Found a Brass Fire Hose Coupling Today. How Old is this Item?

[FreeBirdTim]

It was 30 degrees with a couple of inches of snow on the ground, but I went out for a short hunt anyway.Found this brass fire hose coupling in the woods. Very weird find, since it was at least 300 feet from the nearest road. It has an ID of 1 1/2" and still has the rubber washer intact. The washer is kind of stiff, though.

Any clue as to how old this item is? There are no identifying marks on it at all. Should I scrap it or slap it on eBay? Also, was the nozzle screwed on to this part or was it for something else? Any help would be appreciated.

 

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[riverdiver]

I don't believe that is for fire hose, it is a quarter turn style connector commonly used on steam hoses. I worked in a factory in the late 80's that used that style connector on black rubber hoses used to thaw frozen pipes in winter.

 

[fyrffytr1]

I have never seen a coupling like that and I was a fire fighter for 30 years. But, I did find these on the internet.
http://www.gaam.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/17450/couplings.pdf

 

[FreeBirdTim]

Great job finding one! I think it may be a marine fire hose coupling. I found this site that sells a similar coupling. Not sure why this one ended up 300 feet in the woods, though. Very strange! Thanks for your help!

Fire Fighting Equipment

 

[david680]

Looks pretty close to the couplings we used to have on our sandblasting equipment.

 

[Crusty Shellback]

That looks just like a twist claw air hose coupling.

 

[Aussie]

Found in the woods?
Id be going back and looking for the rest of the "still" lol

 

[hikerdude]

That coupling is used for air hoses, as in a compressor jack hammer etc. I have seen these hoses (couplings) used for fueling heavy equipment with diesel when the fuel needs to be pumped long distances, like 20 or 30 feet or more.

 

[FreeBirdTim]

Definitely a fire hose coupling. I pried out the copper sleeve that was inside the coupling and there was a piece of fire hose attached to it. It looks burned, so maybe there was a brush fire in the woods many years ago. I'm guessing that someone set the hose down and it ignited and burned the coupling off the hose. Half of the coupling looks burned as well.

Thanks for all the replies. I guess it's headed for the scrap pile. It weighs 20 ounces, so that's about two bucks in scrap brass.

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Very interesting find!