The following includes information that may be useful in understanding the present disclosure. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art nor material to the presently described or claimed inventions, nor that any publication or document that is specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
The present invention relates generally to the field of hand tools of existing art and more specifically relates to firefighting tool.
Most fire hydrants are seldom opened, and often when firefighters need to open a hydrant, they have difficulty opening the pentagonal bolt on the hydrant with a standard hydrant wrench. A common practice for firefighters is to carry a breaker bar separately in their fire truck to apply extra leverage to a hydrant wrench when necessary. This is an unsatisfactory solution. The breaker bar may be easily misplaced and unobtainable in an emergency. Further, carrying the tool in what is effectively two separate pieces reduces the firefighter's response time, and is a logistical hassle when trying to store or carry the two tools separately. Accordingly, there is perceived a need for a solution to provide a fire hydrant wrench which is less cumbersome to store and carry than a two-piece solution, and also provides sufficient leverage for opening stuck fire hydrants.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,899,001 to Alan Sanders et al. relates to a firefighter's wrench. The described firefighter's wrench includes a multiple component wrench which is adapted for use to attach and disconnect fire hose and hydrant coupling using this singular tool in lieu of several tools currently used by firefighters. The wrench has a sliding portion and a receiver portion presented as one tool, yet allowing multiple wrenches adapted for use on Storz and spanner hose couplings, rocker lug couplings, water meter shutoff valves, gas cock valves, pentagonal nuts and square nuts, and includes a multiple ratchet mechanism with multiple removable ratchets adapted to a variety of different nuts encountered on the multiple hydrants installed in various municipalities. The wrench is also extendable to provide additional leverage during use, the wrench further capable of separation forming two independent wrenches.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known firefighting tool art, the present disclosure provides a novel extendable hydrant wrench. The general purpose of the present disclosure, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide an extendable hydrant wrench.
A hydrant fire wrench includes a wrench-head able to fasten to the pentagonal interface of a fire-hydrant and a handle able to be selectively extended or retracted by a user. The wrench includes a cylindrical rod which may be contained by and telescopes within a tubular handle. A cap on a handle-end of the tubular handle prevents the cylindrical rod from leaving the handle in one direction, while a collar affixed externally to the cylindrical rod prevents it from leaving the handle in the opposite direction. The tool-head containing the wrench is affixed to a tool-end of the cylindrical rod which protrudes from the tubular handle in all positions.
For purposes of summarizing the invention, certain aspects, advantages, and novel features of the invention have been described herein. It is to be understood that not necessarily all such advantages may be achieved in accordance with any one particular embodiment of the invention. Thus, the invention may be embodied or carried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving other advantages as may be taught or suggested herein. The features of the invention which are believed to be novel are particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification. These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following drawings and detailed description.
The figures which accompany the written portion of this specification illustrate embodiments and methods of use for the present disclosure, an extendable hydrant wrench, constructed and operative according to the teachings of the present disclosure.
The various embodiments of the present invention will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the appended drawings, wherein like designations denote like elements.
As discussed above, embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a firefighting tool and more particularly to an extendable hydrant wrench as used to improve the ease of opening fire hydrants.
Generally, the disclosed hydrant wrench provides users with a modified hydrant wrench featuring an extension built into the handle to act as a breaker bar. The wrench handle may be almost doubled in length during use to provide extra leverage on hydrants which are difficult to open. This effectively eliminates the need for firefighters to carry a separate breaker bar with them, as is often done to accompany currently marketed wrenches.
Referring now more specifically to the drawings by numerals of reference, there is shown in
Collar 170 may be affixed to and may circumscribe cylindrical rod 120. Collar 170 may be circular is shape, and of no greater external diameter than bore 116, collar 170 being of greater external diameter than cylindrical rod 120. In this way, collar 170 may impinge upon and inside of first-end 112 of tubular handle 110, so that a maximum extension of cylindrical rod 120 relative to tubular handle 110 is reached, and cylindrical rod 120 does not fall out of tubular handle 110 in use. Accordingly, first-open end 112 is of lesser diameter than collar 170, such that as cylindrical rod 120 slides within bore 116, collar 170 may impinge upon and not pass first-open end 112. Cap 140 may be internally threaded and fastenable to second-open end 114, such that cap 140 closes second-open end 114 when cap 140 is fastened to second-open end 114, and such that when cylindrical rod 120 is installed within bore 116 and cap 140 is fastened to second-open end 114, cylindrical rod 120 is captive within bore 116, and may telescope within bore 116 until cylindrical rod 120 impinges upon cap 140 and until collar 170 impinges upon first-open end 112.
The embodiments of the invention described herein are exemplary and numerous modifications, variations and rearrangements can be readily envisioned to achieve substantially equivalent results, all of which are intended to be embraced within the spirit and scope of the invention. Further, the purpose of the foregoing abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially the scientist, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application.
The present application is related to and claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/903,772 filed Sep. 21, 2019, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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2520652 | Pfauser | Aug 1950 | A |
5285702 | Hillinger | Feb 1994 | A |
5428853 | Menke | Jul 1995 | A |
6220124 | Perkins | Apr 2001 | B1 |
6298754 | Brown | Oct 2001 | B1 |
6339979 | Chiang | Jan 2002 | B1 |
6899001 | Sanders | May 2005 | B1 |
10058720 | Weinmeister | Aug 2018 | B2 |
20180245319 | Deubler, IV | Aug 2018 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20210086343 A1 | Mar 2021 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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62903772 | Sep 2019 | US |