AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION INNOVATION PATENT LAY FLAT HOSE RECOVERY KIT The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me: LAY FLAT HOSE RECOVERY KIT Fire fighting hose has always been difficult to handle. This hose is necessarily made from hard wearing materials to withstand the rigours of the fire ground, 5 yet has to be flexible enough so that long lengths can be bundled or rolled up for storage and transport. Common flexible fire fighting hose types are often described as "lay flat" hose. That is, it will lay flat on the ground when empty, but will expand to a circular 10 profile when filled with water. When emptied after use, it will again lay flat, and can then be rolled up to form a roll for subsequent transport and storage. Recovery of lay flat hose after fire fighting is one of the least liked jobs for the fireman. It is dirty, difficult and time consuming work. At most fire grounds 15 used lay flat hose is bundled up manually, placed in the back of a tray back vehicle, and then transported back to a depot. At the depot it is manually unloaded, and then stretched out onto hose racks for cleaning and drying. The lay flat hose recovery kit can assist fire fighters to recover hose from the 20 fire ground by providing a method of quickly untwisting and rolling up lay flat hose into a neat roll. The lay flat hose recovery kit in accordance with this invention comprises three main components which include a lay flat hose reel (part a), a vehicle 25 attachable reel mount (part b) and a swiveling hose unwinder (part c). The lay flat hose reel comprises two guide angles which are positioned on a hollow axial centre sleeve with an L shaped handle fixed to the end of the centre sleeve for rotating the reel assembly. The inside guide angle is movable along the centre sleeve and U shaped guide rod to accommodate different 30 widths of hose. The centre sleeve has a hollow centre to allow it to slide on to the vehicle attachable reel mount. The vehicle attachable reel mount comprises a vertical brace with a movable horizontal brace attached via a bolt through an adjustment slot in the lower half of the vertical brace. The vertical brace has a U shaped upper end, and the horizontal brace has two U shaped 35 end clasps of different widths for adjustable fitting to the circular section tray rails of the mounting vehicle. A circular section solid axle protruding from midway down the vertical brace allows the lay flat hose reel to be mounted by sliding the hollow centre sleeve onto the solid axle. The swiveling hose unwinder comprises an internally swiveling handle assembly connected to a 40 hose end clamp using a standard 1.5 inch snaplock hose coupling. The hose end clamp is comprised of an L section frame to which two rollers are attached. A spring loaded retaining pin at the end of the rollers prevents the hose end from slipping out of the clamp. 45 The lay flat hose reel (part a of the lay flat hose recovery kit - hereinafter referred to as the reel) can be rapidly attached on the side of any tray back fire fighting vehicle using the vehicle attachable reel mount (part b hereinafter referred to as the reel mount). Together with the swiveling hose unwinder (part c of the lay flat hose recovery kit - hereinafter referred to as 50 the unwinder), any used lay flat hose can be rapidly unwound, and then quickly rolled ready for transport. One end of a used hose may be attached to the reel, and the other end is pulled out to stretch the hose to full length. Once pulled out to full length, used hose almost always contains twists. These twists must be removed before rolling up the hose with the reel. The 5 pulled out end of the hose may then be connected to the hose end clamp on the unwinder. The unwinder may then be operated by simply pulling on the handle only. The internal bearing in the unwinder will allow the used hose to unwind. Once unwound the used hose may be wound into a neat roll using the reel. The reel may then be opened to retrieve the rolled hose, and allow a 10 further hose to be rolled up. The invention may be better understood with reference to the embodiments of the invention which: 15 Figure 1 is a perspective of the reel showing that it consists of a circular hollow centre sleeve (1), to which two guide angles (2 &3) are fitted. Circular holes in the centres of both guide angles allow them to be fitted onto the centre sleeve. A U shaped guide rod (4) attached to the handle end of the 20 centre sleeve runs through circular holes in the two guide angles. A spring (5) fitted around the outside of the centre sleeve between the handle end of the U shaped guide rod and the inside guide angle (3), allows the distance between the guide angles (2&3) to be varied so that different diameters of hose can be rolled. A rubber 0 ring (6) fitted around the centre sleeve between the guide 25 angles can be moved along the sleeve to restrict the inside guide angle (3) and thus maintain this guide angle at the required distance from the outside guide angle (2). The reel is operated by turning the L shaped handle (7) which is fixed to one end of the centre sleeve. The outside guide angle (2) is prevented from coming off the opposite end of the centre sleeve and the 30 guide rod ends by retaining spring clips (8&9) fitted through holes in the ends of the guide rod. Removing these retaining spring clips (8&9) allows the reel to be opened by sliding the outside guide angle (2) off the end of the centre sleeve (1) and the ends of the guide rod (4). Once opened one end of a used lay flat hose can be slid between the centre sleeve (1) and the guide rod (4). 35 Re-attaching the outside guide angle (2) and re-inserting the retaining spring clips (8&9) closes the hose end into the reel and allows the hose to be wound up. The wound hose can then be removed from the reel by repeating the opening procedure described above. 40 Figure 2 is a perspective of the reel mount which is used to attach the reel to the selected vehicle. The reel mount consists of a vertical brace (10) to which a solid axle (11) is fixed. A hooked top on the vertical brace (12) allows it to 45 be hung on a horizontal tray rail on the mounting vehicle. A horizontal brace (13) completes the reel mount. It is fitted to the lower part of the vertical brace (10) using an attachment bolt (14) inserted into the horizontal brace through the adjustment slot in the vertical brace (10), allowing the horizontal brace (13) to slide up and down in the adjustment slot. The attachment bolt (14) has 50 a wing nut (15) which allows the horizontal brace (13) to be hand tightened to the vertical brace (10) once adjusted for height. This allows the horizontal brace (13), which has U shaped clasps on both ends (16 & 17), to be adjustably attached to a vertical section on the vehicle tray rails (often where there is a step for climbing onto the back of the vehicle). 5 The U shape clasps (16 & 17) are two different widths to allow for wider or narrower tray rails, and are closed around the tray rail by a retaining pin (18) fitted through holes in the ends of the U clasps (16&17). This retaining pin (18) is held in place by a spring clip (1 8a) fitted through a hole in the end of the retaining pin (18). The spring clip (18a) and the head of the retaining pin 10 (18) are loosely attached to the thread end of the attachment bolt (14) by a small chain (18b). This allows the retaining pin to be fitted in either U clasp. The reel is fitted to the reel mount by sliding the reel hollow centre sleeve (1) onto the solid axle (11) of the reel mount. The reel is held on the solid axle 15 (11) by the operator using a slight inward pressure while operating the Reel with the L shaped handle (7). Once attached to a fire fighting vehicle with the reel mount, the reel is ready for use. The operator then attaches the unwinder to the remaining unattached 20 end of the used lay flat hose. Figure 3 is an elevation and partial cross section of the unwinder. It shows that the unwinder consists of two main parts, the first being the handle with an 25 internal bearing and the second being the hose end clamp. The plastic handle grip (19) is connected to the inside of the bearing housing (20) which contains an internal roller bearing (21). The outside of the roller bearing is then connected to one end of a snaplock hose coupling (22). The internal bearing allows the handle to rotate through 360 degrees or more relative to 30 the end of the snaplock hose fitting. This provides the ability of the unwinder to allow twisted hose to be straightened. The hose end clamp consists of an L shaped frame (23) with two rollers (24 &25) fitted to the inside of the L frame. A spring loaded retaining pin (26) is fitted through the L frame at the end of the rollers. A second snaplock hose coupling end (27) is rigidly attached to 35 the outside of the L frame. The unwinder is completed by connecting the two snaplock hose coupling ends (22 & 27). The end of a used lay flat hose can be attached to the unwinder by compressing the spring loaded retaining pin (26), and inserting the flattened 40 hose near the hose end into the gap between the two rollers. The retaining pin (26) is then released and prevents the hose end from escaping from between the rollers. With the other end of the used lay flat hose retained in the reel, the used lay 45 flat hose is pulled out to its full length parallel to the vehicle and on the same side of the vehicle where the reel is mounted. Used hose pulled out to full length almost always contains twists. Once the used lay flat hose is pulled out to full length, the unwinder can be gripped by the handle only, and the internal bearing will allow the hose to untwist. 50 After removing any twists the unwinder can be removed, and the straightened hose is then wound up using the reel. Once the hose is fully wound up, the reel can be opened and the wound hose removed. The reel can then be re assembled to recover the next length of used lay flat hose. 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50