Fire hydrant setting tool

There is disclosed a fire hydrant setting tool useful in engaging the top of a fire hydrant in a manner to maintain it in a vertical position while being lowered and installed for connection to a water main. The tool includes a collar formed of a pair of flat steel plates pivotally connected together to permit relative rotational movement while maintaining the plates in generally coplanar relation, the plates having arcuate openings with one being slightly larger than the other and positioned so that when the plates are closed together an opening in the form of a circle only slightly larger than the cross section of the body of a conventional fire hydrant and smaller than the enlarged cap of such fire hydrant is formed. A bail in the shape of an inverted V formed of steel rod or the like rigidly attaches to the plate having the larger opening so that the apex of the V is directly above the center of the circular opening with the attachment points of the bail being on an extended diameter of the circle. The pivot point for relative motion of the plates is displaced from that diameter by about three inches. The two plates of the collar are maintained in coplanar relation by steel guide plates secured on the faces of one of the collar plates at the bail attachment points and extending past the edge of that plate to engage faces of the other plate. The plates are latched in closed position by a pin passing through two of the guide plates and a collar plate.

The present invention relates to tools for grasping and manipulating heavy 
bulky objects such as fire hydrants as is necessary when installing them 
and connecting them to water mains. The tool according to the present 
invention is of very robust construction and well able to resist damage 
from the rough handling which tools in heavy construction may be expected 
to receive. One size tool will handle the vast majority of fire hydrants 
currently in use and at most two or three sizes would handle all types of 
fire hydrants. The attachment of the tool to the fire hydrant is very 
simple and essentially foolproof and there is virtually no danger of job 
injuries from inadvertent release of a fire hydrant from the tool. The 
arrangement of the tool is such that the hydrant is maintained in a 
vertically plumb manner thereby facilitating alignment of the bottom of 
the fire hydrant with a water main connection with little physical effort 
on the part of those installing the hydrant. The bail is readily grasped 
by a hook from a cable hoist, or frequently by a cable and hook connected 
to a front end loader or the like. 
In use the fire hydrant to be installed or removed is encircled by a heavy 
steel plate of the tool forming a solid circular collar. The opening in 
the collar when it is closed and latched is somewhat smaller than the 
typical flange on the cap of the fire hydrant so that it is virtually 
impossible for the hydrant to escape from the grasp of the tool until the 
collar is opened after the hydrant has been installed in position or 
otherwise placed at a desired location. The tool according to the 
invention does not incorporate a clamp in the sense that a clamp may be 
tightened to greater or lesser degrees. Since the tool has a collar which 
is either locked on the fire hydrant or unlocked, there is little room for 
human error. 
Tools for lifting and installing fire hydrants are known as represented by 
the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 3,215,464 to F.D Overman granted Nov. 2, 
1965 (CL. 294-90). The Overman device is a clamping mechanism as opposed 
to the collar structure of the present invention and comprises a ring 
portion which is designed to receive the knob or crown at the top of the 
fire hydrant and which has depending therefrom a plurality of hooks which 
extend down and hook under the flange of the fire hydrant cap; the hooks 
are urged inwardly by a flexible member consisting of a chain or cable 
with a screw tensioning means. A bail of inverted V shape is connected to 
the ring atop the cap of the fire hydrant. Overman states that the hook 
members are pivotally connected to the ring member and the effective link 
of the chain tension member can be varied in order to accommodate a fire 
hydrant of substantially any diameter. In achieving the adjustability 
provided by the Overman structure, the possibility of improperly 
tightening the tension member renders the tool less secure and increases 
the possibility of accident or injury. Furthermore, if the chain of 
Overman is weakened through wear or otherwise, the hazard of the chain 
breaking and causing the fire hydrant to drop out of the grasp of the tool 
becomes substantial. It is an important feature of the fire hydrant 
setting tool of the present invention that the heavy steel plates of a 
quarter inch thickness (or greater thickness if desired) secure the fire 
hydrant in the grasp of the tool, and structural failure of the tool which 
would drop the fire hydrant is virtually impossible. 
Other forms of fire hydrant lifting tools are known; in some cases such 
tools rely upon connection to the caps or the water outlets on opposite 
sides of the hydrant. Such expedients are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,736,765 
issued to Marc Campbell, Apr. 12, 1988 (U.P.S. Cl. 137/296) and U.S. Pat. 
No. 4,706,939 to Claude Gagne issued Nov. 17, 1987 (U.S. Cl. 254/332). The 
Gagne device does not provide the security in handling and manipulating a 
fire hydrant as does the tool of the present invention and the patent to 
Campbell does not actually disclose a fire hydrant handling tool but 
rather a device for securing the valve and caps of a fire hydrant against 
tampering. 
In addition to providing the features and advantages described above it is 
an object of the present invention to provide a fire hydrant setting tool 
consisting essentially of rugged steel plates pivotally connected and 
arranged so that they can be closed to form a collar slightly smaller than 
the cap flange of a fire hydrant of predetermined size while being larger 
than the main body of the fire hydrant under the cap flange and a bail 
securely attached to the collar with a hooking point on the bail arranged 
directly above the center of gravity of a fire hydrant grasped by the 
collar. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide a fire hydrant 
setting tool or the like wherein the fire hydrant is grasped in a circular 
collar just under the cap flange by a collar of rigid steel plates and one 
of the plates has a cut-out slightly larger than the other thereby 
facilitating engagement of the collar around the body of the fire hydrant. 
It is still another object of the present invention to provide such a fire 
hydrant setting tool having two rigid steel plates forming a collar with a 
bail secured on one of said plates and the pivotal connection between said 
plates being displaced from the line connecting the attachment points of 
the bail by a substantial distance of an inch or more, thereby 
facilitating the engagement of the collar on a fire hydrant while at the 
same time maintaining a relatively compact structure. 
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a fire hydrant 
setting tool or the like having an articulated collar of rigid steel 
plates which can be transformed from an open position permitting it to 
encircle the fire hydrant to a closed position with a substantially 
circular inner opening in which there are only two articulated steel 
plates required to form this circular collar.

Referring now to the drawings and particularly FIGS. 1 and 2, a fire 
hydrant setting tool 11 according to the invention includes a generally 
square rigid collar member 12, preferably formed of steel plate of 
thickness of one quarter inch or greater, or some equally rugged metal or 
plastic material. While shown as being square, the outline of the collar 
member 12 may be circular or some other non-square shape. The collar 
member 12 is formed of two parts 13 and 15 each of which has an arcuate 
cutout portion which forms a circular opening 16 when the parts 13 and 15 
are closed together, as they would be when lifting or setting a fire 
hydrant. While the opening formed by the cutouts in parts 13 and 15 could 
be in the shape of a hexagon, other polygon or other non-circular shape, 
there appears to be little or no advantage in doing so since virtually all 
existing fire hydrant bodies are of circular cross section. Plates 13 and 
15 may be of aluminum or other metal or reinforced plastic of comparable 
strength and rigidity to steel. 
As best seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, the parts 13 and 15 in the form of plates 
are arranged to be coplanar and they are very rigidly held in this 
position by pairs of guide plates 17, 18 and 19, 20. 
A bail 21 is secured to collar part 13 preferably by having its ends passed 
through holes 27 and 28 extending through guide plates 17, 18 and 19, 20 
and through collar part 13 and having these parts welded or otherwise 
fastened together in a permanent and secure manner. In the preferred 
embodiment the bail 21 is formed of steel rod bent in the shape of an 
inverted V with the apex of the V located above the center of the circular 
opening 16 by a distance at least as great as the radius of opening 16 
thus to lie along an extension of the longitudinal axis of the cylindrical 
fire hydrant body. Assuming that the fire hydrant body is generally 
symmetrical, as is usually the case, the center of gravity of the fire 
hydrant body will come to rest directly below the apex of the V formed by 
bail 21 and thus the fire hydrant will naturally tend to assume a vertical 
position which will greatly facilitate positioning it to be attached to a 
pipe joint of a water main. 
In some cases, particularly when the fire hydrant is to be attached to a 
large pipe T-joint, it may be desirable to attach the fire hydrant to the 
T-joint before lowering the fire hydrant into position and this procedure 
is quite practical with a fire hydrant setting tool according to the 
invention which will readily lift and support up to several thousand 
pounds with safety. The fire hydrant or fire hydrant and joint will 
normally assume a vertical position and are readily rotatable about the 
vertical axis thereby facilitating the alignment of fire hydrant and pipe 
necessary to insert bolts or otherwise make the necessary connection of 
the fire hydrant to the water main. 
A hinged connection between parts 13 and 15 in the illustrated embodiment 
is provided by a hole 30 through the pair of guide plates 17, 18 and 
through part 15 and a conventional clevis pin 31 which may be a 3/8 inch 
diameter, or greater if desired. Hole 30 is displaced by at least one inch 
from the extended diameter of circle 16 on which ends of bail 21 are 
secured. 
The junction line between parts 13 and 15 may be along a straight line 23 
parallel to bail 21 on the one side and on the other side is preferably 
along a line 25 extending at about a 45.degree. angle to the bail 21 and 
the diameter of the circle which bail 21 represents. The arc of the cutout 
portion of part 13 subtends an angle of from 185.degree. to 210.degree. 
and preferably about 200.degree. and the arc of the cutout in part 15 an 
arc of about 160.degree.. This is found to substantially facilitate 
placement of the collar 12 around a fire hydrant, particularly where the 
pivot axis represented by clevis pin 31 is displaced substantially from 
the diameter of the circular opening 16. While the distance between the 
inner end of line 25 and the inner end of line 23 is slightly less than 
the diameter of the circle due to the unequal division of parts 13 and 15, 
the difference is very small, on the order of 1 to 2% in the illustrated 
case. While the collar 12 could be formed in many various ways, the 
particular arrangement illustrated and described above is believed to be 
the simplest and most effective configuration. In particular, it compares 
favorably with articulated collar arrangements in wrenches and similar 
tools wherein there are three or more articulated parts to facilitate 
wrapping the parts of the collar completely around a cylindrical or 
polyhedral body. The safety and security provided by the tool of the 
present invention is enhanced by the fact that the bail 21 has both ends 
secured to the same solid steel part 13, thereby eliminating possible 
failure modes that would exist if there were a greater number of parts of 
the collar 12. 
Any suitable means may be provided for latching the collar 12 in the closed 
position, the illustrated means being a hair pin cotter 36 which may be 
engaged in a hole 35 extending through plates 19 and 20 and through part 
15; pin 31 and/or pin 36 may be retained by a chain 33 to keep them from 
being lost when removed. As previously mentioned, it is preferred that the 
tool be arranged so that it has only one closed position and is not 
adjustable. Accordingly it will have only one hole 35 for hair pin cotter 
36. Then, as in the illustrated embodiment, there is no way to latch the 
collar 12 in the closed position unless it is entirely closed. This avoids 
possible accidents with an adjustable collar that, through human error, is 
improperly adjusted. Either clevis pin 31 or hair pin cotter 36 could be 
replaced by a bolt or other equivalent fastening means to achieve the same 
functional operation. 
It should also be noted that while it is preferred that bail 21 be rigid 
and immovably secured to part 13 in most circumstances, bail 21 could 
optionally be formed of a length of chain secured in eye bolts attached to 
part 13. Alternatively, bail 21 could itself be rigid but provided with 
eyes on the ends linked to eye bolts secured in holes 27 and 28. 
The operation of the fire hydrant setting tool 11 is believed to be 
apparent from the previous description but may be more fully explained as 
follows. Assuming that the preparatory steps of positioning the water main 
pipe had been accomplished and it remained to lower and affix a fire 
hydrant to an upwardly opening pipe joint having a mating flange or other 
connection means, then the collar 12 would be opened, removing hair pin 
cotter 36 if necessary, and parts 13 and 15 of collar 12 spread apart. 
Part 15 will pivot through an angle of greater than 90.degree. to create a 
wide opening through which the body of the fire hydrant 9 can pass into 
the circular opening 16. Usually this would be accomplished by placing the 
tool 11 around the fire hydrant 9 rather than placing the fire hydrant in 
the tool 11. 
With the fire hydrant body snugly in the opening in part 13, part 15 is 
pivoted to the closed position and hair pin cotter 36 is snapped into 
opening 35, thereby securely locking the hydrant in the tool 11. At this 
point, bail 21 may be engaged by the hook of a crane or hoist or a hook 
suspended from a front end loader, lifted and positioned above the hole 
into which it is to be lowered. The hydraulic powered front end loader or 
other hoisting mechanism is used to lower the hydrant 9 gently to the 
desired position with only minor manual adjustment and positioning 
required. Once the hydrant was secured in place by bolts, or otherwise, 
hair pin cotter 36 would be removed from hole 35, part 15 swung about 
clevis pin 31 to open the collar 12, allowing removal of the fire hydrant 
setting tool 11 from the fire hydrant. As previously mentioned, in some 
cases it may be desired to assemble the fire hydrant to a T-joint or other 
water main pipe before lowering it into position, and such procedure is 
also efficiently carried out by use of the fire hydrant setting tool 11 
according to the invention. 
In addition to the variations and modifications to the invention which have 
been described, shown or suggested, other variations and modifications to 
the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art and accordingly 
the scope of the invention is not to be considered as limited to the 
particular embodiments and variations thereof shown or suggested but is 
rather to be determined by reference to the appended claims.