Gasket: Cut from an Old Inner Tube and Rubbed with Graphite (Boy Mechanic, 1919)

A gasket is a thin soft layer clamped between two faces to seal a joint. The Boy Mechanic Book 3 (1919) gives two workshop tips for one: rubber cut from an old inner tube makes a satisfactory gasket for water connections, and powdered graphite rubbed on a rubber gasket lets it come away easily when the joint is opened again. The book gives no method beyond that; marking, cutting and punching the gasket are ours. Source: The Boy Mechanic Book 3 (1919), pp. 372 and 441. Picture: the two tips.