IL36565A - Moving irrigation system - Google Patents

Description

Sprinkler type irrigation has been recognized for years as superior in several ways to irrigation by When moveable sprinkler irrigation lines were first they were made of coupled lengths of pipe disposed in one position until desired wetting of the field had been then had to be uncoupled and set up in an advanced position and so until the entire field was reduce the high cost of manpower required in such procedure where the areas to be irrigated very the line was mounted on wheels and periodically advanced by a power unit generally employing a gasoline Since many lines are a quarter of a mile in length and the power unit was in the center while the water supply to be disconnected and reconnected was at one each move required a great deal of walking and Many efforts have been made to provide a sprinkler system that moves slowly but continuously without any tion until an entire area of many acres has been suitably This gave rise to the problem of supplying water under pressure to a moving One solution was to employ a central water source with a radially extending line rotating about the of irrigated a circular plot and did not cover the corners of a rectangular It also had other objectionable features as do other which were Some systems were developed to move a line laterally across the field and with the advent of new extremely durable water was fed to one end of the line as supply hose was dragged on the Here difficulties were encountered in trying to keep the line straight and at a right angle to the direction of Even driving all Wheels at the exact same speed is not effective because the terrain varies and the wheel on flat ground moves ahead faster than that on undulating The present invention overcomes all of the several difficulties recited above and provides a dependable irrigation system capable theoretically of moving forwardly on a straight course without attention for an endless eriod of time and The invention will be more fully understood by reading the following speci wherein it is described in detail by reference to accompanying In the 1 is a perspective view of one end of an irrigation line embodying the present invention showing the power means for driving the line and illustrating the general construction of one of the towers which the driven wheeled supports for the 2 is a view looking down on a part of the line and one side of one of the towers which includes the control means for a water motor on the towerj 3 a view in end looking from the left end of 2 of a part of the control means for the water 4 is a view like 2 but show3 the control means on the very end tower which differs from the several towers which support the and is a fragmentary detail of a part of the mechanism shown in As shown in a sprinkler a part of which is shown at 10 is supported by a plurality of spaced towers having driving wheels on one tower being generally indicated at Water to the line 10 is supplied through a riser 14 which is in turn supplied by a length of flexible a part of which is shown at With such a connected to a stand pipe or other source of water under pressure midway of the area over which the system is to the line can travel approximately twice the length of the available for purpose and shown generally at 18 This machine is powered with a gasoline engine which drives a winch or reel at a greatly reduced to in a cable shown at the other end of which is anchored at the opposite end of the area to be The Water in a tractor which carries one end of the main line The riser 14 is secured to the back of the Water Winch and connected as by a swivel Joint 22 with the horizontal line Generally the operation of the system is as The forwardly at a governed rate of speed until bending of the pipe takes place between the swivel 22 and the firet tower This bending of the pipe imparts opening through mechanism to be to a valve which supplies water from the pipe to a rotary water motor 24 carried by the This motor Imparts driving power to the wheels shown at 26 as described in the application referred to Thus the first 12 starts to forwardly and imparts a bend in the pipe 10 between the first and second towers and this continues on from tower to tower until the forward movement of the supply end of the pipe 10 has reached a point where it transmits a signal to the very last tower at the opposite end of the This signal opens the valve on the last tower for driving its water motor imparting motion to the tower at a which is greater than and preferably twice that of the tractor As the last tower it tends to etraighten the curved pipe bringing the motors on the several towers to rest successively in progression from the last or control slightly lagging throughout its to an advanced position which is slightly ahead of normal where it is approximately to its direction of travel and causes closing of the valve and stopping of the motor on the last or control The tractor which meanwhile has been moving forwardly at half the speed of the control tower end of the again tends to impart a slight bend or curve to the line through progressively energizing the water motors on the The mechanism for starting the motors on the individual towers is best shown in 2 and In a hose 28 connects an outlet 30 a pipe 10 J with a valve 3 hich controls flow of water under pressure to the motor The pipe 10 is suspended from a on the tower and the valve 32 is also carried by this Extending between the pipe 10 opposite sides of the tower are a pair of rods 3 and the outer ends of which are secured through saddles and 40 respectively 2 and to a bar This bar is disposed transversely of the beam and is guided for sliding movement to and away from the pipe 10 by a guide roller 44 operating between the tracks Because of this bending of the pipe causes a bar 42 to move toward and away from the pipe depending upon the direction in which it is For when the pipe bends forwardly as upon forward movement of the tractor the bar 42 will be moved and away from the pipe and through a link 48 will move a lever 50 about its pivot 52 and it and the next tower and progressively moving the pipe until it attains a position where the very last or control tower is When the line is operating in the opposite that is with the tractor 18 connected to the other the valves 32 are opened upon bending of the pipe in the opposite and this is accomplished by substituting a link 48a for the link 48 which is connectable to the opposite side of the lever The reason for providing two links instead of moving one from side to side is that the links are to provide the precise degree of opening of the valve which they with each link properly no further adjustment is necessary upon changing the links for drive i opposite it is often necessary to reverse of operation because of the shape of the area to be irrigated and the locations of the outlets from which water under pressure is The mechanism for energizing the water motor of the end or master tower is illustrated in 4 and In 1 and bracket is shown as having a vertical member 60 which is rigidly secured to the back of the tractor 18 and carries a fixed angular bracket 62 to the outer end of which is affixed a valve all of which constitute a reference Water under pressure is supplied to this valve through a line 66 which taps the riser 14 and the valve controls flow of pressure through a line 68 to a cylinder 70 disposed on the bracket The cylinder has a piston within it and a rod 72 projecting its end upon retraction of the a cable 74 suitably connected to the end of the rod is of is shown in In it is seen that the end of line 74 connects with lever 50 so that retraction of line caused by the and cylinder 70 swings the lever 50 as viewed in opens the valve This valve is adjusted to supply sufficient water to the water motor on the last tower for driving the tower at twice the speed of the tractor 18 as previously The control tower is shown as having the same rods 35 and 42 as the other towers and this is to enable it to be converted to an intermediate tower when it is desired to increase the length of the and all towers are readily convertible from one type to the Referring back to 1 and valve 64 is shown adapted to be opened by depression of a plunger 78 which is engageable with an actuator plate 80 fixed as by welding to the side of pipe e valve is normally closed and as the pipe angles forwardly about the swivel 22 when the tractor 18 progresses on a straight the valve will move toward the pipe until engagement with the plate 80 opens This directs fluid under pressure through lines 66 and 68 to the rod end of the cylinder 70 retraction of the rod which exerts the retracting force on cable 74 and opens the valve to the motor of the last After the line advances in response to operation of the control the line is again straightened and the valve 64 permitted to Being a this opens the passage within the valve between lines 68 and atmosphere to drain water from the 70 as the piston 72 is again extended to its outermost This extension can be accomplished by any suitable spring means for a spring contained within the cylinder 70 behind the Through the means the main distribution line 10 maintained substantially straight and at an angle of substantially ninety degrees to the direction of its travel as it moves across an The system i3 illustrated with the water motors on the towers acting as sprinklers since they cast water outwardly to cover a large Other types of sprinklers may be employed particularly if some driving other than water motors is In the entire length of the pipe may be perforated if desired to drip water on the ground at a rate to cause the proper degree of irrigation to be The system has been described as having a tractor and a line extending from the tractor in one direction with drive means and controls for the end tower as well as for intermediate There will be cases where the ation of the area to be irrigated will make it preferable to have a line extending in opposite directions from the tractor with controls similar to the first This can readily be accomplished with the control mechanisms herein insufficientOCRQuality

Claims (9)

1. 36565/2 - 9 - CLAIMS ^ 1.

2. An Irrigation system comprising a long water line, a tractor supporting and adapted to move the line at one position along said line, mobile towers supporting the line at spaced intervals throughout its length, drive aeans at each tower and operated by pressure of water from within the line, a valve at each tower controlling said water and means responsive to bending of the line adjacent each tower for opening said valve, a tower drive means near an end of said line remote from said tractor, the valve on the tower at the remote end of the line being opened in response to a water pressure actuated device adjacent the tractor responding to a predetermined forward movement of the tractor, said drive means moving its tower at least as fast as the tractor to cause intermittent movement of the line toward alignment in a position normal to its direction of movement, 2· The system of Claim 1 in which the device is a hydraulic cylinder with a retractable piston, a valve to admit water to the cylinder to retract the piston, and a flexible member connecting the piston with the valve for the motor at the opposite end of the line.

3. The system of Claim 1 in which said valve to admit water to the cylinder ie actuated upon forward movement of the line caused by movement of the tractor.

4. An irrigation system comprising a long water line having a first end and a remote second end thereof, water dispersing members affixed to and spaced along said line, a water source supplying water to the line, tractor means at one position therealong and adapted to move the line in a predetermined direction, mobile tower means supporting the 36565/2 - 10 - tower adapted to move the tower and supported line in a predetermined direction, alignment means at each tower for starting and stopping said drive means, at least one master mobile tower means adjacent the line ends remote from said tractor means and adapted to move the line in a predetermined direction, means connecting the tractor to Idle water line, control means connected to said tractor and adapted to detect misalignment of said line away from a position normal to the tractor's direction of travel, and signal means responsive to said control means causing said master tower to stop and start in movement to align said water line to a position normal to the tractor*s direction of movement.

5. The system of Claim 4, in which the tractor has a power driven winch to reel in a cable anchored ahead of the tractor in the direction that the system is to he moed.

6. The system of Claim 5 in which the tractor pulls a flexible hose which directs water under pressure to said line,

7. The system of Claim 4 in which the means responsive to bending of the line comprises a rigid rod on each side of each tower, said rods converging to a member on the tower to move the member to and away from the line as it bends, and linkage between said member and the valve which controls the drive means.

8. The irrigation system of Claim t wherein said tractor mesne moves at a preselected speed in the predetermined direction said master tower, when moving* proceeds at a speed at least faster than the speed of said tractor means.

9. The irrigation system of Claim 4 in which the drive means are operated by water pressure from within the line. 36565/2 - 11 - 10» The irrigation system of Claim 4 wherein the control means includes a reference device af ixed to said tractor, and an actuator for the reference device af ixed to said water line at a position to contact the reference device when said line is misaligned away from a position normal to the tractor*s direction of travel* 11· The control means of Claim 10 wherei the reference device comprises a valve positioned with respect to said tractor and the actuator is a valve contacting means affixed to said pipe» 12· The irrigation system of Claim 4 wherein the means connecting said tractor to said line includes a swivel joint in the water line. For the Applicants DR D PARTBERS IK :CB