Glass breaker

A glass breaker is a small hand tool designed to aid in the emergency extrication of occupants from a vehicle. Most glass breakers contain a sharp pointed metal tip for breaking tempered glass and a sharp knife for slicing through seatbelts.[1][2] Glass breakers are also built into other tools, such as flashlights or multitools.[3] Unlike bus mallets, glass breakers are smaller and generally privately owned. There are many variations of glass breakers on the market. One variation found in glass breakers is the material of which the metal tip is made from. Although all glass breakers are made of strong materials, some glass breakers make breaking glass easier than others, depending on the hardness of the metal that the tip is made of.  Some sources have found that tungsten carbide tips make breaking glass less difficult.[4] However, laminated glass cannot be broken by any glass breakers on the market.  Glass breakers are only effective on tempered windows. [5]

See also: Emergency hammer
Handheld glass breaker with seatbelt cutter.

Spring Loaded Glass Breaker

Glass breakers come in two styles, hammer and spring loaded. Spring loaded glass breakers take away the need to swing a tool to break a window.  The metal tip is simply held up against the window and either a pin is pulled back and released to activate a spring, or the spring is pulled back by the user directly.  This type of glass breaker is designed to be used underwater or to simply reduce the amount of strength needed to shatter a window.  When a car is submerged underwater, a hammer style glass breaker becomes significantly more difficult to use.  While this type of glass breaker is convenient, most spring loaded glass breakers are limited to the force of the spring.[6] This could limit the users ability to break the glass.

Larry Goodman's Safety Glass Breaker

Larry Goodman is an inventor of a safety glass breaker that utilizes a 22 blank cartridge to ensure enough force is applied to break a window on the first try.  Other spring loaded glass breakers deteriorate over time due to the spring wearing out, this device relies on expanding gasses. The user pulls back a firing pin to compress a spring, once the pin is released the spring pushes the pin into a 22 blank cartridge.[6] This device is also designed with the user’s safety in mind.  The device is firing a blank round, so there is a lot of power in this handheld device that could injure the user.  The striker point is designed to only come out of the device about 0.6 inches.[6]

References
  1. "At least 5 children have died so far this year from heatstroke inside vehicles". Hays Post. 2017-04-26. Retrieved 2017-05-24.
  2. "13 must-have car gadgets that cost less than $100". Business Insider. Retrieved 2017-05-24.
  3. "E.LUMEN solar LED flashlight is a great addition to your glovebox & emergency kit (Review)". TreeHugger. Retrieved 2017-05-24.
  4. "How do you use a glass breaker?". www.knivesandtools.com. Retrieved 2020-09-20.
  5. "Vehicle Escape Tools". www.aaa.com. Retrieved 2020-09-20.
  6. , "Safety glass breaker", issued 2015-05-29


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