Patent ID: 8955786
Filing Date: 2015-02-17
Classification: A62C,B65H,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A method of taking up a fire-fighting hose, in which a long hose including couplers respectively arranged at both a leading end portion and a trailing end portion thereof is taken up and restored, the method comprising: pivotably supporting a pair of wheels at ends of a rotational support shaft at a lower portion of a frame unit, the wheels respectively comprising a free wheel rotatably and pivotably supported and an associative wheel coupled to a transmission circulating member so that rotational torque of the wheels can be transmitted, the free wheel being free to rotate relative to the rotational support shaft; pushing and drawing a handle arranged at an upper portion of the frame unit so that the wheels are rotated and the frame unit can be moved; providing, to the frame unit, a rotatable reel around which the hose is rolled up; looping the transmission circulating member around a rotary shaft of the reel and the rotational support shaft of the associative wheel, the reel being rotatable in association with the rotation of the associative wheel; removably fixing one of a single-layer-roll core and a double-layer-roll core to a rotary-shaft portion of a base plate of the reel, the single-layer-roll core and the double-layer-roll core being replaceable with each other on the rotary-shaft portion of the base plate of the reel; when the single-layer roll core is removably fixed to the rotary-shaft portion of the base plate of the reel, rotating the reel so that the hose can be rolled up around the single-layer-roll core, with one of the couplers arranged at the end portions of the hose being a central axis, the one of the couplers being pinched by a holding member provided to the single-layer-roll core and capable of pinching the one of the couplers; when the single-layer roll core is removably fixed to the rotary-shaft portion of the base plate of the reel, rotating the reel under a state in which a fold formed by doubling over the hose is hooked to a hook bar so that the hose can be rolled up around the double-layer-roll core while being looped around a projecting shaft and the hook bar, the projecting shaft being provided to project from the double-layer-roll core, the hook bar being provided near and in parallel with the projecting shaft; and providing an extended guide plate to extend from the base plate of the reel so that the hose can be rolled up by passing a hose guide arranged on a front side of the frame unit and then being led to the reel, with a side edge of the hose being held in abutment with a surface of the extended guide plate, tensioning the hose in the front of the take-up device after the hose has been taken up by a predetermined length and an outer circumference of a taken-up part of the hose has become larger than unit circumferences of the wheels; lifting off the associative wheel under a state in which the opposite free wheel rotatably and pivotably supported by the rotational support shaft is grounded; temporarily stopping take-up operation performed by the reel after moving forward the take-up device in a lift-off state so that a tensioned state of the hose is cancelled; and after the temporarily stopping, grounding the associative wheel and moving forward the take-up device again, to thereby take up the hose.