Wheeled fire hydrant diffuser

A wheeled fire hydrant diffuser has a wheeled frame having a trailering tongue for attachment to the rear of a towing vehicle. The housing is formed with walls and attached to the wheeled frame and has an inner chamber therein having an open bottom. An elongated walled passageway extends through the housing chamber and has an opening therein facing the top of the housing. A flexible fire hose is attached to a coupling in the walled passageway and has a removable fire hydrant coupling on the other end thereof so that the fire hose can be connected to the fire hydrant and the fire hydrant opened to direct water therefrom through the walled passageway into the housing inner chamber and out the bottom of the housing inner chamber. The housing has a storage compartment for storing the flexible fire hose.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a fire hydrant diffuser and especially to 
a fire hydrant diffuser on a wheeled frame for towing behind a vehicle. 
Fire departments periodically open the fluid flow from a fire hydrant so as 
to ascertain that the water pressure is at a predetermined minimum amount 
required to fight fires and to clean out the water lines. Typically, a 
fire truck will drive up to each fire hydrant and turn on each hydrant to 
flush out the water lines and hydrant as well as to measure the water 
pressure at the hydrant. During this procedure, it has been found that the 
water flow exiting the hydrant can cause damages to objects, such as 
vehicles or to the surrounding landscape or housing adjacent the hydrant 
and to the streets and sidewalks. Thus, it becomes desirable to provide a 
fire hydrant diffuser which effectively interrupts a high pressure stream 
of water when cleaning out water lines and fire hydrants to reduce 
damaging effects from the high pressure stream of water. 
One prior U.S. patent which considered this problem is U.S. Pat. No. 
4,343,435 to Anderton, et al. for a fire hydrant diffuser having a flared 
housing rectangular in cross section with a pair of water diffusing 
members in an opposed relation angled to form a V-configuration and having 
a stepped mesh structure positioned relative to the direction of flow of 
water to present narrow obstructing slits for the passage of the water. In 
the U.S. Pat. No. 4,047,668 to DeWeese, a water hydrant diffuser is 
provided which can be connected to a water hydrant when the fluid flow 
from the water hydrant is being measured. The water hydrant diffuser is 
formed of a plurality of diffuser elements mounted in generally parallel 
planes in a housing and has a coupling for securing to a water hydrant 
outlet. A fluid flow measuring device can be inserted in the water hydrant 
diffuser intermediate the coupling section free end and the diffuser 
element. In the U.S. Pat. No. 4,756,497 to Lazenby, a flush type fire 
hydrant is provided for use in purging water lines of a water system which 
have become contaminated. In the U.S. Pat. No. 5,201,338 to McKeague, a 
water distribution system includes flushing hydrants having buried valve 
assemblies and a removable top stock carried from valve assembly to valve 
assembly. In the U.S. Pat. No. 4,651,772 to Carlin, a delay valve is 
attached to a fire hydrant and interposed between the hydrant and the hose 
and restricts the high flow and high pressure of the hydrant to a small 
fraction of the normal flow and pressure until the hose is filled up, at 
which point the valve opens fully so that the hose and hydrant are fully 
operational. 
The present invention, in contrast, is for a wheeled fire hydrant diffuser 
which can be attached to a vehicle, such as an automobile or small pickup 
truck, to avoid the use of expensive fire trucks and crews for flushing 
fire hydrants. This allows a much less expensive vehicle, such as a pickup 
truck, and one individual to go from fire hydrant to fire hydrant flushing 
each fire hydrant and thus reducing the cost of maintaining the fire 
hydrant. The fire hydrant diffuser effectively interrupts a high pressure 
stream of water which avoids the damage to vehicles, landscape and streets 
in testing fire hydrants and, at the same time, reduces the time and 
personnel and equipment involved in flushing a municipality's fire 
hydrant. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
A wheeled fire hydrant diffuser has a wheeled frame having a trailering 
tongue for attachment to the rear of a towing vehicle. The housing is 
formed with walls and attached to the wheeled frame and has an inner 
chamber therein having an open bottom. An elongated walled passageway 
extends through the housing chamber and has an opening therein facing a 
wall of the housing. A flexible fire hose is attached to a coupling in the 
walled passageway and has a removable fire hydrant coupling on the other 
end thereof so that the fire hose can be connected to the fire hydrant and 
the fire hydrant opened to direct water therefrom through the walled 
passageway into the housing inner chamber and out the bottom of the 
housing inner chamber. The housing has a storage compartment for storing 
the flexible fire hose.

DESCRIPTION THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring to FIGS. 1-5 of the drawings, a wheeled fire hydrant diffuser 10 
is shown connected to a fire hydrant 11 in FIG. 1 with a flexible fire 
hose 12. The hose 12 has a fire hydrant coupling 13 on one end thereof 
connected to the fire hydrant 11. The fire hydrant diffuser 10 has a pair 
of wheels 14 connected to a frame 15 which includes the axle and a trailer 
tongue 16 extending from the front of the diffuser 10. The wheels 14 have 
covers 17. A diffuser housing 18 is mounted to the frame 15 supported by 
the wheels 14 and has a generally cylindrical walled portion 20 having a 
flat top 21. The housing also includes a storage compartment 22 having a 
hinged door 23 thereon for storing the flexible fire hose 12 when the fire 
hydrant diffuser 10 is being trailered between locations. A walled 
passageway 24 extends through the housing 18 and has a protruding portion 
25 protruding from the rear of the fire hydrant diffuser 10. The 
protruding portion has a foot 26 and a fire hose coupling 27 extending 
from one side thereof for coupling the fire hose 12 thereto with a hose 
coupling member 28. 
The walled passageway 24 can be seen in FIG. 5 as having a generally square 
cross section passageway having an opening 30 for the coupling 27 and a 
generally square opening 31 extending at right angles from the opening 30 
for facing upwards in the housing 18 within the inner housing chamber 32 
aimed directly at the top wall 21 of the fire hydrant diffuser 10 housing 
18. An open bottom 29 and 33 open on either side of the passageway 24 from 
the inner chamber 32. As seen in FIG. 3, a tongue supporting arm 34 is 
hinged at 35 to the tongue 16 and has a foot 36 on the end thereof for 
supporting the tongue and the fire hydrant diffuser 10 in a generally 
level position when disconnected from a towing vehicle. 
In operation, the wheeled hydrant diffuser 10 is attached to a vehicle 
which can be a fire truck but would typically be a small pickup truck or 
car having a trailer hitch for attaching the trailering tongue 16 where 
the wheeled fire hydrant diffuser 10 can be towed to a fire hydrant 
location. The hose 12 is removed from the storage compartment 22 and one 
end coupled with the coupling 28 to the diffuser passageway 24 and the 
other end of the hose 12 coupled with a coupling 12 to the fire hydrant 
11. The fire hydrant can be opened and water allowed to flow through the 
fire hose into the passageway 24, which is a closed end passageway, with 
an egress opening 31 therein which may have a shaped square nozzle 
portion. Water is directed from the hydrant 11 under pressure out of the 
passageway 24 and into the inner chamber 32, against the interior of the 
top wall 21, where the water is deflected, as shown in FIG. 3. The water 
impinges against the wall 21, reverses direction to flush out the bottom 
openings 29 and 33 thereby reducing the pressure and force of the water 
from the fire hydrant. The water is directed onto the street to thereby 
prevent damage to the street, surrounding landscape, or any vehicles. 
The wheeled hydrant diffuser 10, as illustrated, advantageously can be 
operated by a single operator and can be towed on any vehicle desired to 
thereby reduce the cost in man power for testing and flushing fire 
hydrants. It should also, however, be clear that the present invention is 
not limited to the forms shown and may include a different shaped 
passageway 24, such as a cylindrical passageway. The water directed to the 
inner chamber 32 may be directed through more than one opening and against 
any number of walls within the inner chamber 32 or against another 
diffuser which can be placed within the chamber 32. Accordingly, it should 
be clear that the present invention is not to be limited to the forms 
shown which are to be considered illustrative rather than restrictive.