A replacement wrench is provided which has a body formed into a right angle wherein one leg has an elongated socket and the other leg has a somewhat symmetrical socket disposed near one end and has an elongated slot with a slideable stop therein and capable of being locked into any position along the slot.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to a tool of the type used to open and close 
underground valves for use in fire protection sprinkler systems and each 
having a indicator post extending upward above ground and, more 
particularly, to a tool of the wrench type which is universal so that it 
can be locked onto indicator posts of different designs. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
Up to now one finds that lock-on wrenches for indicator posts were designed 
to be locked-on only one make or type of indicator posts even though the 
exposed head for the extension rod that is coupled to the underground 
valve is of universal design, i.e., square. The reasons that the prior art 
wrenches were not universal is because the posts happens to have different 
diameters and because the posts had to have a locking staple which 
happened to be placed at a different vertical locations on the various 
posts. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
1. Statement 
I have discovered that the locking staples were located at different 
vertical positions and the diameters of the different indicator posts were 
not uniform. Although the head thereon is centrally located, I have found 
that horizontal spacing between the head and the locking stable on the 
different posts are not equal. Therefore my novel wrench to operate the 
valve is formed having a 90 degree bend with an elongated socket or belong 
hole formed on the short leg and another socket or square hole formed near 
the end of the longer leg. This allows one to use the socket or square 
hole on the longer leg to obtain leverage to turn the head of the valve 
while the oblong hole on the shorter leg is used to secure the wrench. The 
elongated hole compensates for the different diameters, as above 
mentioned. The securing is done by engaging the head into the oblong hole 
on the shorter leg so that the longer leg depends alongside of the post. 
Each prior art wrench had a slot which accommodated the locking staple 
whereby a padlock could be used to secure the wrench. However, my wrench 
required an elongated slot to accommodate the different staple position. 
To insure that the head could not become disengaged from the oblong hole 
on the shorter leg after my wrench is secured, the elongated slot is 
provided with a slidable stop within the elongated slot which stop can be 
locked at any place along the slot. Then by placing and locking the stop 
at a place just below the staple and remote from the head, one cannot 
disengage the head from the wrench unless the padlock is removed or the 
locking means broken. 
2. Objects 
An object of this invention is to provide a wrench that is capable of being 
locked-on many different indicator posts for an underground valve. 
Another object of this invention is to provide, in a wrench with a 90 
degree bend, with a oblong hole formed in its short leg and with a square 
hole formed in its long leg and near one end, an oversize elongated slot 
also formed in its long leg and a slidable and lockable stop disposed 
within the slot.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
Referring to the drawing and to FIG. 1, in particular, the item 10 
schematically depicts one of the commerically available indicator posts. 
One of the posts would have a tubular body 11, a cover 12 at it top end 
and a square head 13 protruding upward through the cover 12. To refresh 
ones memory, the square head 13 is formed on the end of an enclosed rod 
(not shown) and is rotatable within the cover 12 so that the rod can be 
rotated by rotating the head thereby, in turn, opening or closing the 
valve. On the side of the tubular body 11 one finds a locking staple 14 
suitably mounted. 
My novel wrench 21 is shown stored on the post 10. The wrench 21 is 
conveniently made of (for example) metallic bar stock that is bent at a 90 
degree angle, forming a right angle 22, a short leg 23 and a long leg 24. 
The short leg 23 has formed therein an oblong hole 26 oriented parallel to 
the stock, for reasons that will become apparent hereinafter, and 
conveniently located from the right angle 22, also as will become apparent 
hereinafter. The long leg 24 has square hole 27 which is congruent to the 
head 13, for obvious reasons, and which is located near one end of the 
long leg 24 and in this embodiment near the right angle 22. This hole 27 
could also be placed at the other end of the long leg 24 without departing 
from the spirit of my invention. The long leg 24 also has formed therein 
an overly elongated slot 28 that extends almost the length of the long leg 
24. Through the overly elongated slot 28, the locking staple 14 can be 
threaded and, through the oblong hole 26, the square head 13 can be 
threaded. One can see that because of the oblong hole 26 the long leg 24 
would depend along side o the tubular body 11 to be able to engage the 
locking staple 14. Through the locking staple 14 one can place the link of 
a padlock (not shown) whereby the long leg 24 is restrained in its 
horizontal movement but is not restrained in its vertical movement. As 
mentioned before, since the long leg 24 and, in turn, the wrench 21 can 
move upward, the square head 13 can be removed out of oblong hole 26 
whereby unauthorized operation of the valve (not shown) can happen. 
I have found that, by placing a suitable stop 31 within the overly 
elongated slot 28, I could prevent the wrench from being able to be lifted 
upward. Referring to FIG. 6 in particular, the stop 31 is shown enlarged 
and in cross-section. As mentioned above, to be useful the stop 31 should 
be able to slide within the slot 28 and should be able to be locked at any 
position therealong. To accomplish this result, I have made the stop 31 
into two pieces, a male piece 32 and a female piece 33. The male piece 32 
has a threaded shank 34 attached to a head 35 while the female piece 33 is 
what is commonly called a flange nut and has an internally threaded sleeve 
37 attached to another head 38 which being a flange nut has a square 
cross-sectional shaft near its head 38. This square cross-section as 
everyone knows nests within the slot 28 and therefore cannot be rotated. 
The threaded shank 34 is threaded into sleeve 37, as shown. In order for 
the heads 35 and 38 to be able bear against the long leg 24, I have made 
the length of sleeve 37 less than the thichness of the long leg 24 (as 
shown in FIG. 6) and I have formed an irregular shape recess or a suitable 
turning socket 41 in head 35 more clearly shown in FIG. 3. As shown, since 
the male piece 32 has the socket 41, it is placed on the inside of the 
right angle 22 so that when the wrench 21 is secured onto the post one 
would find it relatively difficult to place a suitable tool (not shown) 
into the socket 41 to turn it. 
OPERATION 
To make use of the new feature of my novel wrench 21, it is operated as 
follows: After one obtains my wrench because the one that came with the 
post 10 was misplaced, the wrench is placed on the post in the position as 
shown in FIG. 1. More than likely the stop is not positioned correctly. 
Therefore, one marks the wrench with a suitable marker (not shown) so that 
a mark is placed on the wrench just below the staple 14. The wrench is 
removed and the stop 31 is loosened by using a suitable tool (not shown) 
to turn the inner piece which in this embodiment happens to be the male 
piece 32. The loosened stop is moved to where the mark is located and 
secured in place. The wrench is again placed on the post in the manner as 
already described. If the staple 14 cannot be inserted within the slot 28 
because the stop 31 is in the way, one simply repeats the above procedure 
to move the stop out of the way. If the staple 14 can be nested within the 
slot 28, one must make a test to see if the wrench can be moved without 
being unlocked. This is done by lifting the wrench vertically while the 
staple is within the slot and trying to see if the wrench can be lifted 
sufficiently whereby the head 13 becomes disengaged from the hole 26. One 
can obviously now see after reading this application the stop 31 should be 
moved closer to the staple 14 by repeating the above procedure. I have 
found that the stop 31 can be at least one-quarter inch from the staple 
and still my wrench cannot be removed by unauthorized persons after a 
suitable padlock is linked into the staple 14, in a manner that is 
standard in the art.