As you make your way around the Mytee website looking for flatbed truck tarps and other cargo control supplies, you will undoubtedly come across our bungee straps with crimped hooks attached. These are great tools for quickly securing a tarp or adding that little bit of extra force needed to keep a load in place. In fact, bungee straps are so versatile that the average truck driver can find dozens of uses for them.
Bungee straps and cords have been around for decades. We use them for a multitude of purposes which would make it difficult to find the next best option. Having said that, below are five interesting bungee strap facts you may not be aware of.
1. Bungee Straps Are Used on Smaller Aircrafts
Long before bungee jumping ever became a sport, bungee straps were used to provide lightweight support for the undercarriages of airplanes. Believe it or not, bungee straps were used for this very purpose during World War I. They held the aircraft undercarriage firmly in place while adding minimal weight to the package. That was important in the early days of flight. Even today, owners of small private aircraft still use the straps to firmly secure undercarriage panels.
2. Bungee Straps and Cords Are Not the Same Things
We use the terms interchangeably, but bungee straps are technically different from bungee cords. The bungee strap is a solid piece of EPDM rubber with eyes molded into both ends, through which crimped hooks can be inserted. A bungee cord consists of one or more elastic strands encased in a cotton or polypropylene sheath. The hook on the end is molded from steel and crimped to the cord securely. Bungee straps offer more strength while bungee cords excel in the elasticity department.
3. Bungee Straps Are Great for Absorbing Shock
In applications where both cargo control and shock absorption or necessary, bungee straps are a great tool. The EPDM rubber used to make high-quality commercial straps is an energy absorbent material that is far superior to steel or iron chains. It also responds better when subject to extra stress, like excessive wind. The shock absorption properties of bungee straps make them very attractive to flatbed truckers.
4. Bungee Straps Can Be Used to Launch Gliders
If you were to look in an old Oxford English Dictionary from the late 1930s or early 40s, you would notice a listing for “bungee launching.” This term was used to describe launching a glider using a bungee strap. This ingenious method of getting gliders into the air made it possible to get airborne without the need of a tow vehicle or a cliff that could present a problem in the event of no lift. Similarly, steel cables that are functionally similar to bungee straps are sometimes used today to slow gliders when they need to be landed in limited space.
5. Bungee Straps Can Be Used to Make Furniture
We mentioned earlier that bungee straps are versatile enough to be used for an unlimited number of purposes. A case in point is outdoor deck furniture. Lightweight bungee straps now take the place of older vinyl straps to create furniture that is equally strong and attractive.
Our customers are likely to use bungee straps for primarily cargo control. However, even flatbed trucker can find other uses for his/her supply of straps. Here at Mytee Products, we always make sure to have a full inventory of bungee straps so that our customers never run out. We know truckers couldn’t bear to live without an ample supply – in different sizes – on board.
