Lead fillings: GOST, weight, manufacturer, photo. How to remove a lead seal?

In the dictionary of V. Dal, "a seal is a pendulous lead seal." Initially, it was applied to the goods in the customs. Lead - a soft plastic metal, which is easy to put any impression, and the seal can not be removed without damaging the drawing. The same property of the lead seal is used today, despite the fact that its appearance and importance became easier with time.

A bit of history

The oldest preserved to date seals were made in the VI-VII millennium BC.

Historically, the seal was not just a defense against illegal penetration, it was both a sign of power, a sign of property, and a guard. The first fillings were made of wax and sealing wax. Then in the XIV century (at least, archaeologists found West-European trade seals of this age), lead seals appeared that were improved and modified, but still exist, although they have already been fairly pressed by modern locking and sealing devices.

In Central Asia, lead seals served as an actual confirmation of the crossing of the customs border of Bukhara. They were imposed on certain groups of goods at the Samarkand customs, they were already shooting at the border and were returning to Samarkand, and the merchants received an appropriate reward.

In Russia in the nineteenth century, a lead seal was already an indispensable attribute of commercial equipment. Each manufacturer or merchant had its own trade seal, and all the goods that were sent off were sealed for safekeeping. At the beginning of the last century, all goods, including perishable dairy products, were sealed. The surviving commercial lead seals of that time are valuable testimonies of history. On them it is possible to trace the development (in modern terms) of light, food industry, cargo transportation and trade ties in the Russian Empire.

What is a lead seal

Lead seals GOST 30269-95 (bank or cash collection) are small disks with two through holes 2,5 × 2 mm into which the sealing wire or twine is threaded, on the one hand and a depression on the other side for the unit. When an impression is correctly placed on the wire with a sealer, the wire and knot are clamped in the seal.

The standard diameters of lead seals are 8 mm, 10 mm, 16 mm, height - 5.5 mm, 6.5 mm and 7.2 mm respectively. There are special lead seals for jewelry with a diameter of 3.5 mm.

Lead seals are made from soft primary lead C0 and C1, because secondary lead is a product of processing lead-acid batteries, and there may be acid residues on it.

In addition, such lead has several other mechanical properties, it becomes less viscous. Therefore, the most reliable and environmentally safe lead seal, the manufacturer of which monitors the quality of not only the products themselves, but also the materials from which they are produced.

Major producers, firstly, do not use waste and battery lead, and secondly, conduct radiation and chemical verification of lead.

Use of lead seals

Lead seals are installed on any objects, whether it is closed doors, apparatuses, appliances, or goods. A sealant with a unique impression can be found in one person, and therefore, it is impossible to replace an established seal.

In banks with the help of lead seals, vaults, cash collection bags and bags with cash are sealed.

They are also used during the transportation of goods in sea and rail containers and trucks, while storing goods and valuables in warehouses, for daily sealing of premises, in order to avoid unauthorized penetrations, their detection and possible theft or substitution of valuables.

Lead fillings are also used for sealing transformer substations, metrological equipment, various measuring instruments, for example, gas and electric meters.

Plombirator and sealing wire

Lead lead seals are installed using a special tool. These are metal pincers (plombirator), which includes metal plates 10 mm in diameter, on which are engraved convex or deepened letters, numbers, small symbols. The number of signs on the plates is limited. When gripping the cheeks of the mites, the lead seal (photo below), placed between them, deforms and a unique image is obtained on it.

For sealing, a special twisted twisted wire is used. One vein - straight central - serves as the basis, the second one twisted - secondary. Relief coils reliably hold the installed seal, not allowing it to slide.

The special technology of wire making increases its resistance to atmospheric and mechanical loads, and most importantly, to criminal opening.

Usually, the wire is produced in coils weighing one kilogram.

Installation of lead seals

To install the seal, you need to cut a piece of wire or jute twine of the required length, pass it through the eyelets of the object, which must be protected from breaking, then into the holes of the seal, tighten it as close to the eyes and squeeze the seal. Then you need to check the reliability of the installed seal - it should not move along the wire.

Apparent simplicity of installation with insufficient preparation of the seal installer can lead to problems. Experts should know the weak spots of the seals, be able to model the scenarios of unauthorized access, distinguish its signs, as well as signs of substitution of the sealer.

Seals and seals should be strictly taken into account, transferred in compliance with rules that preclude the possibility of unauthorized access to sealing devices.

Sealing should also be carried out according to the rules, with keeping a register of seals.

How to remove a lead seal

You can remove the lead seal by cutting with a pair of scissors a tourniquet or having a wire cut with wire cutters. You can not restore the connection, you just need to install another seal.

Some "experts" manage to remove the seal and then put it back in place, heating it. When heated, the grooves widen, and the seal is pulled off the wire. Therefore, it is desirable to tie the ends of the wire after threading into the holes with a knot, then again thread them into the grooves in the opposite direction, and then tighten the seal tightly with a sealer.

With an authorized removal of the seal, you also need to follow the rules. Before the removal of the seal it is necessary to inspect, to verify its integrity, to make a mark in the accompanying documents or the journal.

If it is found that the seal is damaged or torn, acceptance of sealed valuables is performed in the presence of a commission with the drawing up of an act, in which the state of the seal and wire must be indicated.

Advantages and disadvantages of lead seals

The main advantage of using lead seals is their cheapness and ease of installation. In addition, they are able to tolerate high and low temperatures, their differences.

Manually without an additional tool, which, however, is not difficult to access, remove, especially imperceptibly, the lead seal is not easy.

An individual print on the seals, which is difficult to produce, makes it difficult to forge and replace the seal. If you want, of course, you can overcome any obstacles, for example, bribe, somehow affect the employee who is responsible for the seizure, or order a duplicate impression.

After the plastic security seals appeared, they began to say that the large weight of the lead seal is also a disadvantage, although one filling weighs about 4 grams, and per kilogram there are about 250 pieces with a diameter of 10 mm. It is unlikely that in one round it will be necessary to seal up such a number of doors or so many sacks of cash, let alone seaworthy containers, so that the total weight of the seals and wires becomes palpable.

Equipment for manufacturing of lead seals

Small hand-held machines for the production of lead seals from different manufacturers look about the same, and the technological process is the same. In the crucible, lead is melted separately, then poured into the forms of a mechanical device with two handles. One of them is cut off the gate (an extension to which lead is poured), when the lead in the mold solidifies, and the second is pushed out the ready fillings. The performance of hand machines varies from 35 to 70 kg of lead seals per shift.

There are also electric small units with a capacity of 20 kg of products per hour and semi-automatic machines with a capacity of 25 kg / h.

Manufacturers of lead seals

In Russia there are a lot of large companies, in the list of activities of which there is also the production of lead seals. Almost every major city has its own manufacturers of lead seals. As a rule, these companies are engaged in manufacturing and supplying access control systems and security devices and cooperate with large customers: banks, factories, transport companies, shops.

They have their own production facilities, a good machine tool fleet with numerical program control and qualified specialists, which allows producing high quality products at low prices. Engraving equipment allows you to perform any clear images on the plaques of the sealer at the request of the client.

Today, there are many filling devices more modern than the filler with lead seals and sealing wire, but it's too early to write off old ones that have been proven not for decades, but for centuries, lead seals are too early.