Not your ordinary kind of bolt

(A picture of rusty T-head bolt, maybe 1" diam.)

I've got some circular strap clamps that have similarly-shaped but much smaller (1/4"-20) T-head bolts. Picture that gives the idea:

Maybe the bolts you found are from bigger versions of the same thing. Or they might be hanger bolts that fit into T-track. In any case, if they fell off a bridge or other infrastructure as you imagine, they probably were holding lights or signs rather than structure.

-jiw

Are those from a rail line? Seems like I've seen something similar bolting pieces of rail together. Any railroads close to where they were found?

I don't think so. There are RR tracks not too far away, but in the wrong direction. None upstream from the location I found the bolts.

On Thu, 07 Aug 2008 15:49:23 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm, James Waldby quickly quoth:

Yeah, I've that style on expensive clamps, too.

One other thought. I've seen similar bolts used in slotted flanges on bolt-down manhole covers. At roughly 3/4"x4" or 5", this seems to be the application to me.

Post-"cast-iron-theft era" bolts look totally different:

-- Self-development is a higher duty than self-sacrifice. -- Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Water main flange bolts?? Gerry :-)} London, Canada

Or bolts from a pipe repair clamp...

different:

Thanks for posting that link Larry - as a former lineman, got all nostalgic going through their catalog....

Andrew VK3BFA.

Those are restraining bolts for ductile iron water main installation. See the attached link to a .pdf.

fittings have a flange drilled for bolts. The plain pipe end has a field installed flange (the brand show is called a Mega-lug) the field installed flange has teeth which bite into the plain end of the pipe. The bolt heads on these teeth shear off when the proper torque is reached.

The T-bolt looking things in the original post clamp the factory flange on the fitting to the Mega-lug. The whole point is to resist intertial forces from "blowing off" the fittings/hydrants/valves, ect.

Enjoy, Andy

Wow, there's no end to the kinds of specialized hardware that are out there, if you know where to look. Thanks for all the good inputs, guys.