A pipe handling clamp for mounting to the arm of a machine such as a digger includes a rotator 8 having the upper part 5 fixedly mounted to the end of the machine arm and a lower part rotatable with respect to the upper part and to which the active parts of clamp are attached. The main clamp semicircular hollow body sections 1 are hinged together at 2 and supported by square section extendable brackets 6 from the lower part of the rotator. Semicircular tongues 3 are housed within the hollow body sections and can be propelled in and out of the body sections by actuation of the hydraulic rams 4 which act between a connection to the lower portion of the rotator and the respective connection 7 on each tongue. When the tongues are fully withdrawn into the body sections, finger-like projections at the top end of the tongues are meshed together and cross over beneath the hinge to lock the hinge in open position so that the clamp can be placed over the top of the pipe to be placed. When the tongues 3 are projected out of the bodies 1 by the rams 4 they slide around the pipe to support the pipe from below without increasing the overall size of the clamp, and allow the hinge to close up. When the tongues are fully extended, the brackets 6 are also fully extended so that the weight of the pipe is supported by the extended brackets rather than by the hydraulic cylinders.
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