Raychem GRS Gas Repair Sleeve

 

A Little Pipeline Safety Time Capsule: The Story of Raychem’s GRS Sleeve (1973)

If you’re a safety-minded person—or just someone who enjoys a bit of pipeline history—you’ll appreciate this one. Every industry has moments that make us look back, shake our heads, and say, “Wow… things were really different back then.” And in the world of pipeline coatings, June 1973 in Richmond, Virginia, gave us a perfect example.

At that time, Raychem had developed a product called GRS—Gas Repair Sleeve. Its purpose was straightforward: seal a leaking natural gas line. But the installation method? Well… that’s where the story gets interesting.

GRS was a heat-shrinkable repair sleeve, and like all early shrink technologies of that era, it required an open flame for installation. Yes, you read that correctly:

Open flame.

On a gas line.

That’s already leaking.

Down in a hole.

It’s the kind of detail that makes today’s safety professionals cringe—and also appreciate just how far the industry has come in engineering, risk management, and installation practices.

Technically speaking, GRS was a wraparound product. It used Raychem’s classic rail-and-channel closure system, allowing the sleeve to be wrapped around the pipe, locked into place, and then shrunk to form a seal. For its time, it was clever engineering, and thousands of these sleeves were installed across the country.

But unsurprisingly, as safety standards evolved, GRS didn’t make the cut for the long term. The product was officially discontinued in the 1990s, though many operators still encountered them in the field years later—testament to just how widespread they once were.

Looking back, GRS is a reminder of two things:

1. Innovation often starts with bold ideas, even if those ideas don’t stand the test of time.

2. Safety evolves, and what once seemed acceptable can later become unthinkable as we learn, improve, and push the industry forward.

And that’s what makes these historical snapshots so fascinating. They show us where we’ve been—and how much better we’re doing today.