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Are these firemen prying type tools?

toomanytoyzz

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I got these last week in a lot of other tools. Does anyone know exactly what type of tools they are? The spanner style tool on the top is marked "allen" with the # 5 on one side and New York and Chicago on the other. Is it some sort of hydrant or water key? Any info would be much obliged.
 

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four.cycle

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?

possibly.
they might also have been intended for use in handling barrels - 55-gallon drums. rolling them around, turning them over, removing the bung plugs, etc. the one in the middle - with the hook - says "barrel" to me. the others I'm not so sure about.

in searching patents I've run into dozens and dozens of devices that turned out to be devices used for "sanitary flow" systems (milking machines and milk trucks) but generally those are aluminum or plated.
 

driftpin

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I'm a fire service instructor and while those generally appear to some-way be similar to hose coupling tools or for operating steamer caps, I can't say I ever saw anything exactly like those, going back nearly 50 years.

It's 'Halligan,' b.t.w. and they in no-way resemble 'the irons.' I see a Halligan Tool used more-often on 'Chicago P.D.' than I do on 'Chicago Fire.'
 
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Aaron_W

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The top one is a spanner wrench of some sort, could be a very old or local style for fire department fittings but if so I imagine quite old. The bottom two are nothing I recognize as specific to the fire service.

I thought they were the same or part of the same. Is this not correct?
Wikipedia:

The Irons refers to a paired prybar and flat head axe used for forcible entry. The Halligan tool is a popular prying tool which is often the prying half of "the irons" but there have been quite a few others over the years, the similar Kelly tool probably comes in a distant second (looks similar to the Halligan but doesn't have the spike).
 
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T

toomanytoyzz

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The top one is a spanner wrench of some sort, could be a very old or local style for fire department fittings but if so I imagine quite old. The bottom two are nothing I recognize as specific to the fire service.



The Irons refers to a paired prybar and flat head axe used for forcible entry. The Halligan tool is a popular prying tool which is often the prying half of "the irons" but there have been quite a few others over the years, the similar Kelly tool probably comes in a distant second (looks similar to the Halligan but doesn't have the spike).
That's what I figured. I have a few buddies in local fire departments but they weren't sure exactly what it was.
 

Aaron_W

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That's what I figured. I have a few buddies in local fire departments but they weren't sure exactly what it was.

The spanner is for pin lugs, and those have not been common on fire hose for a very long time. You do occasionally still run across them in fire service use, but they are much more common on irrigation and industrial fittings.
 
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