(b) [Reserved]

§ 160.021-3 Materials,

workmanship, construction and performance requirements.

(a) Materials. The materials shall conform strictly to the specifications and drawings submitted by the manufacturer and approved by the Commandant. The color of the tube shall be red. Flare compositions containing sulphur shall not contain more than 2.6 percent of potassium chlorate or an equivalent amount of any other chlorate. Flare compositions containing chlorates in any quantity shall not contain any ammonium salts.

(b) Workmanship. Hand red flare distress signals shall be of first class workmanship and shall be free from imperfections of manufacture affecting their appearance or that may affect their serviceability. Moistureproof coatings shall be applied uniformly and shall be free from pinholes or other visible defects which would impair their usefulness.

(c) Construction. The casing shall be fitted and secured to the handle with not less than a 25 mm (1 in.) overlap and shall be attached to the handle in such a manner that failure of the joint will not occur during tests, ignition, or operation. The plug shall be securely affixed in the casing to separate the flare composition from the wooden handle. The flare composition shall be thoroughly mixed and be uniformly compressed throughout to preclude variations of density which may adversely affect uniformity of its burning characteristics. The cap shall have a lap fit of not less than 25 mm (1 in.) over the end of the casing and flare composition to entirely and securely protect the exposed surface of the igniter button and end of flare composition and casing, and shall have an inner shoulder so constructed that it is mechanically impossible for the inner surface of the cap to come in contact with the igniter button. The cap shall be securely attached to the casing in such manner as to preclude its accidental detachment. The cap shall be provided on its top with a friction striking material which shall, by a pull of the tear strip, be entirely exposed for striking the friction igniter button.

The igniter button shall be non-water soluble or be protected from moisture by a coating of some waterproof substance, and shall be raised or exposed in such manner as to provide positive ignition by the friction striker. The igniter button shall be firmly secured in or on the top of the flare composition; the arrangement shall be such that the ignition will be transmitted to the flare composition. The assembled flare, consisting of tear strip, cap, casing, and handle, shall be sealed and treated to protect the flare from deterioration by moisture. The protective waterproof coating shall be applied so none adheres to the friction striking surface. Special consideration will be given to alternate waterproofing of the signal by means of a water-resistant coating on the signal plus packaging in a sealed plastic waterproof bag satisfactory to the Commandant.

(d) Performance. Signals shall meet all the inspection and test requirements contained in § 160.021-4.

§ 160.021-4 Approval and production tests.

(a) Approval tests. The manufacturer must produce a lot of at least 100 signals form which samples must be taken for testing for approval under §160.021– 7. The approval tests are the operational tests and technical tests in paragraphs (c) and (d) of this section. The approval tests must be conducted by an independent laboratory accepted by the Commandant under §159.010 of this Chapter.

(b) Production inspections and tests. Production inspections and tests of each lot of signals produced must be conducted under the procedures in § 159.007 of this chapter. Signals from a rejected lot must not be represented as meeting this subpart or as being approved by the Coast Guard. If the manufacturer identifies the cause of the rejection of a lot of signals, the signals in the lot may be reworked by the manufacturer to correct the problem. Samples from the rejected lot must be retested in order to be accepted. Records shall be kept of the reasons for rejection, the reworking performed on the rejected lot, and the results of the second test.

(2) Inspections and tests by the manufacturer. The manufacturer's quality control procedures must include inspection of materials entering into construction of the signals and inspection of the finished signals, to determine that signals are being produced in accordance with the approved plans. Samples from each lot must be tested in accordance with the operational tests in paragraph (c) of this section.

(3) Inspections and tests by an independent laboratory. An independent laboratory accepted by the Commandant under § 159.010 of this Chapter must perform or supervise the inspections and tests under paragraph (b)(2) of this section at least 4 times a year, unless the number of lots produced in year is less than four. The inspections and tests must occur at least once during each quarterly period, unless no lots are produced during that period. If less than four lots are produced, the laboratory must perform or supervise the inspection and testing of each lot. In addition, the laboratory must perform or supervise the technical tests in paragraph (d) of this section at least once for every ten lots of signals produced, except that the number of technical tests must be at least one but not more than four per year. If a lot of signals tested by the independent laboratory is rejected, the laboratory must perform or supervise the inspections and tests of the reworked lot and the next lot of signals produced. The tests of each reworked lot and the next lot produced must not be counted for the purpose of meeting the requirement for the annual number of inspections and tests performed or supervised by the independent laboratory.

(c) Operational tests. Each lot of signals must be sampled and tested as follows:

(1) Sampling procedure and accept/reject criteria. A sample of signals must be selected at random from the lot. The size of the sample must be the individual sample size in Table 160.0214(c)(1) corresponding to the lot size. Each signal in the sample is tested as prescribed in the test procedure in paragraph (c)(2) of this section. Each signal that has a defect listed in the table of defects (Table 160.021-4(c)(2)) is assigned a score (failure percent) in accordance with that table. In the case of multiple defects, only the score having the highest numerical value is assigned to that signal. If the sum of all the failure percents (cumulative failure percent) for the number of units in the sample is less than or equal to the accept criterion, the lot is accepted. If the cumulative failure percent falls between the accept and reject criteria, another sample is selected from the production lot and the operational tests are repeated. The cumulative failure percent of each sample tested is added to that of the previous samples to obtain the cumulative failure percent for all the signals tested (cumulative sample size). Additional samples are tested and the tests repeated until either the accept or reject criterion for the cumulative sample size is met. If any signal in the sample explodes when fired or ignited in a way that could burn or otherwise injure the person firing it, the lot is rejected without further testing. (This procedure is diagrammed in figure 160.021-4(c)).

(2) Test procedure. Each sample signal (specimen) must be tested as follows:

(i) Conditioning of test specimens— water resistance. Immerse specimen horizontally with uppermost portion of the signal approximately 25 mm (1 in.) below the surface of the water for a period of 24 hours. If the signal is protected by alternate waterproofing consisting of a water-resistant coating on the signal plus packaging in a sealed plastic waterproof bag, the 24-hour water immersion conditioning will be conducted while the signal is in the sealed plastic waterproof bag and will be followed by an additional immersion of the bare signal (i.e., after removal from the bag) 25 mm (1 in.) below the surface of the water for a period of 10 minutes.

(ii) Waterproofing of igniter button. Remove the cap from the test specimen. Place head of specimen without cap about 25 mm (1 in .) under the surface of water for approximately 5 minutes. Remove specimen from the water and wipe dry.

(iii) Ignition and burning characteristics. Test specimens shall ignite and burn satisfactorily with uniform intensity when the directions on the signal are followed. Test specimens shall not ignite explosively in a manner that might be dangerous to the user or persons close by. The plug separating the flare composition from the handle shall in no case allow flame or hot gases to pass through it or between it and the casing in such manner as might burn the hand while holding the signal by the handle.

(iv) Burning time. The burning time of a specimen shall be obtained by stop watch measurements from the time a distinct sustained flame is emitted until it ceases. Test specimens shall burn in air not less than 2 minutes.

TABLE 160.021-4(c)(1)—AccepT AND REJECT CRITERIA FOR OPERATIONAL TEST LOTS.

Cu

Re

sam- cept

ject

ple

size

(d) Technical tests. Three signals must be subjected to each of the following tests. Two of the three signals must pass each test in order for the lot of signals to be accepted.

(1) Underwater burning. Condition each sample in accordance with paragraph (c)(2)(i) of this section. Ignite specimen and let it burn about 5 seconds in air. Submerge the burning signal in water in a vertical position with head down. Obtain under water burning time by stop watch measurement from time of submersion until distinct, sustained flame emission ceases. The test specimen shall burn under water not less than 5 seconds when subjected to this test.