Connections
Hose connections are often made from brass, though hardened aluminum connections are also specified. In countries which use quick-action couplers for attack hoses, forged aluminum has been used for decades because the weight penalty of brass for Storz couplers is higher than for threaded connections.
Threaded hose couplings are used in the USA, Canada, and Britain. Each of these countries uses a different kind of threading. Many other countries have standardized on quick-action couplings, which do not have a male and female end, but connect either way. Again, there is no international standard: In Central Europe, the Storz connector is used by several countries. Belgium and France use the Guillemin connector. Spain, Sweden and Norway each have their own quick coupling. Countries of the former Soviet Union area use the Gost coupling.
In the USA, a growing number of departments use Storz couplers for large diameter supply hose, or other quick-action couplings. Because the usage is not standardized, mutual aid apparatus might have a small compartment dedicated to a multitude of hose adapters.
The different styles of hose couplings have influenced fireground tactics. Apparatus in the USA features "preconnects": Hose for a certain task is put into an open compartment, and each attack hose is connected to the pump. Time-consuming multiple connections or problems with male and female ends are avoided by tactics. In countries where Storz (or similar) connectors have been used for attack hoses for generations, firefighters drop a manifold at the border of the danger zone, which is connected to the apparatus by a single supply line. As a result, the tiny item "hose coupler" has also influenced the looks and design of fire apparatus.
Read more about this topic: Fire Hose
Famous quotes containing the word connections:
“The quickness with which all the “stuff” from childhood can reduce adult siblings to kids again underscores the strong and complex connections between brothers and sisters.... It doesn’t seem to matter how much time has elapsed or how far we’ve traveled. Our brothers and sisters bring us face to face with our former selves and remind us how intricately bound up we are in each other’s lives.”
—Jane Mersky Leder (20th century)
“The conclusion suggested by these arguments might be called the paradox of theorizing. It asserts that if the terms and the general principles of a scientific theory serve their purpose, i. e., if they establish the definite connections among observable phenomena, then they can be dispensed with since any chain of laws and interpretive statements establishing such a connection should then be replaceable by a law which directly links observational antecedents to observational consequents.”
—C.G. (Carl Gustav)
“The connections between and among women are the most feared, the most problematic, and the most potentially transforming force on the planet.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)