Spouts & Pins
Overview
Tether Products’ unique patent-pending spouts are made of polished 420F grade stainless steel. The reason for making them from 420F grade stainless steel, and not the more usual 316L grade, is so that they retain magnetic permeability. This may give some users added peace-of-mind: knowing they can be fished out from deep within the urethra (or conceivably even from within the bladder, God forbid) with a small magnetic probe, however unlikely it is that anyone will ever need to. The new super-powerful neodymium magnets that are now readily available (and also sold by TP) reassuringly make such safe retrieval possible. More importantly, you will appreciate that having magnetic properties greatly adds to the spouts' versatility and will allow you to do imaginative things like neatly attach jewelry and other accessories magnetically without a lot of fuss or the need for a physical coupling. You may, for example, be interested in getting a small shiny neodymium ball magnet, like the ones sold by Tether Products in the Accessories section, to conveniently use as an end cap and add a decorative touch.
The spouts come in various lengths and in three distinctly different models, which for interchangeability all have a 6 mm barrel diameter with an 8.5 mm rim or flange at the wide end. The broad 8.5 mm flange diameter, which is equivalent to a size of 25.5Fr and is just slightly less than the French size of the smallest retainer that TP offers, has been deliberately chosen to give the spouts a large backstop or footprint at the wide end so that things like a hose or cap (a soft vinyl cap is included with each spout) can be comfortably pressed onto the spout without that action causing injurious or painful pressure against the urethral wall.
The broad flange is also important for stopping the spouts from releasing too easily when used with soft rubbery polymer retainers whose holes can conceivably stretch and release from the spout's rim. The spouts are designed to universally work with any retainer that is currently offered. If your urethral orifice is too small to accept these spouts, then TP’s retainers also won’t fit and you will have to enlarge your orifice first (see TP’s sizing sounds & dilators in the Accessories section) because smaller spouts and retainers will likely never be offered.
In addition to spouts, Tether Products also sells a unique push-button ball-lock pin that can be manipulated from the outside and used to quickly and easily engage retainers without needing to insert anything like a spout first. It is at the heart of the most recent addition to the Tether Products line... the TetherPin™.
To see photos and full descriptions of the spouts and ball-lock pins currently available, click on the links below. Further details on the dimensions and material composition of each spout and pin also can be found by going directly to the Order Page and for the most part will be intuitively obvious from the model and stock numbers.
