For instance, a rescue worker can place a ram on the door frame and extend the piston to push the dashboard up, creating enough space to free a crash victim. The ram's function is to push apart sections of the car (or other structure). If you look at some heavy construction equipment, like a backhoe loader, you'll notice that rams are used to control the boom arm.Ī ram can be used to push a collapsed dashboard forward to free a victim. The ram is the most basic type of hydraulic system: It's just a matter of using hydraulic fluid to move a piston head inside a cylinder to extend and retract a piston rod. If you understand the operation of the spreader and cutter, the ram is going to seem about as complex as a pair of scissors (if scissors had hydraulics, of course). 22,455 pounds (99.9 kiloNewtons) cutting force at the notch.12,358 pounds (60 kiloNewtons) cutting force at the blade center.The spreader can also clamp down on a structure to crush any material between its arms.Īs you will see in the next section, cutters are very similar to spreaders in how they operate. To use the spreader, a rescue worker inserts the closed spreader arms into an opening in the vehicle or structure, such as a door jamb. To close the arms, the operator moves the valve in the opposite direction, which causes the hydraulic fluid to flow through a second hose. When the rod pushes up, it causes the linkages to rotate, which opens the arms. This rod is attached to linkages that are conjointly attached to the spreader's arms. To open the arms of the spreader, the operator slides a valve switch that causes the hydraulic fluid to flow from one hose into the cylinder, pushing the piston and rod up. This type of engine can run on about 0.5 gallons (2 liters) of gas for about 45 minutes to an hour. A typical power unit might be a 5- horsepower gasoline engine that operates at 5,000 pounds per square inch (psi), although the pressure differs in different power units. When the portable engine is started, oil flows through a set of hydraulic hoses into the hydraulic pump inside the machine's housing. The body of the ML-32 spreader is made out of aluminum alloy and the piston and piston rod are made from forged alloy steel. Other spreaders can provide more or less spreading and pulling force. 14,400 pounds (64 kiloNewtons) pulling force.16,000 pounds (71 kiloNewtons) spreading force.Let's look at the ML-32 Hurst Jaws of Life spreader as an example. There are spreaders of different sizes, so the specifications differ as to how much spreading force the equipment possesses or how much space can be opened up on a vehicle. The mechanics of how these two devices work are very similar, and some Jaws of Life equipment combine the cutter and spreader into one machine.Ī spreader consists of pincer-like, aluminum alloy arms with tips made of heat-treated steel to provide maximum strength for tearing into a vehicle or building. The cutter, as the name suggests, is used to cut through the vehicle like a pair of giant bolt cutters. The spreader is used to pull pieces of the structure apart, or it can be inserted into the side of the vehicle to tear a section out. The powerful jaws of these machines can tear apart most vehicles like cutting through a tin can. Spreaders and cutters are probably the two pieces of equipment that most people think about when they hear about the Jaws of Life on a news report.
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