GB588592A - Improvements in or relating to spraying machines - Google Patents

Abstract

588,592. Powder distributers. RIPPER, W. E. March 1, 1945, No. 5149. [Class 6 (i)] [Also in Group XXIX] For spraying orchards or crops with liquid or with powder wetted by liquid carried to the trees by a high speed blast of air which provides turbulence and also disturbs the foliage, a machine on wheels comprises a liquid tank 2 (provided with an agitator) from which a pump delivers the liquid to the nozzles 7 of manifolds 6, 6, while a fan 16 blows a large volume of air at high speed through ducts having deflectors or baffles 37 oscillated continuously about their pivots 37a. The amplitude of oscillation of each baffle or group of baffles may be varied by adjusting the length of the link 25 of the lever and link system 24 to 27 driven by an eccentric pin 23 rotated by belt from the fan shaft. Other fixed or adjustable baffles may be added outside the oscillating baffles to direct the air stream to any desired angle. The nozzles direct the liquid into the air stream. Low pressure nozzles which give a wider cone of liquid are placed at right angles to the air stream, while high pressure nozzles with a narrow cone will move over the spray in the same direction as the air stream. The machine may be modified to spray powder with or without the addition of a liquid wetter or sticker. Such a machine, shown in Fig. 4 where a powder hopper 49 with agitator 50 delivers powder down a chute 58 into the airstream of a fan 60 while liquid supplied by a pump 38 is delivered to manifolds with nozzles 42. The powder hopper may have a slide 59 set to regulate the rate of flow. In another form, Fig. 5, a powder fan 73 delivers powder from a hopper through multiple pipes 74 with exits near the liquid delivery nozzles 65 in manifolds 64 supplied with liquid from a pump 61. The main fan 77 delivers the main volume of air as before. A screw conveyer may carry the powder from the regulator to the fan suction. One or more fans may supply the main air blast. The powder may be supplied direct to the suction of a main fan. The liquid supply to some or all of the nozzles may be stopped. The machine may be pulled by tractor or mounted on a lorry or may be self propelled, and may have deflectors to hold branches away from the air nozzle and moving parts liable to damage by the branches. The sprayed mixture may issue from the ducts outwards and upwards or outwards and downwards. The powder or the liquid may be introduced either between the fan and the baffles or outside the baffles. The Provisional Specification states that the nozzles may be mounted on spray guns to move as described in Specification 567,218, [Group XXIX]. Specifications 561,059 and 562,773, [Group XXIX], are referred to.