Hydraulic Rescue Tools

Hydraulic rescue tools are the emergency tools used by rescue professionals or rescuers who are involved in rescuing victims in emergency circumstances. The emergency tools help in various ways like as in vehicle extrication of crash victims, safely removing person(s) that are trapped in a situation, used for entrapment, lifting etc. These tools can also be used in rescues from small spaces after the collapse of buildings. There are a number of tools used for rescuing purpose. In the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand , the rescue tools are referred as "Jaws of Life". It was in the year 1963, the Jaws of Life was first used to free race car drivers from their vehicles after accidents.

How does a hydraulic rescue tool works?

Hydraulic rescue tools as the name suggest operate using hydraulic mechanism. Hydraulic pumps are used to provide power to a tool. This pump can be a hand pump or a foot pump or even can be engine-powered. Some tools have built-in pump inside the machine itself. The hydraulic pumps in the hydraulic rescue tools operate in two ways:

• Single acting: Here hydraulic pressure will only move the cylinder in one direction. To return to the starting position, a pressure-relief valve and spring setup are used.
• Dual acting: Here hydraulic pressure is used to both open and close the cylinder.

Jaws of Life

The original rescue tool is known as "The Jaws of Life". This is a brand of tools that is trademarked by the Hurst Jaws of Life company. But nowadays for all hydraulic rescue tools, or rescue equipment which are used to pry open vehicles involved in accidents when a victim may be trapped or tools used by fire fighters or tools used by rescue personnels for extriction are referred as the Jaws of Life.

Types of Hydraulic Rescue Tools

Cutter

This is a very common hydraulic rescue tool designed to cut through metal. Operated using hydraulic pumps, the tool can be used to cut through a vehicle's structure in an extrication operation.

Spreader

A spreader is a hydraulic tool having 2 arms which join together in a narrow tip. Hydraulic pressure is used to separate the arms. The basic advantage of hydraulic spreader is that with hydraulic pressure, the tip of the tool can be inserted into a narrow gap between two vehicle panels, pushing apart the metal in the panels.

Spreader-Cutters

This is a hydraulic rescue tool having both the features of a spreader and a cutter. This is mainly used by the fire department.

Rams

There are many types and sizes of hydarulic rams used for rescue purpose. Rams use more hydraulic fluid during operation than other tools.