Hydraulic rescue tools are used by emergency rescue personnel to assist vehicle extrication of crash victims, as well as other rescues from small spaces. These tools include cutters, spreaders, door busters and rams. They are popularly referred to in the English speaking Commonwealth nations, the US and Canada as the Jaws of Life, a trademark of Hurst Performance, Inc. The Jaws of Life was first used in 1963 as a tool to free race car drivers from their vehicles after accidents.
Hydraulic rescue tools are powered by a hydraulic pump, which can be hand-, foot-, or engine-powered, or even built into the tool. These tools may be either single-acting, where hydraulic pressure will only move the cylinder in one direction, and the return to starting position is accomplished using a pressure-relief valve and spring setup, or dual-acting, in which hydraulic pressure is used to both open and close the hydraulic cylinder.
Famous quotes containing the words rescue and/or tools:
“Here I pause in my sojourning, giving thanks for having come,
come to trust, at every turning, God will guide me safely home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God,
Came to rescue me from danger, precious presence, precious blood.”
—Robert Robinson (1735–1790)
“A life I didn’t choose
chose me: even
my tools are the wrong ones
for what I have to do.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)