The following brief U.S. intelligence note was published in Tactical and Technical Trends, No. 41, December 30, 1943. [DISCLAIMER: The following text is taken from the U.S. War Department publication Tactical and Technical Trends. As with all wartime intelligence information, data may be incomplete or inaccurate. No attempt has been made to update or correct the text. Any views or opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those of the website.]

EXPLOSIVE RIVET The Hamburger Zeitung of 15 July 1943, describes an "explosive rivet" which has been developed by the Ernest-Heinkel Aircraft Factory and the engineers Otto and Karl Butter of Rheinisch-Westfalische Sprengstoff A.G. An ordinary rivet is drilled at the bottom and an explosive charge inserted in the cavity. The depth of the cavity is so regulated that it does not go beyond the surface of the parts to be riveted together, so that the stem of the rivet is in no way weakened at the vital point. The charge is then exploded by an electrical rivet heater, or, if not available, by a blow-lamp or a hot iron applied to the rivet head. The explosion must be short and sharp indicating that the rivet is firmly positioned; the end of the rivet is distended and forms a closure just as a hammer blow would do. A hydroplane float riveted in this way is watertight. This new method is said to save a great deal of time, a rivet being completed in an average of two seconds by one person.

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