GB2220050A

GB2220050A - Livestock watering appliance

Info

Publication number: GB2220050A
Application number: GB8914439A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Edward Bates
Original assignee: E B EQUIPMENT Ltd
Current assignee: E B EQUIPMENT Ltd
Priority date: 1988-06-23
Filing date: 1989-06-23
Publication date: 1989-12-28
Anticipated expiration: 2009-06-23
Also published as: GB8914439D0; GB8814953D0; GB2220050B

Abstract

In automatic livestock water supply apparatus, in which the water available for the livestock is regulated by a valve controlled by the quantity of water in the available supply, the water supply valve comprises a conical valve seat 42 with an included cone angle of less than 90 DEG , and a valve member 56 which has a resilient ring 68 located against a shoulder on the valve member facing the valve seat. When the valve is closed, the resilient ring is compressed between the shoulder on the valve member and conical valve seat. In accordance with a second aspect of the invention, in addition to a valve controlled by the quantity of water in the available supply, there is a restrictor in the water supply to the upstream side of the valve. The restrictor is formed by a tapered bore 14 in a stationary part of the valve and a valve spindle which has a head 50 shaped to enter the bore of the restrictor. The restrictor head 50 and the associated valve spindle are formed integrally with the valve member 56. The restrictor may be closed or substantially closed when the water supply valve is closed. <IMAGE>

Description

"Livestock Watering Appliance" The invention relates to an applicance used for supplying drinking water to livestock, and whilst the invention could be realised in various forms and sizes to adapt it for use with various kinds of livestock, it is thought that it is most likely to find its application in the provision of water supply for poultry, for example in battery cages or in broiler houses.

Automatic livestock water supply apparatus is known in which the water available for the livestock is regulated by a valve, controlled by the quantity of water in the available supply. The valve may therefore be controlled by the weight of the available water supply or by a float in the available water supply, the weight or the float acting against a resilient load, which in the case of water weight activation may be a spring and in the case of float operation may be a weight.

One of the problems of this kind of apparatus is that of valve leakage, particularly if the head of water in the supply system at the valve is of the order of 2 metres or more, which is frequently the case. In most systems, the available supply has to be lifted periodically as the livestock grows, but on the other hand, in order to deal with the problem of valve leakage, it is necessary to introduce a header tank into a watering system (in order to reduce the head of water at the valves). The combination of header tank and valve lifting arrangement complicates the system. The object of the invention is to provide an automatic livestock watering appliance having less tendency to leak than known watering systems.

According to a first apsect of' the invention a livestock watering appliance has a water supply valve which comprises a conical valve seat, the included cone angle being less than 900 and a valve member which has a resilient ring located against a shoulder on the valve member facing the valve seat, the arrangement providing that when the valve is closed, the resilient ring is compressed between the shoulder on the valve member and the conical valve seat. It has been found that this construction provides a particularly watertight seal which is effective even after a very large number of operations of the valve.

A cone angle greater than 900 does not provide a very effective compression of the resilient ring when the valve is closed, whereas with a cone angle of less than 900, there is a partial wedging action when the valve is closed. It is further preferred that the valve seat has an included cone angle of approximately 600.

According to another preferred feature of this aspect of the invention the resilient ring is an "O" ring; it is further preferred that the resilient ring is made of rubber or plastics material simulating the compressibility and resilience of rubber. The resilient ring is preferably carried on a spindle of the valve member, which spindle is of appreciably smaller cross-section than the bore of the valve seat, and which passes through the valve seat, the shoulder being formed by a collar on the spindle.

According to a still further preferred feature of this aspect of the invention, the apparatus includes an available water container suspended from a stationary part of the apparatus with a spring loading acting upwardly on the container, the valve seat being carried by the stationary part of the apparatus and the valve member being supported by the available water container, the arrangement being such that when a predetermined quantity of water is in the container, the latter lowers the valve member on to the valve seat. With this construction, closure of the valve is effected by the weight of available water overcoming the spring loading.

According to a second aspect of the invention, a livestock watering appliance has a water supply valve which comprises a conical valve seat and a valve member on a valve spindle which is movable axially to move the valve member into and out of sealing engagement with the valve seat, the valve spindle or a member carried thereon passing through a restrictor bore in a part of the valve through which water passes from the water supply to the valve, so that a restriction is formed in the water supply to the upstream side of the valve.

It has been found that there is a tendency, when the water supply to the valve is unrestricted, for the valve member to vibrate when in the closed position. This vibration allows water to leak past the valve member and can cause the available water supply to overflow. By providing a water restriction in the water supply to the upstream side of the valve, this tendency of the valve member to vibrate is greatly reduced or even eliminated.

Preferably there is a tapered formation on the valve spindle which co-operates with the restrictor bore to provide the restriction, and the construction is preferably such that when the valve is closed, the restriction is also substantially closed. The passage through the restrictor bore preferably decreases in cross-section' from the upstream side to the downstream side. This is conveniently achieved by tapering the restrictor bore and locating a cylindrical part of the spindle in that bore, but it could be obtained with a cylindrical restrictor bore if the part of the spindle within that bore were increased in diameter from the upstream to the downstream side of the restrictor bore.

The valve member in this second aspect of the invention preferably comprises a resilient ring located against a shoulder on the valve spindle facing the valve seal, the arrangement providing that when the valve is closed, the resilient ring is compressed between the shoulder on the spindle and the conical valve seat. Preferably the included cone angle of the valve seat is less than 900. Thus in the preferred form of the second aspect of the invention, the valve is of the kind described in the first aspect of the invention and therefore any or all of the preferred features of the valve of the first aspect may be incorporated in the watering appliance of the second aspect of the invention.

A watering appliance particularly intended for providing an automatic water supply for poultry, and constructed so as to incorporate both aspects of the invention, will now be described by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a cross-section through the watering appliance with the valve in the open position, and Figure 2 is a cross-section to an enlarged scale through part of the watering appliance with the valve in the closed position and illustrating the detailed construction of the valve.

The automatic watering installation in which the appliance is used includes a horizontal water supply pipe 10 which is connected to the water supply header tank (not shown), so that water is always available filling the horizontal supply pipe 10. It is not uncommon for the head of water in the system to be approximately 2 metres above the level of the horizontal run of the pipe 10, thus creating a substantial water pressure within the pipe. Indeed it has been found possible to operate the installation herein described with a water head as great as 8 metres, which is more than is likely to be encountered in practice.

At each of a series of spaced apart positions along the length of the pipe 10, a drinker 20 is provided as illustrated. The drinker comprises top and bottom plastics injection moulded clamps 11 and 13 which engage respectively with the top and bottom sides of the pipe 10, the two clamps 11 and 13 being secured together by self-tapping screws 15. Each of the top clamps 11 has a large bore 17 and is threaded on to a hollow metal support rod 19 which extends parallel to the water supply pipe 10. It will be appreciated that the water supply pipes, which are preferably formed of plastics material to avoid contaminating the water, are of considerable length and would tend to sag, were it not for the support offered by the rod 19. It should be understood however, that it is quite usual to suspend the water supply pipe and drinkers from support rods in this way.

A spigot 12 protrudes into the pipe 10 from the underside, through a hole formed in the wall of the pipe, and the joint between the pipe 10 and the spigot 12 is sealed by a rubber "0" ring 21. A water supply bore 14 is formed through the spigot 12, so that water within the supply pipe 10 is able to flow from the water supply pipe out through the outlet bore 14 at each of the drinkers.

The drinker indicated generally at 20 is the same at each of the supply stations, and therefore it is only necessary to describe one of these drinkers in detail. A stationary tube 18 depends from and is moulded integrally with the bottom clamp 13, there being flanges 23 between the upper end of the tube 18 and the clamp 13. Consequently, the tube 18 forms part of the stationary structure.

The apparatus also includes a support cylinder 22 which is open at the bottom end, but which has a cap 24 at its top end, there being a bore 26 through the cap 24 (see Figure 2), which provides a clearance hole through which the stationary tube 18 passes. A helical compression spring 28 extends between the underside of the cap 24 and an upwardly facing shoulder 30 formed on a lower part of the stationary tube 18.

By virtue of this arrangement, the supporting cylinder 22 is suspended from the stationary part of the apparatus by the spring 28.

Externally, the supporting tube 22 is screwthreaded at 25 and at the upper end a central cylindrical portion 32 of an available water container 34 is screwed on to the outside of the support tube 22. By virtue of this screw-threaded engagement between the two parts, it is possible to adjust the vertical relationship between the support tube 22 and the available water container 34.

Essentially, the available water container 34 comprises an annular trough 36 which extends from the central cylindrical portion 32, but there is also an internal flange 38 which provides a floor in the lower end of the central cylindrical portion 34.

An outlet hole 40 is formed through the wall of the cylindrical portion 32 above the lower, outer, part of the flange 38.

It will be appreciated, that the weight of the moving parts, that is to say the supporting cylinder 22 and the available water supply container 34 is supported on the compression spring 28. As water is poured into the trough 36, this adds to the weight of the movable parts, and consequently, the spring 28 is compressed.

Within the lower end of the stationary tube 18, there is a valve seat member 42 made of nylon or some other suitable valve seat material. This seat member has a conical valve seat 44 at its upper end, and the bore 46 from the bottom of the valve seating 44, out through the bottom end of the seating member. The included cone angle of the valve seating 44 in this particular construction is 60 . It has been found in practice, that this included angle should not exceed 900, and in practice it is not possible to make it much smaller than say 500.

The drinker includes a valve spindle 48 made in brass, and it will be noted that the spindle 48 comprises, from top to bottom: a restrictor head 50 located within the water supply pipe 10 above the spigot 12; a small diameter cylindrical portion 52 extending through the bore 14 of the spigot; a cylindrical central portion 54 located within the tube; an enlarged cylindrical head 56 and a lower small diameter portion 58 which extends through and projects below the seating member 42. The valve spindle is of a relatively substantial weight, in relation to the small overall size of the drinker.

The portion 58 of the spindle is appreciably smaller in diameter than the bore 46 in the seating member 42, so that it is able to pass easily through that bore, and similarly, the cylindrical portion 52 is able to pass easily through the bore 14, but in any event, the bore 14 tapers downwardly so that the water passage through the annular space between the wall of that bore and the spindle decreases in cross-section from the upstream to the downstream side of the spigot 12.

When the trough 36 is empty, so that the weight of the movable parts suspended on the spring 48 is at its lowest, the movable parts occupy a position illustrated in Figure 1, in which the lower end of the spindle 48 is supported on the flange 38 in the cylinder 32. A set of four internal ribs or splines 62 is provided within the bore of the stationary cylinder 18, and as illustrated at 64, steps are formed in the splines to provide an effective shoulder against which the top end of the head 56 of the valve spindle will engage, if the valve member attempts to rise above the upper position illustrated in Figure 1 of the drawings. Of course, it will be appreciated, that as the water containing member 34 lowers, it allows the valve spindle to lower with it, the lower end 58 of the spindle resting on the internal flange 38 during this movement.

At the shoulder between the spindle 48 and the underside of the head 56, a recess 66 is formed in the spindle, and a rubber "0" ring 68 seats in this recess, and is thereby firmly located on the spindle 48.

The "0" ring 68 provides the effective surface of the valve member provided by the head 56, and when the latter is lowered to its closed position, the "0" ring 68 occupies the position illustrated in Figure 2, where it is in engagement with the conical seating surface 44.

It will be noted that the restrictor head 50 is of slightly larger diameter than the upper end of the tapered bore 14 through the spigot 12, and that there is a part conical junction 51 between the head 50 and the cylindrical portion 52. When the valve spindle is in the valve open position illustrated in Figure 1, this conical junction 51 is just clear of the top of the spigot 12, but when the valve spindle is lowered as the weight of water in the trough 36 increases, the conical portion 51 moves into the top end of the tapered bore 14.

The operation of the apparatus will now be described. When water fills the supply pipe 10, the water flows through the annular channel in the bore 14 down into the stationary cylinder 18.

Supposing that the valve is then in the open condition illustrated in Figure 1 (because the trough 36 is empty) the water flows through the valve seating member 42, out into the cylinder 32, and thence through the outlet hole 40 into the trough 36. As the level of water in the trough 36 rises, so the movable parts 32 and 22 move downwardly, compressing the spring 28.

As a result, the valve spindle is lowered, and during the first part of this lowering, the passage through the bore 14 becomes even more restricted due to the entry of the conical portion 51 of the spindle. In fact, the spindle and bore 14 provide a restrictor for the water supply at this point.

Eventually, when there is an adequate supply of water in the trough 36, the "0" ring 68 engages with the conical valve seating 44. This has the effect of closing the passage through the valve seating and terminating the supply of water through the apparatus into the trough 36. Up to this point, the closing of the valve has been effected by the weight of the valve member, and in particular by the weight of the head 56. However, once the flow of water through the valve has almost shut off, then the water pressure in the stationary tube 18 acts on the head 56, and urges the valve member downwardly, thereby increasing the pressure exerted by the valve head 56 on the "0" ring 68. This squashes the "0" ring between the underside of the head 56 and the conical valve seating, and effects a very tight seal, which it has been found in practice is watertight. At the same time, the restrictor is almost or entirely closed.

An adequate supply of drinking water for the birds is therefore available in the trough 36. When the level of the water in the trough 36 begins to fall, the movable parts are lifted upwardly by the action of the spring 28, and this has the effect of lifting the valve member off the valve seat thereby opening the valve, and again allowing water to flow through it into the trough 36. Moreover, as the valve spindle is raised, the restrictor is opened to allow water to flow through the restricted passage to the upstream side of the valve seat. This motion continues until the adequate water supply is again achieved. Consequently, the apparatus is entirely automatic, and maintains a constant level of water in the trough 36.

The effectiveness of the valve is largely due to the simplicity of the valve member, which is virtually floating, combined with the action of the "0" ring and the concial valve seating.

It has been found however that the restrictor provided by the conical portion 51 and the tapered bore 14 plays an important subsidiary function in the operation of the drinker. When one is operating with a relatively large head of water (say 2 metres or more) there is a tendency for the valve spindle to vibrate when it is in the closed condition. The precise theory why this happens is not entirely understood, but it may be due to a water hammer effect being set up due to the constant opening and closing of a large number of valves in drinkers associated with a single water supply pipe system. Whatever the reason however, once the valve spindle begins to vibrate, it allows water to leak through the valve, and eventually, the water overflows from the trough 36 creating a nuisance.

By providing the. restrictor, if there is a water hammer effect set up in the water supply pipe, this has virtually no effect on the valve head 56, and consequently, the valve does not vibrate, and therefore it remains closed.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A livestock watering appliance having a water supply valve which comprises a conical valve seating the included angle being less than 900 and a valve member which has a resilient ring located against a shoulder on the valve member facing the valve seat, the arrangement providing that when the valve is closed, the resilient ring is compressed between the shoulder on the valve member and the conical valve seat.

2. A livestock watering appliance as claimed in Claim 1, in which the valve seat has an included cone angle of approximately 600.

3. A livestock watering appliance-as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2, in which the resilient ring is an "0" ring.

4. A livestock watering appliance as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 3, in which the resilient ring is made of rubber or plastics material simulating the compressibility and reslience of rubber.

5. A livestock watering appliance as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 4, in which the resilient ring is carried on a spindle of the valve member, which spindle is of appreciably smaller cross-section than the bore of the valve seat, and which passes through the valve seat, the shoulder being formed by a collar on the spindle.

6. A livestock watering appliance as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 5, in which the apparatus includes an available water container suspended from a stationary part of the apparatus with a spring loading acting upwardly on the container, the valve seat being carried by the stationary part of the apparatus and the valve member being supported by the available water container, the arrangement being such that when a predetermined quantity of water is in the container, the latter lowers the valve member on to the valve seat.

7. A livestock watering appliance having a water supply valve which comprises a conical valve seat and a valve member on a valve spindle which is movable axially to move the valve member into and out of the sealing engagement with the valve seat, the valve spindle or a member carried thereon passing through a restrictor bore in a part of the valve through which water passes from the water supply to the valve, so that a restriction is formed in the water supply to the upstream side of the valve.

8. A livestock watering appliance as claimed in Claim 7, in which there is a tapered formation on the valve spindle which co-operates with the restrictor bore to provide the restriction.

9. A livestock watering appliance as claimed in Claim 7 or Claim 8, in which the construction is such that when the valve is closed, the restriction is also substantially closed.

10. A livestock watering appliance as claimed in any one of Claims 7 to 9, in which the passage through the restrictor bore decreases'in cross-section from the upstream side to the downstream side.

11. A livestock watering appliance as claimed in any one of Claims 7 to 10, in which the valve member comprises a resilient ring located against a shoulder on the valve spindle facing the valve seat, the arrangement providing that when the valve is closed', the resilient ring is compressed between the shoulder on the spindle and the conical valve seat.

12. A livestock watering appliance as claimed in Claim 11, in which the included cone angle of the valve seat is less than 900.

13. A livestock watering appliance as claimed in Claim 12, in which the valve seat has an included cone angle of approximately 600.

14. A livestock watering appliance as claimed in Claim 12 or Claim 13, in which the resilient ring is an "0" ring.

15. A livestock watering appliance as claimed in any one of Claims 12 to 14, in which the resilient ring is made of rubber or plastics material simulating the compressibility and resilience of rubber.

16. A livestock watering appliance as claimed in any one of Claims 12 to 15, in which the resilient ring is carried on the spindle, the spindle being of appreciably smaller cross-section ?of the bore than the bore of the valve seat, which passes through the valve seat, the shoulder being formed by a collar on the spindle.

17. A livestock watering appliance as claimed in any one of Claims 12 to 16, in which the apparatus includes an available water container suspended from a stationary part of the apparatus with a spring loading acting upwardly on the container, the valve seat being carried by the stationary part of the apparatus and the valve member being supported by the available water container, the arrangement being such that when a predetermined quantity of water is in the container, the latter lowers the valve member on to the valve seat.

18. A livestock watering appliance constructed and arranged substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.