US2619378A - Spray nozzle - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 25, 1 52 s. S. WATKINS ET AL 2.619.378

SPRAY NOZZLE Filed Sept. 4. 1947 3 Sheets-Sheet l f; I; I

ATTORNEY 1952 s. s. WATKINS ETAL SPRAY NOZZLE Filed Sept. 4, 1947 I I I 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 war/5W INVENTORJ Maw ATTORNEY Nov. 25, 1952 S. S. WATKINS ET AL SPRAY NOZZLE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Sept. 4. 194'? m ya (/Uw'w W RS Patented Nov. 25,1952

SPRAY NOZZLE Samuel Scott Watkins and James Watson, Miami, Fla.

Application September 4, 1947, Serial No. 772,052

The present invention relates to spray or sprinkler nozzles, particularly such as are used as the outlets of subsurface piping for watering lawns and analogous areas.

In these installations a system of underground piping is tapped by riser pipes at convenient intervals, and each riser pipe is provided at or very slightly below the surface of the surrounding ground with a nozzle or head which is adapted, when a main control valve is opened, to throw out a spray to approximately the limit attained by the sprays from adjacent nozzles, so that the combined effect of the whole system of nozzles is to water substantially uniformly the entire area covered by the installation.

Most such nozzles are constructed to throw a completely circular spray, but in many installations it is necessary or desirable to limit the spray pattern of one or more of the nozzles to some sector of a circle. This is required generally along the margins of a lawn or other area, to keep the spray from wettin the wall of an adjacent building, or a sidewalk or roadway.

The prior art has undertaken to solve the resulting problem of providing different kinds of spray patterns in two ways. One wav is to provide nozzles made in permanently different kinds of constructions which can be selectively applied to the different riser pipes so as to cause each to throw a spray of the desired pattern. The other way is to construct each nozzle with a set of removable and interchan eable fittings which can be applied or removed to alter the spray pattern.

Neither of these expedients is fully satisfactory or very economical because both of them involve the manufacture. stocking and purchase of a supply of different kinds of nozzles or different kinds of nozzle fittings.

A principal obiect of the present invention is to provide a noz le construction which can be manufactured, stocked and sold in a single form and which can be adjusted selectively and readily by the purchaser or the operator to throw any one of a variety of spray patterns, ranging from full circularity to a small sector of a circle.

A related object is to provide a construction in which the spray pattern regulating parts are made the same in each nozzle, and remain the same and are at no time from the nozzle but are adapted to be adjusted readily and instantane ously by any unskilled person, using only a simple tool, such as a screwdriver, to vary the spray 9 Claims. (01. 299-18) pattern at will through a wide range of angular values.

Another object is to provide such a construction in a Very simple, inexpensive and foolproof form which will be durable and efiiciently op erative through a long period of use.

A further object is to provide such a construction in a form which is adapted to be used equally well and interchangeably with elevated spray outlets, ground level or depressed outlets, and with the pop-up type of outlet, which is depressed slightly below the ground surface during nonuse and automatically rises in response to water pressure at the beginning of a period of use.

Another object is to provide a spray nozzle construction in which the fluid passage through which the water travels from the main to the discharge orifice or port is devoid of abrupt directional changes so that turbulence is reduced to a minimum. I

Another object is to make a spray nozzle which will be self-cleanin i. e., one which will automatically flush itself of grit and other foreign matter that would tend to clog the fluid passage: ways.

With the foregoing and other objects and advantages in view, all of which it is believed will be understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art from a consideration of the present disclosures, certain preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a spray nozzle constructed according to the principles of the invention embodied in a form adapted tape used in an above-surface installation; V

Fig. 2 is an axial sectional view of the strjlg ture shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective View of the spray head parts; I

Fig. 4 is an axial sectional view of a. ground level installation including the new nozzle;

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a side elevational view of -a pop-up type of nozzle embodying the principles of the present invention;

Fig. 7 is an axial sectional view of the device shown in Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 83 of Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is an isometric projection of a spider ele ment used in the device; 7

Fig. 10 is a side elevational view, partly in axial section, of another form of the invention, show 3 ing a modification of the preferred spray head structure of the previous figures;

Figur 11 is an axial sectional view of the spray head of Fig. 10, showing the method of spray pattern adjustment;

Fig. 12 is a side elevational view of the segment assembly of the modified spray head with one of its segments removed; and

Fig. 13 is a top plan view of the modified segment assembly showing all the segments in place.

Referring first to Fig. 4, a typical installation includes an underground water main I provided at more or less regular intervals with riser pipes 2, each of which extends vertically up and terminates above the level of the ground 3 or somewhat below that level. Each riser pipe has threaded or otherwise coupled to it in watertight relation one of the nozzle bodies of the invention.

This nozzle body may, as shown by the drawings, take any one of a number of specifically different forms, but all of them include a generally tubular structure having a more or less axial bore for conducting water from the pipe 2 to a spray-discharging orifice at the top of the body, and all of them include means for mounting a spray head which will be adjustable relatively to the body and will cooperate with the orifice of the vbody to define therewith a discharge port which is preferably made adjustable in width or thickness to regulate the character of the spray.

In Figs. 1-3 form of the invention the body is designated generally 4 and comprises a short section of pipe, conveniently provided with a hex or other portion of polygonal cross section for the application of a wrench in the operation of applying or removing.

The body 4 is bored and counterbored to provide a pair of axially spaced shoulders, designated 5 and 6 in Fig. 2. The lower shoulder 5 constitutes the upper terminu of a straight cylindrical passage which holds in tight frictional engagement a spider 1 which has a threaded central bore and a plurality of deep lengthwise grooves .8 spaced about its periphery. The central bore is for mounting the lower threaded end of aspray head stem 9, and the grooves 8 provide passageways for water from the main l to the orifice at the upper end of the body 4, which becomes .the spray discharging port of the completed structure, as will be explained. The shoulder 6, which like the shoulder is beveled or tapered so as to provide a conical surface, constricts the bore of the body in its upper zone, so as to reduce the diameter of the orifice to a desired, convenient. value from the larger diameter of the bore at. the region of the spider l, where the bore is made large to enablev it to pass water at an adequate rate of flow.

The shoulder 6 also performs the additional and desirable function of guiding the separate streams of water which, as will be seen hereinafter, pass up through the several grooves 3, and of causing these streams to merge with a minimum of turbulence into a single smooth stream of annular, or partially annular, shape.

At the upper end of the stem 9 a spray head, generally designated I0, is mounted in any convenient, more Or less permanent manner. It is this spray head which constitutes a principal feature of the invention, and it will now be described in detail.

An important part of the spray head is a cap I I which is secured to the top of the stem 9 or is made integral therewith. This cap is Preferably made circular in cross section .and has at its hottom a socket 12 which faces toward the orifice Illa of the body 4. Mounted in this socket are a plurality (four in th illustrated embodiments of the invention) of segmental elements l3, each of which has an upper portion having an outer surface which is convexly arcuate for snugly fitting the inner side wall of the Socket [2 and an inner surface which is concavely arcuate for snugly fitting the cylindrical surface of the stem 9, and each of which ha a lower portion, projecting downwardly from the socket, which is particonical. These segmented elements are mounted in the socket by means providing for their axial adjustment from a position seated against the base of the socket, as shown at the left hand side in .Fig. 2, to a position projected more or less downwardly from the socket, as shown at the right hand side in Fig. 2. This adjusting means is conveniently provided in the form of short machine screws l4, one for each element l3, each countersunk to or slightly below the upper surface of the cap I I.

It will be evident that rotation of the screws M will project or retract the individual elements [3 from or into the socket l2. It will also be evident that when all the elements [3 are retracted fully into the socket, or when all of them are equally projected therefrom, they combine to provide a surface extending from the socket which is regularly and completely conical (or frusto-conical, since the elements do not terminate in any apex because of the presence of the stem 9 in the axis about which the elements are clustered). It will also be evident that any one or more of the elements I3 may be projected while the remaining elements are left retracted.

When all the elements occupy the same axial position in the socket, they cooperate and combine to form a substantially conical plug or head which may by rotation of the stem 9 be adjustably spaced from the orifice [0a to define therewith a spray-issuing port for producing a fully circular spray.

If it be desired to reduce the spray pattern from full circularity to a sector comprising something less than full circularity, it is necessary simply to project one or more of the elements I3 down into the orifice until contact is made with the body 4 to close the corresponding arc of the port, as is shown at the right hand side of Fig. 2. It will be obvious that in the illustrated embodiments of the invention, where four segments l3 are used, it is possible to adjust the spray pattern to 360, 270, 180, or 0. Obviously. designing the head with a larger or smaller number of elements 13 will provide for an increased or reduced number of spray pattern adjustments.

In order to keep the screws 14 captive in the device, I provide a cover plate 15 for the cap II and. permanently secure this plate to the cap by some such means as a central screw I 6 set through the plate and through the cap and threaded into the stem 9 if, as is preferred, the cap II is not made integral with the stem. Openings H are formed through the plate I5, one over each of the screws l4, and these openings are of smaller diameter than the heads of the screws 24 so that the openings will admit the blade of a screw driver to the slots in the heads of the screws but will not pass the screw heads. Properly countersinking the heads of the screws 14 permits these screws to be turned readily despite the desirably tight fit of the plate l5 on the cap II.

The frictional fit of the threads of the stem 9 in those of. the spider l is made tight enough to prevent undesired rotation of the stem, so that the axial width of the port is kept constant when the port is fully open. This friction need not be very great because the spray issues equally all around the fully open port and there is no unbalanced tendency to rotate the stem or its head.

When one or more of the elements [3 is turned down into contact with the body 4, there is of course an unbalance of forces on the head, but any tendency of the head to rotate is very eifectively overcome by the tight fit of the projected element against the body 4. In this way rotation of the head is prevented and the sector-shaped spray is kept issuing always in the same direction from the nozzle.

In Fig. 4 the novel parts of the structure are the same as those which have been described in Figs. 1-3. The sole difierence between the structures is that in Fig. 4 the body I8 is designed for positioning flush with the ground surface or slightly below it. For this reason the top of the body I8 is widely flared to provide a sizable depression to protect the head from ingress of foreign matter, to permit the head to be adjusted up and down by rotation of the stem 9 in the spider I, and to provide an unobstructed path for issuance of the spray upwardly and outwardly from the port.

Figs. 6 and 7 show the invention embodied in a nozzle of the pop-up type. In this construction the parts shown in Fig. 3 are assembled with a spider 1, shown. in detail in Fig. 9, which is frictionally fitted into a supplemental body it in the form of a tube having substantially the internal configuration of the body 1. This tube 29 is made movable axially in an outer casing 28 which is embedded in the ground and connected to a riser 2.

The tube 19 has at its lower end an outwardly thickened portion, which makes a somewhat loose fit with the internal bore of the casing 29. With the body l9 retracted to its dotted line position in Fig. 7, as it is by gravity when water is not passing through it, the lower face of the body receives water pressure when the water is turned on and is elevated by this pressure to the limit established by contact of the shoulder 2| at the upper end of the thickened lower portion of the body with a corresponding downwardly facing shoulder 22 formed in the casing or in an insert 23 or integral reduced portion set in the upper part of the casing. The loose fit of the body i 9 in the casing 22 permits water to pass between the body and the casing during the rise of the body, and this water effectively flushes out any grit or other foreign matter that may be present. With the body in its uppermost position, as shown in full lines in Fig. 7, the passage between the body and the casing 253 is closed by contact of the shoulders 2|, 22, and all the water that comes from the riser 2 passes up through the bore of the body it and through the discharge port at the upper end thereof. The body is maintained in elevated position by the water pressure, as is common in this type of device.

In order to keep the body It from rotating, which would be unobiectionable when the head is arranged for a fully circular spray pattern, but which would be objectionable when the head is set for a spray pattern of less than full circularity, as is shown by the depressed segment in Fig. 6 and the two depressed segments in Fig. 7, the outer surface of the body [9 is provided with a single lengthwise slot or groove 24 into which projects a pin 25 formed on the inner end of a stud 26. This splining arrangement prevents rotation of the body and of the spray, without interfering with the vertical up and down movement of the body. If a sleeve 23 be used, instead of makin the sleeve shape integral with the casing 20, the stud functions also to mount the sleeve in the casing. Whether separate or integral, the sleeve or its equivalent is best made with a small number of lengthwise ribs to guide the body [9 with a minimum of friction in its up and down movements and with intervening grooves to pass the water as the body rises.

t will be noted that the body I9 is provided with the same kind of spider and spray head parts that are used in the Figs. 1-3 and Fig. 4 devices, so that no further description of these parts is necessary.

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 10-13 a modified spray head, generally designated 21, is used with a body of any of the forms shown in the other figures. This modified spray head structure is mounted on a stem 28 which, like the stem 9, is screw threaded into a spider 1 fixed in the body. However, the'stem 28 difiers from the stem 9 by being threaded upwardly throughout its entire length.

A cap 29 of circular shape, having a, peripheral down turned fiange or skirt portion 3t, is made integral with the top end of the stem or is permanently secured thereto by riveting a reduced terminal portion of the stem through a hole in the center of the top of the cap, in the manner shown in Figs. 10 and 11. The cap thus provides a rather sizable socket which faces the orifice lila of the body of the nozzle.

A spray head segment assembly, generally designated 3!, is mounted in this socket and comprises a plurality, amounting to four in the illustrated embodiment of the invention, of individual segments 32. Each of these segments is generally similar in shape to each of the segments l3 but differs therefrom by having outer peripheral groove 33 and an inner thread 35 which conforms to and meshes with the thread of the stem 28. The threads 34 of the segments 32 are complemental and continuous so that when the segments are assembled in a cluster about the stem the entire assembly can be rotated to lead it up or down the stem, into or out of the socket in the cap 29 and toward or away from the orifice Illa in the body 4.

A resilient annulus 35 is mounted in the groove 33 to hold the segments of the assembly together. This annulus may be made of metal, in the form of a flat band, or we may use an endless wire coil of the type frequently used as transmission belts for the pulleys of small mechanisms, but we prefer to employ a band of rubber or equivalent resilient, elastic material. Such a band efficiently performs the function of holding the segments together, and in addition it servesas a gasket to prevent entrance of water into the cap socket.

With the entire cluster of segments 32 assembled about the stem 28, in threaded engagement therewith, all of them can be rotated together to regulate the volume of the spray. The spray pattern can be adjusted, between full circularity and some sector of less than full circularity, by moving one or more of the segments down into contact with the body 4 to close a corresponding part of the orifice Ilia. Such positioning of one of the segments is shown in each of Figs. 10, 11 and 12. The adjustment is easily made by turning the whole cluster sufliciently to expose the groove 33 or the top face of the segments and then inserting any such common tool as the blade of a screw driver 36, in the manner indicated in Fig. 11, to pry a selected segment or segments down along the threaded stem. In such prying movement the threads of the segment which is being displaced snap over the threads of the stem and seat in their new position, being held in-such position by the resilience of the annulus 35.

Thus-adjusted, the segment assembly is screwed back into the socket of the cap 29 and the entire spray head is then turned down to seat the projected segment or segments against the body 4, thus closing acorresponding portion of the orifice-lOa.

It will'be appreciated that in this form of the invention, as in the others, the spray patternforming parts are uniform in all constructions, regardless of the type of body which may be used and regardless of the particular spray pattern which may be desired from any nozzle. This uniformity constitutes a principal advantage of the invention because, as has been suggested hereinabove, it requires only one type of spray head to be manufactured, stocked, sold and applied to each and every one of the riser pipes of any installation. Adjustments are made on the site to the spray pattern which is required by the particular areas that are to be watered and protected from water. and quickly made whenever conditions change so as to make a different spray pattern desirable. Interchange of spray heads from one body to another, or from connection with one riser pipe to another, offers no difiiculty even though the new location may require a different spray pattern, because the new spray pattern involves only an adjustment of the segmental elements l3 or 32.

It is believed that the principal objects and advantages of the invention will be evident from the foregoing description of the few embodiments that have been selected to illustrate the preferred structural forms of the-device. The broad principles of the invention are defined by the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A spray nozzle comprising a tubular body having an orifice at one end, a spreader head positioned exteriorly of the body and adjacent to the orifice for defining therewith a port for discharge of fluid, said head including a plurality of separate elements disposed in generally circular assembly at least one of which elements is adjustable relativelyto another and relatively to the body axially toward and away from the orifice thereof to determine the number of de grees of are through which fluid may be discharged.

:2. A spray nozzle comprising a tubular body having an orifice at one end, a spreader head positioned exteriorly of the body including a cap having a socket facing the orifice including also a plurality of separate elements mounted in the socket comprising normally a single circular assembly the lowersurface of which is posed adjacent to the orifice for defining therewith a port for discharge of fluid, at least one of said elements being adjustable relatively to the cap and axially toward and away from the orifice to determine the number of degrees of are through which fluid may be discharged.

3. A spray nozzle comprising, a tubular body having an orifice at one end, a spreader head positioned exteriorly of the body including a cap having a socket facing the orifice and in- Adjustments are readily eluding also a plurality of separate elements contained within the socket and projecting downwardly therefrom comprising normally a single circulator assembly the lower surface of which is disposed adjacent to the orifice for defining therewith a port for discharge of fluid, a screw penetrating the top of the cap and threaded into at least one of said elements for rotation relatively to said element and to said cap to adjust said element toward and away from the body to open or close corresponding portions of the port and thereby determine the number of degrees of are through which fluid may be discharged.

4. A spray nozzle comprising a tubular body having an orifice at one end, a spreader head positioned exteriorly of the body including a cap having a socket facing the orifice and including also a plurality of separate elements contained within the socket and projecting downwardly therefrom comprising normally a single circular assembly the lower surface of which is disposed adjacent to the orifice for defining therewith a port for discharge of fluid, said cap being provided with a hole over each element, a screw secured in each hole against aslal movement and threaded into the adjacent element for rotation relatively to said element and to said cap to adjust said element toward and away from the body to open or close corresponding portions of the port and thereby determine the number of degrees of are through which fluid may be discharged.

5. In a spray nozzle for normally discharging a fluid spray of full circular pattern, means for selectively varying the angular size of the spray pattern comprising a tubular body having a surface surrounding an orifice and forming one portion of a discharge port of normally annular shape, and a spreader head mounted on the body comprisin an assembly of separate elements cooperating to provide a conical lower surface forming the other portion of said discharge port, said head including also means for adjusting at least one of said elements into contact with the surface of the body surrounding the orifice to close a corresponding portion of said discharge port.

6. In a spray nozzle for normally discharging a fluid spray of full circular pattern, means for selectively varying the angular size of the spray pattern comprising a tubular body having a surface surrounding an orifice and forming one portion of a discharge port of normally annular shape, and a spreader head mounted on the body comprising an assembly of separate elements cooperating to provide a conical lower surface forming the other portion of said discharge port, said head including also a hollow cap having a downwardly facing socket holding said elements assembled and preventing relative lateral movement thereof and including also a screw penetrating an opening in the cap and threaded into each element for rotation relatively to the cap and element to adjust said element toward and away from the body to open or close corresponding portions of the port and thereby determine the number of degrees of arc through which fluid may be discharged.

7. In a spray nozzle for normally discharging a fiuid spray of full circular pattern, means for selectively varying the angular size of the spray pattern comprising a body having a discharge orifice of circular shape, a screw threaded stem pro jecting from the body through the orifice, a spreader head comprising a cap secured to the stem and having a bottom socket facing the orifice, a plurality of separate segmental elements filling the socket, threaded onto the stem and having lower surfaces juxtaposed to the orifice to define therewith a discharge port of annular shape, and means yieldably holding the segmental elements together and to the stem whereby the elements may be unscrewed together from the socket and any of the elements may be independently adjusted non-rotatably along the stem to open or close corresponding portions of the port.

8. A spray nozzle comprising a tubular body having an orifice at one end, and a spreader head positioned exteriorly of the body and adjacent to the orifice for defining therewith a port for discharge of fluid, said head comprising a cap having a bottom socket facing the orifice and a plurality of segments mounted in the socket, a screw threaded stern extending from the cap through the orifice and axially into the body, and each of said segments having a threaded interior surface meshing with the stem and independently adjustable non-rotatably lengthwise of the stem into and out of engagement with the body to open or close a corresponding portion of the port, and elastic means surrounding the segments and yieldably holding them together and to the stem.

9. In a spray nozzle comprising a body having a fluid-conducting base providing an orifice.

means for regulating the angular size of the spray discharged from said orifice, said means comprising a spreader head including a cap, a plurality of separate segmental elements screwthreadedly attached thereto and providing a normally substantially conical surface, and means juxtaposing said elements to the orifice to define therewith a normally annular discharge port portions oi. which may be opened or closed by threading corresponding segments toward or from the body.

SAMUEL SCO'I'I WATKINS. JAMES WATSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

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