Patent Application
20230330446
The present invention pertains to rescue tools for access to buildings, particularly for forcible access, through secured doors or other entry points by fire fighters and other first responders to conduct emergency operations.
Firefighters among other first responders, are responsible for rapid and effective responses to many diverse emergency situations often involving rescues of entrapped persons in precarious conditions and even life-threatening situations due to multifarious causes including for example, medical ailments, accidental injuries, or being subject to an existing or impending hazard, such as a fire or radioactive or chemical intrusion. Emergency situations very often require use of specialized tools which can cause damage. In many emergency situations including fires, tools to open locked doors are essential for rescue operations including extrication and evacuation of trapped persons and animals and extinguishing fires or shutting off, capping or, abating other toxic elements, such as for example, natural gas or biochemical hazards. Rapid access is of particular import when responding to fire alarms when firefighters must survey and search many rooms of a building for fire, smoke trapped individuals, and for activated smoke or hear detectors or activated fire alarm pull stations.
The nature and extent of emergency scenarios, including injuries and hazards, encountered by first responders, particularly fire rescue workers, is typically unpredictable and rapidly evolving. In the face of mounting numbers of emergency calls and rescue operations and resulting injury and devastation due to various causes including natural disasters such as fires, tornadoes, blizzards, hurricanes and earthquakes, violence, accidents among other hazardous conditions encountered by first responders, the need for swift and sure rescue response is widespread.
Expeditious extrication and abatement of a hazardous condition is imperative to many rescues. Due to the multifarious types of emergencies encountered by a first responder and the high risk, and rapid, unpredictable evolution of an injured patient or a hazard such as a fire or poisonous gas, rapid and ready access to a range of rescue tools is indispensable to addressing the hazard and extracting a victim. For example, in vehicular accident emergencies, rescue and treatment of an injured victim entails extrication from a vehicle with doors damaged, nonfunctional door handles. Conventional tools and techniques include breaking vehicle windows and cutting seatbelts, expedited by appropriate tools. Similarly, expediting extrication of entrapped victims of fire, flood, violent assaults, or other dangers entails employing tools for mitigating the hazard and entry to a space often secured by a locked door. It can thus be readily seen that providing a fire fighter or other first responder with a rescue tool enabling quick and smooth access in order to rescue trapped victims or otherwise abate an emergency situation is key to providing effective responses to the multifarious types of emergencies encountered by first responders.
Firefighters carry numerous different rescue tools to be suitably prepared for the many and diverse potential tasks involved in rescue operations. Such tools were not only numerous but some bulky, awkwardly configured. Storing, carrying, retrieving and switching between the tools is burdensome and often takes valuable time needed for a swift and smooth rescue operation. As a result, unwieldy access or unavailability of requisite access or mitigation may delay response times and potentially cripple rescue and remediation of emergencies that could involve life-threatening emergencies.
U.S. Pat. No. 10,912,957 drawn toward a multifunctional rescue tool provides multiple utilities for rescue operations including tools for opening locked or blocked doors, shoring and clearing passageways, manipulating shut off valves for natural gas, oxygen, fire hydrants and hoses, seat belt cutting and/or breaking glass, among other functions, for thereby enhancing first responder access and mitigation of hazards. The patented tool includes a right-angled blade to enable disengagement of a spring lock that a straight blade or rigid card inserted in the gap between the door and doorjamb cannot reach, particularly when a door lock shield is affixed on the lock portion of a secured door.
Due to unlawful use of such access tools for breaking and entering, building owners have more recently expanded or enlarged door shields that may encompass the entire length of a door. Because these structures extend beyond the lengths of conventional rescue tools, they can impede or delay fire fighters and other first responders needing rapid access to a locked building in order to administer emergency rescue measures.
Although the latter multifunctional rescue tool and other tools address some of the needs for access and rescue, the faces including wedges, pry bars, and claws, of conventional tools provide insufficient leverage and strike or prying mechanisms for expeditious entry through the increasingly density, bulk and layered lock systems of modern doors and passage barriers. As a result, entry through locked doors and blocked passageways and rescue operations may be delayed, leaving individuals and rescue workers trapped in sometimes in life threatening situations. With the steep rise in incidence and spread of fires as well as entrapment of hostages associated with violence, limitations and drawbacks in the leverage and functionalities of prior art pry bars are an increasing detriment blocking rescue of trapped victims and egress of rescue workers beset by smoke, fumes, fire, violence, or other hazards.
Thus, there persists a need for rescue access tools commensurate to the task of breaching secured or block entryways of fortified structures including door and lock shields, concrete composition security features of modern doors as well as other blocks to access points of modern buildings to facilitate first responders access to encroached buildings during rescue operations, particularly tools capable of opening securely locked doors, windows and mechanisms blocking access by first responders to spaces, water and fire retardant pipes and reservoir and similar secured entryways and agents.
Such and other drawbacks and shortcomings of prior art rescue tools heretofore unsolved are addressed by the present invention's multi-use rescue access bar and tool for forcible entry into buildings including opposed multi-faceted elements on opposing ends of a long handled pair of rescue tools including a rescue bar with opposed jaws and sickle blade ends, and a halligan bar having opposed fork lever and adze pick ends. The fork lever end for prying open windows and doors may be tapered, bent or flat.
In one embodiment, the rescue bar comprises a handle with a head end at a first end of the handle, the head end disposed along a common longitudinal plane with a handle. In one embodiment, the head end includes a paired jaws and a blunt hook located on the head end. By avoiding a sharp contact point, the blunt hook lessens the incidents of getting caught or stuck in the struck or pried material and thereby eases removal therefrom. An additional potential advantage is reducing collateral damage to struck material.
The blunt hook may include a strike contact face that can be used as striking tool, for example, to strike a halligan bar, to thereby amplify force for penetrating or prying open a door or window, wall of other building structure or material for access, demolition, extrication, evacuation or similar operations. The blunt hook may be utilized to engage a gap or penetrate and exterior surface of a structure edifice or wedge against a plank or break apart or otherwise demolish construction materials such as, for example, concrete, wood, metals such as used in car doors and high security exterior doors and gates, or other materials by striking blows upon the material. The strike contact face may also struck by a hammer or other striking tool in some applications.
In various embodiments, the strike contact face includes a plane or surface oriented in parallel with the main longitudinal axis of the handle and perpendicular to the longitudinal central plane of the head end. The strike contact face may include an outer plane that is angled slightly inwardly from a linear plane toward a blunt hook element such that the outer plane of a lower part of the strike contact face is slightly offset from a coextensive upper plane. This slight offsetting of the outer plane reduces the contact surface area and associated friction with an abutting surface to thereby ease sliding and reduce risk of scratching or otherwise damaging an abutting surface. To further facilitate smooth sliding, corners of the strike contact face are rounded in some embodiments to avoid catching on surface protuberances or scratching.
In one embodiment, the head end also includes paired jaws on the opposite side of the head end from the strike contact face. In some embodiments, the paired jaws include one or more teeth on their interior grasping surfaces of the lower and/or upper jaw. Such teeth recesses may be configured or layered with materials to provide various features such as, for example, improved grip, shock absorption, heat transfer resistance, electrical insulation, differential indication, and/or other features.
The paired jaws are configured for disassembling, demolishing, manipulating building materials, such as, for example sheets of siding, plywood, or other materials. In some embodiments, the paired jaws may provide a fixed wrench or alternatively may include an adjustable jaw for grasping material of a corresponding width.
In various embodiments, the opening formed by the paired jaws is perpendicular to the main axis of the handle. Inner surfaces of the paired jaws facing the gap between the paired jaws may be tapered or include one or more stepped portions on one or both of an upper jaw or a lower jaw forming variously dimensioned gaps to fit boards, hardware or other material having different thicknesses.
In some embodiments, the upper jaw extends along longitudinal plane perpendicular to the longitudinal handle axis beyond the lower jaw to form a chisel end. The chisel end may be used to penetrate building materials such as wood (or other materials) for demolition or for other purposes. In various embodiments, the chisel end thickness is tapered toward the edges and may also widen toward a strike end. The tapered configuration of the chisel end further enables forcibly positioning building materials within the gap between the paired jaws. By widening the transverse longitudinal plane toward the chisel end, the enlarged surface area of the chisel end facilitates grasping a door surface when the chisel end is inserted between a door and jamb.
In some embodiments, the chisel end may be bent or angled toward a tapered edge enabling use without interference from other components of the head end, also clears it from the plane of use of the strike face portion of the head end. A particular utility of the chisel end as well as the sickle blade end is to pry behind and/or penetrating door shields. This functionality is of critical import with the increasingly heavier composition and larger area covered by door shields that now often extend to the full length of a door.
The outer edge of the chisel end may include a notch or slot providing a lock puller for loosening or prying a secured door lock back to disengage a bolt from a corresponding receiving box. Other uses may include removing fasteners such as, for example, nails, brads, staples, or other fasteners. The nail puller notch or slot may be tapered or beveled to facilitate slipping the chisel end behind a latch shield or plate.
On an opposing end from the head end of the rescue tool is a sickle blade end disposed along a longitudinal axis of the handle. In some embodiments, the sickle blade end features an integral base portion with an inner side edge and outer edge that extend outwardly from the longitudinal axis of the handle to form an inner claw with an opposed upper pointed end and an outer claw with a lower pointed end that are disposed around a substantially rounded inner clearance space aligned along a longitudinal plane parallel to the main longitudinal axis of the handle of the rescue bar. The upper pointed end and lower pointed end are preferable configured in opposed inwardly facing curves such that their respective pointed ends are disposed toward the respective opposing inner and outer claw. In some embodiments, the opposed crescent claws are tapered toward their respective inner edges defining the inner clearance space.
The narrow and rounded edge of a sickle blade end enable penetrating, prying and loosening layered or rounded materials of barriers to doors, windows or other materials. For example, the sickle blade may be inserted between floor boards, door shields or between bars over a door or a window in order to facilitate access and provide rescue operations in a blocked and/or locked interior space.
In various embodiments, the sickle blade end may include a through hole that may be disposed in a base portion. Among other potential utilities, a particularly efficacious function availed when the blunt hook and/or paired jaws are secured to a suitable fixed object is providing a receiving through hole for coupling a carabiner or other clasp or loop mechanism attached to a line or rope for rappelling in a descent from a window, rooftop or other elevated position or for attaching and lowering something or someone to safety.
A particular efficacy provided by this rescue bar is the capability of securing the blunt hook end onto or about a fixed structural element such as a wall, bar, or other stable edifice or fixture of a building and anchoring a line into a through hole in the opposing sickle blade end whereby the line can be used to facilitate escape from a hazard. For example, the blunt hook end could be wedged or otherwise secured on a metal rail or wood plank and a firefighter could then deploy the anchored line to rappel out of a window or off a rooftop to escape or rescue trapped individuals and pets from a burning or collapsing building. When exits are blocked or infused by smoke or toxic fumes, rapeling or lowering to safety outside a building may be the only escape or rescue route available.
In some embodiments, recessed portions or cavities are provided in the handles of rescue bar and/or halligan bar. Such cavities reduce the amount of metal or other material consumed and thereby reduce manufacturing costs and too weight to thereby ease carrying and improve targeted manipulation of the tools without compromising their structural integrity. One or more concavities along the handle may also be configured to enhance gripping of the rescue bar. Further features may include a plurality of recesses in the handle for improved grip and incorporation or layering of alternative textures and materials for facilitating frictional skid resistance or resilient support for firmer and/or padding grip. For example, a rubberized or otherwise textured outer layer could be applied to the handle of the rescue bar. In some embodiments, the outer layer may have protruded portions corresponding to handle cavities to thereby provide a smoother outer surface. A phosphorescent or bright colored composition could also be applied to enhance visibility of the rescue bar.
The sickle blade and head ends of the rescue bar are configured for mated engagement, with corresponding elements of a halligan bar in at least four interlocked positions. As detailed below, various embodiments of this rescue access tool enable mated interlocking engagement extends tool length thereby leveraging applied force, i.e., manpower, suitable for a corresponding demolition, stepped, pry and wedge operation. The enhanced force imparted by the extended length of the interlocked rescue bar and halligan bar facilitate expedited and enhanced forcible entry into endangered spaces. The resulting elongation of the rescue access tool increases leverage and associated force or torque in order to expedite forcible entry to access endangered spaces. The added leverage is particularly advantageous when penetrating doors composed of concrete or steel and door shields.
Thus deploying the interlocked rescue tool doubles the power of a rescue worker, thereby enabling one to execute the work of two rescue workers. The resulting expediting of rescue operations enables earlier mitigation and rescue of quickly devolving emergencies and is particularly crucial in the face of recent shortages of fire fighters and other rescue workers.
The opposing ends of the halligan bar are configured for mated engagement with a respective fork lever and adze pick ends. The adze pick end has a cutting edge perpendicular to the handle that is slightly bent toward the head end of the rescue bar and may include a tapered pick that may be oriented perpendicular alignment with the longitudinal axis of the handle and the adze pick end.
The rescue bar of the present invention may be provided in a number of lengths, typically ranging between 18-54 inches. They may be composed of an integrally molded metal material, or include multiple parts jointed or fastened together. The rescue access tool, including the handle, the head, the bent end pry bar, and/or other portions of the rescue access tool, may comprise a single integrally molded metal material. Various embodiments of this rescue bar weigh between about 6 and 12 pounds.
These and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be apparent through the detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the drawings attached hereto. It is also to be understood that both the foregoing summary and the following detailed description are exemplary and not restrictive of the scope of the invention.
All definitions, as used herein, should be understood to control over dictionary definitions, definitions in documents incorporated by reference, and/or ordinary meanings of the defined terms.
The indefinite articles “a” and “an,” as used herein in the specification and in the claims, unless clearly indicated to the contrary, should be understood to mean “at least one.” The phrase “and/or,” as used herein in the specification and in the claims, should be understood to mean “either or both” of the elements so conjoined, i.e., elements that are conjunctively present in some cases and disjunctively present in other cases. Multiple elements listed with “and/or” should be construed in the same fashion, i.e., “one or more” of the elements so conjoined. Other elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified by the “and/or” clause, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified.
As used in the specification and in the claims, “or” is synonymous to “and/or” as defined above. For example, when separating articles in a list, “or” or “and/or” shall be interpreted as being inclusive, i.e., the inclusion of at least one, but also including more than one, of a number or list of elements, and, optionally, additional unlisted articles. Only terms clearly indicated to the contrary, such as “only one of” or “exactly one of,” or, when used in the claims, “consisting of,” will refer to the inclusion of exactly one element of a number or list of elements. In general, the term “or” as used herein shall only be interpreted as indicating exclusive alternatives (i.e. “one or the other but not both”) when preceded by terms of exclusivity, such as “either,” “one of,” “only one of,” or “exactly one of.”
All transitional phrases such as “comprising,” “including,” “carrying,” “having,” “containing,” “involving,” “relating to,” “composed of,” and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limited to.
The invention provides a rescue access bar and tools for forcible entry to a building together with other functions.
Referring to
Strike contact face 6I of blunt hook 6J has an outer surface configuring that can be used as striking tool, for example, to strike and thereby amplify force applied to a halligan bar. The force, concomitant with the weight of the rescue bar 10 facilitates expeditious opening of access doors and demolishing construction materials such as, for example, concrete, wood, metals. The amplified force is particularly useful for opening car doors and high security exterior doors and gates, or other materials. Strike contact face 6I may also be struck by a hammer or other striking tool in some applications.
As shown in
In the illustrated embodiment best shown in
Extended from upper jaw 6B of rescue bar 10 is a chisel end 6H, as illustrated in
Now referring to
In one embodiment, rescue bar 10 includes an aperture 4D. Aperture 4D hole extends completely through the width of sickle blade end 4.
An additional advantageous functionality of rescue bar 10 is provided by secure anchoring of blunt hook 6, or paired jaws 6B, 6C in or about material of a structure, for example by wedging against a gap, bar or plank, and then releasing and rappeling along the line attached to aperture 4D to safety. An escape route from an elevated level, for example through a window or from a rooftop or upper deck, may thus be accessed when other exits are blocked or unsafe. Alternatively, a rescue worker could also lower a person or pet affixed to the line to a lower level.
In preferred embodiments such as illustrated in
In alternative embodiments the sides of handle 10 of rescue bar 10, as well as second handle 12 of halligan bar 20, may include one or more cavities. For example, they could include just one long cavity or multiple smaller cavities per side. In some embodiments, each may have differing numbers and patterns of recesses.
In various embodiments best illustrated in
In the illustrated embodiments, rescue access tool 100′, 100″, 100″′ includes halligan bar 20 with adze pick end 14 and fork lever 16 disposed on opposed ends of second handle 12. As shown in
In one embodiment best shown in
Now referring to
As mentioned above, rescue bar 10 may be utilized to pry open, break apart or otherwise demolish enable forcible entry by placing chisel end 6H in a gap, such as, for example, between a door and a corresponding doorjamb, or on a surface and strike contact face 6I is struck by a hammer or other tool, thus, driving chisel end 6H. The elongated positioning of chisel end 6H beyond lower jaw 6C enables deep penetration of the strike area.
In some embodiments, open space 6K may be used to manipulate pentagonal nuts on fire hydrants, or loosen, tighten, or otherwise manipulate nuts or other fasteners having standard configurations. In some of such other embodiments, pair of jaws 6A can have two or more stepped, angled or otherwise configured surfaces that correspond or mate with surfaces of the fastener. For example, pair of jaws 6A and/or open space 6K may be configured for adaptive engaging to a corresponding depth and length, slope or taper or composition of target material surfaces.
Rescue bar 10 and halligan bar 20 may be provided in a number of lengths, typically ranging between 18-54 inches, but can also be shorter or longer. They may be composed of an integrally molded metal material, or include multiple parts jointed or fastened together. The rescue access tool, including the handle, the head end, the bent end pry bar, and/or other portions of the rescue access tool, may comprise a single integrally molded metal material. Rescue bar 10 and halligan bar 20 are manufactured to weigh between 6 to 12 pounds.
To provide further advantages of increased speed and force for expediting entry to rescue victims and mitigate damage during emergencies, rescue bar 10 is configured for mated engagement with corresponding ends of respective fork lever 16 and pick adze 14 ends of halligan bar 20.
As shown in
In a clasped interlock 100′ shown in
In stepped interlock 100″ illustrated in
In another functionality provided by pairing of rescue bar 10 and halligan bar 20 to form interlock 100″′ illustrated in
In addition to the compounded force imparted by the leverage of the rescue access tool provided by interlocks 100′, 100″, 100″′, the elevation imparted by the added length of handles 2 and 12. Thus raising the total handle length closer to shoulder height reduces the need to bend down and thereby lessens stress and possible injury to the back.
In some embodiments, recessed portions along the handle 2 and second handle 12 may further include a layer of slip resistant and/or padded grip material. Such grip materials may include, for example, from one or more types of plastic or rubber that provide increased grip and/or comfort for a user of a rescue access tool. In some embodiments, layers may be from a material (e.g., plastic, rubber, or other material) that provides impact or shock cushioning for a user's hands.
Rescue bar 10 and halligan bar 20 may be provided in a number of lengths, typically ranging between 18-54 inches. They may be composed of an integrally molded metal material, or include multiple parts jointed or fastened together. The rescue access tool, including the handle, the head, the bent end pry bar, and/or other portions of the rescue access tool, may comprise a single integrally molded metal material. In many embodiments, rescue bar 10 and halligan bar 20 is manufactured to weigh between 6 to 12 pounds and of a composition harder than the materials it is used to strike (e.g., wood, aluminum, or other materials).
While the invention has been described with reference to the certain illustrated embodiments, the words that have been used herein are words of description, rather than words of limitation. Changes may be made, within the purview of the associated claims, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention in its aspects. Although the invention has been described herein with reference to particular structures, acts, and materials, the invention is not to be limited to the particulars disclosed, but rather can be embodied in a wide variety of forms, some of which may be quite different from those of the disclosed embodiments, and extends to all equivalent structures, acts, and materials, such as are within the scope of the associated claims. For example, additional features such as, for example, other wrench open of aperture elements, a spanner wrench element, a hook or pin element, and/or other features may provide substantially the same structure, function and purpose of the present invention. Other features may include a heat resistant material to protect against transfer of heat from flaming or hot surfaces or a light reflective or phosphorescent material for visualization in in low light or no light situations.
In some embodiments, inserts may be made from a material that provides any one or more of comfort grip, shock absorption, differential indication, heat transfer resistance, electrical shock insulation, luminescence, light reflection, and/or other features.
Accordingly, the scope of the present invention is not delimited by the literal language of this specification and the appended claims. Rather, modifications, permutations, additions and sub-combinations are embraced by the spirit and scope of the invention. Hence, such and other variations are included in the scope of the invention, describe, illustrated and claimed herein.
