How do Tube Patches Work?
Like the title says, I'm interested as to what goes on when you patch a tube. I had a puncture while commuting just yesterday, a tiny piece of glass that remained in the tire after my first check and punctured my spare tube about 5 kms later, near work (thankfully). I had to buy a puncture repair kit at lunchtime and sit by the river after work, thoroughly checking the tire, extracting the tiny 1 mm x 1 mm piece of glass in it, patch both tubes--as well as a snakebite puncture caused by my own clumsiness--and finally ride home.
So does anyone know patches actually work? It's just for the sake of knowing, really. You buff the tube, put on solvent goo, allow it to dry, peel off a patch and apply the patch to the now dry solvent goo. Someone was saying somewhere that the patch becomes part of the tube? Does the solvent work to "weld" the patch to the tube?