒間自動填補破洞,輪胎仍可繼續使用。
謝文苑拿出釘子扎進籃球,球就傳出「嘶嘶」的漏氣聲,但不到兩秒,當原來就在球裡面的填充液經滾動塞住破洞時,漏氣嘶聲立刻停止,籃球表面除留下一些紅色汁液,其他一切如常,完全看不到破洞,球還可以繼續打,他同時也示範包括重機車及腳踏車輪都可如此。
謝文苑笑說,三年前他開車去南部訪友,帶了好幾斤的火龍果放在後車廂,由於行駛滾動間產生摩擦,產生一種黏稠性高的特殊黏液,還黏住也在車廂內的一顆籃球,後來他與另一名友人開始研究這種火龍果萃取液。
他說,目前實驗,只要外力造成的孔洞小於零點六公分都可使用;至於汽車部分,由於承重不同,他還在努力改善配方中。
(自由時報記者姚岳宏)
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