Groton City Fire Department Capt. Charlie Allen demonstrates the use of the Hose Handler he and a machinist invented.

Groton— It's called the Hose Handler.

Simple, yet rugged, it's the invention of longtime City of Groton firefighter Charlie Allen, who is marketing and selling it to fire departments across the state.

Allen, who has invented an amphibious ice rescue vehicle and a device that protects a pistol when it's fired without a bullet, recently decided there must be an easier way to maneuver the 110-pound fire hoses used by the department.

A firefighter can lug the coil awkwardly between his legs, or, “if you're a real bruiser, you can pick it up like a baby,” Allen said. But with his tool, similar to a pair of tongs, each side hooks onto a side of the coiled hose while it's standing up.

Two men on each side can then easily lift the hose by holding the tong handles, covered in a rubber grip.

It was a job he had at his uncle's fish market, Chapman and Sons, on Jupiter Point, when he helped move 300-pound blocks of ice with large ice tongs, that inspired the multifunctional tool.

The hose handler can also screw the end of the hose onto the fire hydrant, squeeze water out of a hose with a “de-watering bar,” and move an even heavier, water-laden hose out of the way of rescue vehicles.

Allen works with machinist and co-inventor Brian Watrous to bring his ideas to life. The hose handler is made of tenzaloid, which is stronger and more flexible than aluminum, by the Commercial Foundry in New Britain.

Firefighting is still a manual job, and a job that's constantly evolving from thermal imaging to the types of hoods that are worn, Allen said.

He received a patent for the tool earlier this year. Each one costs $245, and Allen is donating one to his own department. The Enfield Fire Department bought six.

He also brought it to a show of fire equipment in Baltimore. One New York City firefighter was puzzled, telling him carrying hoses is “what our probies do,” a reference to new firefighters who are on probation.

But Allen just shakes his head over the comment.

“Firefighters are always looking for new things to make their job a little easier,” he said.

Allen's ice rescue vehicle, however, was designed to save lives.

As part of a training video, Allen watched four firefighters, two in a boat and two in the water, struggle to break through the ice to reach a fisherman who had fallen through. They failed.

Allen created the IRV, operated by one person, who sits on the main body, made of two inflatable sleds. There are two handlebars, attached to a giant foam roller on the front, and a 5-horsepower engine, which is protected from the water.

The vehicle travels on land and in water, when the roller's blades can slice through the ice. When it gets too thick, the roller digs into the ice to give it traction.

“They see you coming, and their whole attitude changes,” he said, of the victims. “They have hope.”

He sold the prototype to a private company in Branford, but he said changes were made, so that it became bigger and heavier, and impractical to use. He hopes he can still work with it someday.

Allen, who has also been a police officer in the Town of Groton, was once part of the National Guard Marksmanship Training Unit. He became a champion shooter for the state and U.S. All Guard Pistol Team, from which the idea grew to create a dry-firing device.

It stops the gun hammer from making the full stroke, when one is practice-firing, without a bullet. He found out there were only 17,000 competitive shooters in the United States, however, and decided it was not a big enough market.

Allen isn't sure what his influences were in becoming an inventor, but he plans to devote his full time to it when he retires in the spring.

“I've always been mechanical,” he said. “I just see things that need to get better.”