US3838818A

US3838818A - Self-propelled sprinkler

Info

Publication number: US3838818A
Application number: US00354896A
Authority: US
Inventors: H Takatani
Original assignee: HATSUTA IND
Current assignee: HATSUTA IND; HATSUTA IND CO Ltd JA
Priority date: 1973-04-26
Filing date: 1973-04-26
Publication date: 1974-10-01
Anticipated expiration: 1991-10-01

Abstract

A self-propelled sprinkler is provided which comprises a fixed hollow shaft stationarily fixed with respect to a liquid feed pipe, the shaft communicating with the liquid feed pipe. The driving rotary sleeve, with a driving nozzle thereon is rotatably mounted on the fixed hollow shaft and a driven rotary sleeve with at least one sprinkling nozzle thereon is rotatably mounted on the fixed hollow shaft. The driving nozzle and sprinkling nozzle are adapted to receive a liquid which is fed into the fixed hollow shaft from the liquid feed pipe and to spout the liquid therefrom. A sun and planet speed reduction gear mechanism transmits the reduced rotational speed of the driving nozzle to the driven nozzle.

Description

United States Patent Takatani Oct. 1, 1974 1 SELF-PROPELLED SPRINKLER [75] Inventor: Hirokazu Takatani, Amagasaki,

[21] Appl. No.: 354,896

[52] U.S. Cl. 239/252 [51] Int. Cl BOSb 3/02 [58] Field of Search 239/246, 251, 252, 256, 239/263 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,575,952 3/1926 Todd et al. 239/251 X 1,950,712 3/1934 Coles et a1. 239/252 1,965,912 7/1934 Strawn 239/251 X 2,108,787 2/1938 Coles et a1. 239/252 X 3,464,632 9/1969 Bristow 239/263 X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 514,453 12/1930 Germany 239/246 Primary Examiner-Lloyd L. King Assistant Examiner-Andres Kashnikow Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Armstrong, Nikaido & Wegner A self-propelled sprinkler is provided which comprises a fixed hollow shaft stationarily fixed with respect to a liquid feed pipe, the shaft communicating with the liquid feed pipe. The driving rotary sleeve, with a driving nozzle thereon is rotatably mounted on the fixed hollow shaft and a driven rotary sleeve with at least one sprinkling nozzle thereon is rotatably mounted on the fixed hollow shaft. The driving nozzle and sprinkling nozzle are adapted to receive a liquid which is fed into the fixed hollow shaft from the liquid feed pipe and to spout the liquid therefrom. A sun and planet speed reduction gear mechanism transmits the reduced rotational speed of the driving nozzle to the driven nozzle.

ABSTRACT 1 Claim, 2 Drawing Figures The present invention relates to a self-propelled sprinkler having a sprinkling nozzle.

There has heretofore been known a self-propelled sprinkler of the type in which a repulsive or reaction force exerted by a liquid jet or spray issuing from a sprinkling nozzle is directly utilized to propel or rotate said sprinkling nozzle. With this knowntype, however, since said nozzle is rotated at a high speed by the repulsive force of the liquid jet, the range, or the horizontal distance through which the liquid jet or spray issuing from the sprinkler flies, is short. Thus there has been a disadvantage of the sprinkled area being very small.

There has been known another type of self-propelled sprinkler in which a reaction blade is mounted for rotation with the sprinkling nozzle. The reaction blade is normally spring-biased in a direction in which the sprinkling nozzle is to be rotated, and the liquid jet issuing from said sprinkling nozzle is directed against said reaction blade. In operation of this known sprinkler, the liquid jet issuing from said sprinkling nozzle and directed against said reaction blade displaces the latter against the force of the biasing spring and compresses it. When the force of the spring being compressed becomes sufficiently large to overcome the displacing force exerted on the reaction blade by the liquid jet, such reaction blade is pushed back by said spring force, hitting a stay rigidly secured to the sprinkling nozzle, whereby said stay and hence said sprinkling nozzle are rotated through a certain angular distance. After hitting said stay, the reaction blade is re-displaced by the action of the liquid jet against the force of the spring, to repeat the actions described above. With this known type of self-propelled sprinkler, it is possible to decrease the rotational speed of the sprinkling nozzle by adjusting the ratio of the force of said biasing spring to the force of the liquid jet. However, since the sprinkling nozzle is intermittently rotated by the hitting action of said reaction blade, there is a disadvantage of the unevenness of the sprinkling being caused.

The present invention has been accomplished in view of said disadvantages of the conventional self-propelled sprinklers, and has for its object the provision of a selfpropelled sprinkler wherein the rotational speed of the sprinkling nozzle is low, and the rotation of the sprinkling nozzle is smooth and continuous, and therefore, the sprinkling is evenly effected.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which;

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of an embodiment in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line Il-ll of FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawings, shown at 1 is a liquid feed pipe connected to a source of liquid under pressure (not shown) to be sprinkled. The liquid may be insecticide, sterilizer or other agricultural chemicals or fertilizer, though not limited to these. The liquid feed pipe has a tapered internal thread cut in the upper end opening therein and receives a connection pipe 2 having a complemental external thread cut in the lower portion thereof. In threadedly fitting together the internal thread of the liquid feed pipe 1 and the external thread of the connection pipe 2, a sealing tape will be wrapped around the external thread of the connection pipe 2 which is then screwed into the inner thread, thereby providing a seal therebetween which is effective to prevent leakage of liquid through this thread connection.

The connection pipe 2 has a passageway 3 having an enlarged upper portion which is internally threaded for threaded engagement with an external thread cut in the lower portion of a hollow shaft 4. A packing 5 of suitable material prevents leakage of the liquid through the threaded connection between the connection pipe 2 and the hollow shaft 4. Thus, the liquid pipe 1, connection pipe 2 and hollow shaft 4 form a unitary stationary assembly.

A driven rotary sleeve 6 is rotatably'mounted on the upper portion of the fixed hollow shaft 4 through 0-

rings

7,7. The top end of the fixed hollow shaft 4 is formed with a projection 8 which projects upwardly therefrom. On the other hand, the top wall of the driven rotary sleeve 6 is formed] with an opening 9 through which said projection 8 extends loosely. The portion of said projection 8 which extends outside said opening 9 is formed with a peripheral groove 10 to receive a snap ring 11 therein, thereby preventing the driven rotary sleeve 6 from upwardly slipping off.

The driven rotary sleeve 6 is provided with

nozzle securing pipes

12 and 13, each securing pipe having an external thread cut in the front end portion thereof. A sprinkling nozzle 14 is secured to the external thread of the securing pipe 12. To this end, the securing end of the nozzle 14 is formed with an internal thread for threaded engagement with the external thread of the securing pipe 12. Shown at 15 is a gasket whereby when the nozzle 14 is threadedly secured over the securing pipe 12, leakage of the liquid through the threaded connection is prevented. The front end portion of the passageway 16 in the securing pipe 13 is enlarged, and fitted in the enlarged portion is a member 17 adapted to impart a spiral motion to the liquid passing therethrough. Since such member is well known to those skilled in the art, a detailed description thereof will be omitted. The front end of the securing pipe 13 is formed with an external thread, and another sprin kling nozzle 18 is secured to the securing pipe 13 by means of a cap nut 19 threadedly fitted over said external thread. A gasket 20 is interposed between the securing pipe 13 and the sprinkling nozzle 18 to prevent the leakage of the liquid therethrough.

A driving rotary sleeve 21 is mounted between the flange 23 of the fixed hollow shaft 4 and the connection pipe 2 by means of O-rings 22,22 in such a manner that it is rotatable with respect to the fixed hollow shaft 4. The driving rotary sleeve 21 is provided with a liquid conducting pipe 24 which projects radially outwardly therefrom. The liquid conducting pipe 24 is provided at the front end thereof with a driving nozzle 25 which spouts a liquid jet or spray tangentially to the circular path of rotation of said front end. Shown at 26 is a support arm projecting radially outwardly from said driving rotary sleeve 21 above said liquid conducting pipe 24 to support a planetary gear comprised in a sun-andplanet speed reduction gear mechanism to be described below.

The sun-and-planet speed reduction gear mechanism is designated generally by 27 and comprises a sun gear 28 rigidly secured to the fixed hollow shaft 4, a first planetary gear 29 meshing with said sun gear, a second planetary gear 30 adapted to rotate: integrally with said planetary gear 29, and a gear 31 fixed to said driven rotary sleeve 6 and meshing with said second planetary gear 30. Said first and second planetary gears 29 and are fixed to a support shaft 32, which is rotatably mounted in a bearing 33 formed at the front end of said support arm 26. In addition, in order to prevent the support shaft 32 from slipping off from the bearing 33, the lower end of the support shaft 32 is formed with a groove 34 in which a snap ring is fitted.

The fixed hollow shaft 4 is formed with openings 36 circumferentially evenly spaced apart from each other and opposed to the inlet openings of the

nozzle securing pipes

12 and 13 of the fixed hollow shaft 4. Similarly, openings 37 are formed in said fixed hollow shaft 4 opposing to the inlet of said liquid conducting pipe 24 The operation of the self-propelled sprinkler will now be described.

When a liquid under pressure is fed into the liquid feed pipe 1 in the direction of arrow 38, it flows into the fixed hollow shaft 4 through the connection pipe 2. A part of the liquid which has flowed into the fixed hollow shaft 4 flows into an annular space 39 defined around the outer periphery of the fixed hollow shaft 4 via the openings 37, then into the liquid conducting pipe 24 and is finally spouted from the driving nozzle 25 in the form of a jet or spray. Further, the remainder of the liquid which has flowed into the fixed hollow shaft 4 flows into another annular space defined around the outer periphery of the fixed hollow shaft 4 via the openings 36, then into the

nozzles

14 and 18 via the

securing pipes

12 and 13, respectively, and finally spouted from said

nozzles

14 and 18 in the form of a jet and spray, respectively. The leakage of the liquid flowing into the

annular spaces

39 and 40 is prevented by the O-

rings

22,22 and 7,7 positioned at the upper and lower sides of the

openings

37 and 36, respectively.

The repulsive force resulting from the liquid being spouted from the driving nozzle 25 causes the liquid conducting pipe 24 and hence the support arm 26 to be rotated around the axis of the fixed shaft 4. As a result, the first planetary gear 29 is rotated around its own axis while being revolved around the stationary sun gear 28. Thus, the second planetary gear 30 is also rotated around its own axis while being revolved around the gear 31. Thus, the gear 31 is rotated at a substantially reduced speed in accordance with a well known principle of the sun-and-planet speed reduction gear mechamsm.

As described above, according to the present invention, since the

sprinkling nozzles

14 and 18 are continuously rotated at a low speed, there is no unevenness of sprinkling and there can be obtained a desired range through which the jet or spray flies from these sprinkling nozzles.

While there has been shown and described a preferred embodiment of the invention, it would be obvious to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made as desired or needed without departing from the scope of the invention specified in the appended claims, and the terms, phrases, etc. appearing in the specification should be interpreted in the broadest meaning. For instance, the term sprinkling nozzle should be interpreted to cover both of a nozzle which is adapted to spout a solid jet and a nozzle which is adapted to spout a spray.

In the embodiment herein disclosed, one such solid jet nozzle 14 and one such spray nozzle 18 are provided. However, it should be understood that the present invention contemplate also the provision of only the solid jet nozzle 14 or the spray nozzle 18, the replacement of the spray nozzle 18 by another solid jet nozzle, and vice versa, and the provision of solid jet nozzle and spray nozzle in any combination as desired.

What is claimed is:

l. A self-propelled sprinkler comprising in combination: a fixed hollow shaft stationarily fixed with respect to a liquid feed pipe and communicating with said liq uid feed pipe; a driving rotary sleeve, with a driving nozzle thereon, rotatably mounted on said fixed hollow shaft; a driven rotary sleeve with at least one sprinkler nozzle thereon, rotatably mounted on said fixed hollow shaft; said driving'nozzle and sprinkling nozzle being adapted respectively to receive from said fixed hollow shaft a liquid which has been fed into said fixed hollow shaft from said liquid feed pipe and to spout the received liquid; a sun and planet speed reduction gear mechanism for transmitting the reduced rotational speed of said driving rotary sleeve to said driven rotary sleeve; said sun and planet speed reduction gear mechanism comprising a sun gear fixedly mounted on said fixed hollow shaft, a first planetary gear meshing with said sun gear, a secondary planetary gear adapted to be rotated integrally with said first planetary gear, a gear fixedly mounted on said driven rotary sleeve and meshing with said second planetary gear, said first and second planetary gears being rotatably supported on a support arm projecting outwardly from said driving rotary sleeve.

Claims

1. A self-propelled sprinkler comprising in combination: a fixed hollow shaft stationarily fixed with respect to a liquid feed pipe and communicating with said liquid feed pipe; a driving rotary sleeve, with a driving nozzle thereon, rotatably mounted on said fixed hollow shaft; a driven rotary sleeve with at least one sprinkler nozzle thereon, rotatably mounted on said fixed hollow shaft; said driving nozzle and sprinkling nozzle being adapted respectively to receive from said fixed hollow shaft a liquid which has been fed into said fixed hollow shaft from said liquid feed pipe and to spout the received liquid; a sun and planet speed reduction gear mechanism for transmitting the reduced rotational speed of said driving rotary sleeve to said driven rotary sleeve; said sun and planet speed reduction gear mechanism comprising a sun gear fixedly mounted on said fixed hollow shaft, a first planetary gear meshing with said sun gear, a secondary planetary gear adapted to be rotated integrally with said first planetary gear, a gear fixedly mounted on said driven rotary sleeve and meshing with said second planetary gear, said first and second planetary gears being rotatably supported on a support arm projecting outwardly from said driving rotary sleeve.