Talk:Hydraulic rescue tools

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This page needs some major revision. To quote howstuffworks, "The Jaws of Life is actually a brand of tools that is trademarked by the Hurst Jaws of Life company, but the name is often used when talking about other brands of rescue systems. The term "Jaws of Life" refers to several types of piston-rod hydraulic tools known as cutters, spreaders and rams, which are used to pry open vehicles involved in accidents when a victim may be trapped." I'm not sure how to do it, though. Split the page, make it a disambig? Also needs to be combined with hydraulic ram in some manner, but that page seems to be talking about a completely different tool. anthony (see warning) 02:14, 16 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Hello Anthony, The trademark information was abstracted from here; I leave it to subsequent editorial judgment how generically to treat the article. Thanks - KJ Sam 20:41, 29 May 2004 (UTC)

I think you may have misread that page. It says "The original tool was a part system consisting of a 32-inch hydraulic spreader powered by a two cycle gasoline power unit." But that was only the original tool. "During the past 30 years the Jaws of Life product line has grown significantly. New spreaders, cutters, rams, and very lightweight tools have been added to the world-renowned line." The article (currently) mentions the spreader tool, but none of the others. I guess the best solution is to discuss the term (both the brand and generic use), but link to the individual tools. anthony (see warning) 12:46, 7 Jul 2004 (UTC)

I tried my best to fix things up, but I'm really no expert in these tools and there isn't a whole lot of info online. I'll get a picture of a car lock I busted using one of these things when I get back from vacation. Hopefully the text will be fixed up by then, but it seems no one else wants to tackle this either. anthony (see warning) 13:18, 7 Jul 2004 (UTC)

The Hale page as I recall was somewhat less detailed a year ago, so I took a cut at it;I think your efforts look fine so far. Regards. KJ Sam 07:34, 12 Jul 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Merger with Hydraulic spreader

I propose that this page and Hydraulic spreader be merged. I think it's pretty obvious that the two pages are redundant; the question now is which name should be kept. While Jaws of Life has far more links, I think that the name should be something more generic, since the article says "The Jaws of Life products include hydraulic spreaders, cutters, rams, and other tools used for vehicle extrication," and, "The term has come to be used generically for any brand of these products, most often either spreaders or spreader/cutter hybrids, not just those manufactured by Hale Products." So it seems to me that this may be best served by a page detailing the range of rescue equipment, since it is unlikely that each type merits its own page. Sertrel 23:04, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Picture

Hi. I thought that this picture could be interesting for the article. The roof of the Renault Megáne Mark I has been cut off with Hydraulic Rescue Tools Randroide 09:47, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Major cleanup

I attempted to address the "article needs cleanup" message. I'll admit having no knowledge in this field, so mainly rearranged items and deleted headings and divisions I felt were overly technical or extraneous. Please feel free to correct any mistakes! --Mdresser 19:43, 27 October 2006 (UTC)