WO2006112802A1

WO2006112802A1 - Irrigation trees by jars

Info

Publication number: WO2006112802A1
Application number: PCT/SY2005/000009
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ahmad Badran; Mahmoud Badran
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2005-04-20
Filing date: 2005-04-20
Publication date: 2006-10-26
Anticipated expiration: 2007-10-20

Abstract

This invention is a new system especially designed to irrigate trees and to economize in water, fertilizers and pesticides. This system helps trees avoid gradual dryness caused by droughts and bad irrigation. The system is made of plastic jars perforated on all sides and equipped with necks and caps containing flow regulators. Jars are filled with volcanic basalt granules in order to add strength to the jars, and at the same time, to prevent roots from penetrating the holes around the jars. Jars are usually buried 40 cm underground, and connected with a net of main and branch pipes which carry water to the jars through the flow regulators fixed in the jars’ caps. This system has many advantages: - It carries water directly to the roots of the trees in the required amounts, which means saving water. - It prevents the growth of harmful weed. - It prevents the spread of pests and fungal diseases. - The system is designed for irrigating trees exclusively. Sixteen figures and illustrations show the structure of the system.

Description

IRRIGATION TREES BY JARS

Back Ground Of The System

We are in a world badly in need of water. This rising demand on water is unfortunately accompanied by drought and decreasing levels of water in our aquifers . Shortage of water obliged people to follow many approaches to make the best use of this great bless ,water. Irrigation by dropping or by sprayers helped increasing the areas planted with vegetables and young trees . But old trees whose roots had expanded horizontally undergrounds because of using old ways of irrigation for long consecutive years.Trees stopped growing or blossoming or giving fruits because their roots dried . Old methods of irrigation caused weeds to grow and caused large amounts of evaporation Because water is widely required, and because the need arose for a new system of irrigation that makes good use of the small amounts of water available and to save trees in the severe waves of drought it became impossible to continue using the typical methods of irrigation.. Because "need is the mother of invention" and after two years of long researches and experimentation on fruit trees in regions like Douma , Al Nabek and the boundaries of the Syrian desert : Palmyra , Al Nasiria and Jeiroud ,we were completely satisfied that a new method should be devised for irrigating old trees , economizing water , preventing evaporation and at the same time protecting trees from weeds, fungal diseases and pests . We succeeded in manufacturing a new irrigation system that helps irrigating trees easily and transferring fertilizers and nutrients directly to their roots (figure 6-7-8-14 ). After using this system we can plant trees in arid lands , in steep slopes and in rough terrain, because it carries water directly to the roots. The new method negates the need for land reclamation, hard labor and high costs (figure 9). „ This system is called Irrigating Trees by Jars (ITJ). The invention is registered in Syria under No 6567 in 1445 /7/2003,io Lebanon under No 6828 of 20/9/2003 and in Jordan under No 27699 in 7/10/2003. We certify that this invention is new and is derived out of long experimentation , practice and hard labor. Before declaring t h is invention, Syrian , Lebanese , Saudi , Jordanian, Palestinian, I raqi, Turkish, and E gyptian markets were checked, and we made sure that this device is completely new. There is nothing similar in design or use. Hence this invention should be legally protected and widely advertised and marketed, out of our full satisfaction of its good benefits. To hasten its promotion we started manufacturing the required molds to star! production.

Descritption of the Invention

Purpose of the invention

Primarily, the invention was designed to save old trees, in dry regions, from drying up , to economize in water by avoiding evaporation, Io prevent harmful weeds from growing, to economize in fertilizers and pesticides, and at t he same time to make full use of water, fertilizers, ferrous salts and pesticides.... etc.

By preventing humidity from spreading on the surface of soil, we can keep this surface dry and bright which .consequently , prevents pests and fungal diseases from spreading ,and at the same lime, deny weeds the opportunity to grow .

This system works in a way similar to the method in which medical serum is used to transfer medicines, nutrients and liquids into the human body (figure 14). Jars receive water from a central pump that pumps water through a filter to a net of pipes, then to the jars buried near the roots of the trees (figures 6 & 12).To achieve this aim water is pressurized in the form of 4 humidity and distributed in the soil at depths between 10-100 cm without floating above the surface of the earth. This is achieved by the jars specially designed for this purpose.

Jars are manufactured in two types: long neck jars and short neck jars 5_(fϊgures 2 & 13). The farmer can chose either one of these types according to his needs.

Description of jars:

1-Long neck jars:(Figure 1)

Long neck Jars are made of three main parts all of them are made of plastic. They are illustrated in real size in figure 2. The jar is shown in green, the long neck in blue, and the cap with the flow regulator in red. The jar should be filled with a mixture of volcanic basalt granules and charcoal in order to increase the mechanical resistance of the jar and to prevent roots from penetrating the perforations around the bulb so that they may not block water from flowing out.

The jar is 40 cm long ,the long neck is usually 25 cm high. The whole jar should be buried in 40 cm deep pits 3 - 4 from the stem of the tree depending 8_on the size of the tree. Figure 12 shows the method of distributing jars among trees.

Jars are positioned in the pits with their caps upward, above the surface of the ground. . A tiny water inlet is fixed in a thin pipe connected with a hose laid 9_along the rows of trees. Water runs through the hose to the pipe and then the water inlet in the jar's cap (figure 7) to pass through the flow regulator. This regulator is a variable resistance fixed inside the tract of water to define the amount of water that should pass to the jar's neck and then to the perforated bulb underground. Water leaks through the perforations to the soil lO to wet the area surrounding the roots of the tree and to supply it with the water, fertilizers and nutrients ( figure 8).

Here it is worthy to mention that the farmer should remove jars from their pits once a year in the season of plowing so that he may not break their ll necks, and at the same time to fulfill the routine maintenance on them.

In this method it is easy to calibrate the regulator and to control the flow of water systematically because the red cap which contains the regulator is always kept above the ground. Fertilizers ,ferrous salts and pesticides can easily be added by lifting the cap, adding these materials inside it, then 12_capping it again. This saves the farmer digging around the trees which normally leads to cutting parts of the roots.

Structure of the jar's cap (figures 1 & 11):

The Jar's cap is made of three pieces fixed together .The cap, the water inlet 13_(shown in red) and the flow regulator, which is also made of two pieces (shown in blue and black. The flow regulator is fixed in the cap, the blue piece is permanently screwed to the cap while the black piece remains free to regulate the amount of water needed. This piece has a conical valve that moves upward and downward through the cap. If the cone moves upward, the 14_amount of water flow decreases ,if it moves downward the amount of water increases. This movement allows the farmer to choose the amount of water the trees need by rotating a perforated disc at the bottom of the black neck. The disc presses the mixture of granules inside the bulb to prevent them from moving outside the bulb into the jar's neck. (Figures 1 & 3) 2-The short neck jar (figures 4, 5, and 8) Short neck jars are made of two main parts; the bulb and the cap, as shown in real size in figure 13. The short neck jar differs from the long neck one in that it has no blue part, that is no additional neck. The red piece is usually fixed on the lower bulb directly as in figures 4 and 7. The other parts are all fixed.

This jar is usually buried completely 40 cm underground as in (figures 6 and 8). Water flows to the jars through a net of pipes buried underground .This type of jar allows the farmer to plow his land without removing the jars, since the depth of plowing rows is no more than 25 cm, so the plowshare doesn't reach the jars. In this method jars can function for several years without being removed or maintained. Fertilizers , ferrous salts and pesticides are usually dissolved in water and pumped through the pipes to the jars by using a funnel or any similar device .This saves the farmer digging around the trees and the possibility of cutting parts of the roots.

Since this system is completely buried underground, the need arises to check the flow of water from above the ground .A special device (figure 10) was designed for this purpose. This device is made of a graded transparent plastic pipe with a metal cylinder of a calculated weight inserted in it . The pipe is connected serially with the main water pipe. Water inlet in the bottom and the hose leading water to the jars is at the top. When water flows to the jars and leaks from them, the metal cylinder rises to a height that indicates the speed and amount of flow. By this the farmer can check the function of the jars routinely .

The short neck jar system can be used, also, to irrigate newly planted trees and rose trees .For this purpose jars are buried in pits 20 cm deep and 30-60 cm far from the trees. In this case the cap should remain above the ground .Distance between trees and jars is usually defined in relation to the size and age of trees (figure 5).

Comparison Between Long Neck Jars And Short Neck Jars

The cover that encases the flow regulator can be manufactured as shown in figure /15/ where the flow regulator is installed upwards on an essential perforated base that contains the water inlet .This base can be covered with a transparent plastic cover so that the farmer can monitor the movement and flow of water through the plastic cover without dismantling it. The bottom bulb of the jar, which contains the granules that prevent the penetration of roots into the jar, can be replaced with two cones installed one inside the other with enough space between them allowing tiny canals to pass water to the soil.

These tiny canals are equally distributed and start at the cones head in the bottom, and end at the bottom of the base. In this way the cone receives water from the flow regulator equally, and gives similar results with lesser costs as shown in details in figure 16. It is up to the user to install either of the covers mentioned above on the jar or on the cone .

Manufacturing the ITJ System

Irrigating Trees by Jars (ITJ) system is made of plastic jars that have spherical perforated bulbs 20 cm in diameter, and fitted with necks 25 cm long and 5 cm in diameter. Jars are closed with caps that have flow regulators inside them. Regulators receive water from a net of pipes connected to a central pump that pumps water from the source to a main pipe ,then to the network of pipes , so that they can regulate water flow between 0 - 100 liter/hour. Jars should be filled with volcanic basalt granules and charcoal (figures 1-2-3-11-13). This filling is used to prevent roots from infiltrating through the perforations and to protect jars mechanically.

Jars, depending on the length of the jars' necks, are buried in the ground among the trees as shown in figures 5-6-7- and 12.

Jars are made of plastic .Plastic is injected in molds prepared to cast the seven parts that form the system. First three parts are assembled together to make the flow regulator and the cap as shown in figure (ll).The two parts of the bulb are assembled together and filled with the charcoal and volcanic granules. Then two molds for the neck which is fixed on the bulb to complete the system.

This product was designed after two years of research and experiments. It was devised to irrigate palm, olive, apple, pear and vine trees. Most of the experiments were executed in dry regions around Damascus: Douma, al Nabk, al Nasiriyah, Jeiroud and Palmyra. The results were excellent. Old big trees were saved. Big savings of water could be made because there was no evaporation. Weeds did not grow. Trees were protected from pests and fungal diseases because the earth surface remained dry and bright. Fertilizers and nutrients could easily reach the roots with water.

The invention of (ITJ) system is registered in Syria under NO.6567 on July 14^th.2003, in Lebanon under No 6828 on

September 20^th 2003, and in Jordan under No 27699 on

July 10^th.2003.AH parts of the system are newly developed, a result of long research and surveys in the markets of

Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Palestine ,Iraq ' ,Turkey and Egypt. There is no similar way for irrigating trees, which means that this invention should be protected as it is now able to be marketed.

Claims

Claims of Protection

1. A hollow jar with a semi spherical lower bulb and a neck used to irrigate trees, buried underground at a depth of 10- 100cm in proximity to the roots of trees in order to transfer water to the roots directly without passing water over the surface of the earth.

2. A jar according to element of protection No. l made of plastic or piatcd metals unable to rust.

3. A jar according to element of protection No. l that carries water, fertilizers, pesticides, ferrous powder or any other material with the water to be absorbed by the roots of trees.

4. A jar according to clement of protection No. l , 1 5 -50 cm long and 10-25 ; cm in diameter whose (semi spherical ) bulb has perforations of l mm - 10mm in diameter.

5. A jar according to element of protection No. l that facilitates planting trees in mountainous , sloppy land without being reclaimed or cleared.

6. A jar according to element of protection No. l that has a cap with a "(low regulator", a neck and a perforated bulb.

7. A jar according to element of protection No.6 whose bulb is made of two separable pieces to facilitate maintenance.

8. A jar according to element of protection No.6 whose lower bulb is filled with a blend of charcoal and volcanic granules to support the jar and to enhance its mechanical ruggedness especially against external pressure, and, to prevent roots from getting into the bottle and blocking the perforations.

9. A jar according to element of protection No.6 where there is a perforated circular disk at the end of the jar neck whose function is to press on the blend of granules in the bulb to fix it and to prevent it from floating up in the neck.

10.A jar according to element of protection No.6 in which the water coming from the branch hose or tube, passing into the water inlet, passes through a flow regulator which is a conical head fixed on a moveable base that can move by the movement of a gear so that it can control the amount of water needed to the roots .When the conical head enters, the water passage it increases resistance to the flow of water and water flows in smaller amounts, when it retracts it allows more water to flow into the jar.

11.A jar according to element of protection No.l which has a long neck, 20 to 40 cm or more as it is convenient.

12.A jar according to element of protection No.l 1 whose lower bulb is buried under ground in proximity to the roots of the trees and whose neck remains above ground so that its cap can be seen clearly.

13.A jar according to element of protection No.11 in which the flow regulator can be controlled easily by lifting the upper cap of the jar above ground and by moving the base on which the conical head is fixed to calibrate the amounts of water needed. The cap, being above the ground, helps controlling the flow of water so easily.

14.A jar according to element of protection No.l which has a short neck between 1 and 5cm long or more as it is convenient.

15.A jar according to element of protection No.14 in which the jar is buried completely under ground in proximity to the roots of trees and at a depth of 40 cm or more as convenient.

16.A jar according to element of protection No.14 which the farmer needs not recover it before plowing the earth because the plow goes 25 cm deep under ground while the jar is buried 40 cm or more under ground.

17.A device to test the flow of water that can check the jars buried underground when connected to the jars .The device measures the amount of water flowing from the jar to make sure that it is functioning well. It also tests the amount of water flowing from the jar and compares it with the amounts measured in the first check by the flow regulator. After the check, the device is moved from the jar after getting sure its functioning properly.

18.A jar according to element of protection No.17 where the above mentioned device is a made of a transparent plastic tube with a water inlet and outlet and has inside, a metal cylinder of a certain weight, which floats up inside the tube by the pressure of water to indicate the amount of flowing water and to check the performance of the jar.

19. jar according to

of protection No.17 in which the device that tests water flow can be made of transparent plastic or glass taking into consideration that the metal cylinder inside it is made of copper or chrome.

2O.The cover of the jar and the cone that make the essential base with the water inlet and the flow regulator installed upwards .A transparent plastic cover can be installed on the essential base.

21.The jar cover, designed in accordance with the protection element No 20, which allows the farmer to monitor the movement and flow of water through the plastic cover with no need to dismantle the cover.

22.The jar cover, designed in accordance with the protection element No 20, which can be installed on the jar or on the cone .

23.A two pieces cone with water passages (canals) in between and a head buried 10 - 100 cm underground in proximity to the roots of the trees to irrigate trees directly without the need to run water on the earth surface.

24.A cone , according to the protection element No.23, made of plastic or of plated or stainless metals .

25. A cone, according to the protection element No.23, used for the same applications and gives the same results of the jar. .

26.A cone, according to the protection element No.23, made of the cone's cover, the flow regulator and the cones neck, in addition to the cone itself.