US3406907A

US3406907A - Irrigating device

Info

Publication number: US3406907A
Application number: US580433A
Authority: US
Inventors: David A Wallace
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1966-09-19
Filing date: 1966-09-19
Publication date: 1968-10-22
Anticipated expiration: 1985-10-22

Description

. Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 19, 1966 732%. i ar/vzKsf Oct. 22,1968 0. A. WALLACE 3,406,907

IRRIGATING DEVICE Filed Sept. 19, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOIEK.

raw/4117K! Oct. 22, 1968 D. A. WALLACE 3,406,907

IRRIGATING DEVICE Filed Sept. 19, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR.

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United States Patent 3,406,907 IRRIGATING DEVICE David A. Wallace, 100 Lewiston, Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich. 48236 Filed Sept. 19, 1966, Ser. No. 580,433 7 Claims. (Cl. 239-177) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An ambulant irrigating device in which a long horizontal pipe is rotated about a vertical water supply pipe. The weight of the horizontal pipe is supported at least in part by a long vertical plate disposed in vertical alignment with the horizontal pipe. Tension cables are positioned on opposite sides of the pipe and the cables, pipe and plate are interconnected by brackets to form a relatively rigid rotary framework. In order to irrigate a full rectangular area the pipe is adapted to be fitted at its outer end to stationary water distributing pipes positioned at the four corners of the rectangle.

This invention relates to irrigating devices and particularly to a mobile irrigating device having a generally horizontal water distributing pipe adapted to be moved over crops or land to be irrigated.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a mobile irrigating device which is capable of spanning extreme lengths or distances for the purpose of irrigating relatively large areas yet which is of relatively light weight.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a mobile irrigating device which is inexpensive to manufacture, which is relatively rigid for its length and weight, which is durable in construction, which is capable of accommodating itself to irregularities in the land over which it is moved, which is durable in nature, which incorporates automatically retractable ground engaging supports, and in which the load is fairly uniformly distributed over the various structural components of the device.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide an irrigating device of the above character which may be utilized to irrigate all portions of a substantially rectangular or square area with minimal modifications.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a mobile irrigating system capable of distributing a large volume of water in a relatively uniform manner over a substantial land area.

These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of an irrigating device embodying the principles of the present invention, the device being longitudinally shortened for convenience of illustration;

FIG. 2' is a plan view of the structure illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 are enlarged sectional views of the structure illustrated in FIG. 1 taken along the lines 33, 4-4, 5-5, 66, and 7-7 thereof, respectively;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged view, partially in section, of a portion of the structure illustrated in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 9 is a diagrammatic plan view of a land area to be irrigated showing the position of the various water distributing pipes of the device illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 8.

The device of the present invention is particularly useful in relatively arid regions which have a marginal or 3,496,997 Patented Oct. 22, 1968 submarginal volume of rainfall but where an adequate supply of water is, nevertheless, available. By the use of the device of the present invention, land in such regions may be rendered suitable for the propagation of a wide range of crops which could not otherwise be grown.

The device of the present invention is contemplated for use in irrigating relatively substantial areas of land. For example, the device illustrated herein is shown as having a substantially horizontal water distributing pipe 10 which may, for example, be 900 feet or more in length. The water distributing pipe 10 receives water through a vertical standpipe 12 to which water is delivered by an engine driven pump 14. The water may be pumped from a well, irrigation ditch, or any other suitable source. The horizontal water distributing pipe 10 is fitted with a plurality of sprinkler heads 16 which are adapted to spray water for a substantial distance on either side of the pipe 10. The pipe 10 is supported at its end remote from the vertical standpipe 12 by a drive wheel 18 which is driven by a water pressure operated motor 20. The motor 20, which is illustrated in greater detail in FIG. 6, may be of any suitable type as, for example, the type shown in my copending application Ser. No. 494,828, filed Oct. 11, 1965. As illustrated herein, the motor 20 receives water under pressure from the pipe 10 in order to produce reciprocation of a piston 22 thereof. The reciprocation of the piston 22 oscillates a pawl 24 which produces intermittent angular movement of a ratchet 26 fixed to the wheel 18. As shown in FIG. 6, the wheel 18 is journaled on an axle 28 supported at the lower end of a hollow vertical pipe 30. The pipe 30 receives water from the terminus of the horizontal pipe 10 and delivers water therethrough to a sprinkler 32 supported at the upper end of the pipe 30 and to a conduit 33 leading to the motor 20. The vertical pipe 30 is a structural member of substantial strength and is provided with a bracket 34 adjacent its upper end which serves a purpose which will be hereinafter described.

The arrangement by which the vertical standpipe 12 is supported is best shown in FIG. '8 from which it will be seen that the pipe 12 depends into a vertical casing 36 of greater diameter than the outer diameter of the standpipe 12. A plurality of resilient seals 38 are disposed between the casing 36 and the pipe 12 to cushion the pipe 12 against deflection and to prevent the leakage of water between the pipe 12 and the casing 36. The casing 36 has a plate 40 welded therein adjacent its lower end which abuts a washer 42 carried by a, vertical rod 44 extending upwardly through the standpipe 12. The rod 44 has a nut 46 at its upper end which abuts the upper surface of a plate 48 welded into the vertical standpipe 12. By this means the rod 44 holds the standpipe downwardly against water pressure acting against the plate 48 and the upper end of the pipe 12 (not shown). A substantial portion of 'the'weight of the standpipe 12 and the weight of the horizontal pipe 10 supported by the standpipe 12 is thereby supported :on a column of water under pressure received from the pump 14. It will be noted that the casing 36 is held rigidly in place by adjustable cables 50. It will also be seen that a bracket 52 is welded to the outer periphery of the standpipe 12 immediately above the casing 36 and that this bracket serves to anchor the lower ends of cables 54 which extend upwardly along the standpipe 12 and help prevent bending of the pipe 12 under the load of the horizontal pipe 10 which is carried by the pipe 12. The upper ends of the cables 54 are connected to "a bracket 56 secured to the upper end of the standpipe 12.

The invention disclosed herein relates principally to that portion of the device which is located between the standpipe 12 and the driving wheel 18 and concerns itself with the means by which the horizontal water distributing pipe and the weight of the water carried thereby is supported to prevent excessive sagging of the pipe 10 or deflection of the pipe 10 in a horizontal plane as the wheel 18 is driven and moves the pipe 10 in rotation about the vertical axis of the standpipe 12. The horizontal distributing pipe 10 is comprised of a plurality of sections having their adjacent ends disposed in interfitting relationship and one end of the pipe 10 will be seen to be bolted to a fitting 58 provided on the vertical standpipe 12. The opposite end of the pipe 10 is secured to a fitting 60 welded to the vertical pipe 30. The sections of the horizontal pipe 10 are held together under a compressive load by means of a pair of tension cables 62 which are fastened at one end to a bracket 64 mounted on the vertical standpipe 12 and at their other end to a bracket 66 mounted on the vertical pipe 30. The cables 62 are disposed on opposite sides of the horizontal pipe 10 and extend angularly downwardly from the opposite ends thereof toward the center of the pipe 10. The compressive load applied to the sections of the pipe 10 by the cable 62 is sufficient to cause the horizontal pipe 10 to bow upwardly over its entire length between its opposite ends. The cable 62 serves the additional function of resisting any tendency of the pipe 10 to bend or deflect within a horizontal plane as the pipe 10 is driven by rotation about the vertical axis of the standpipe 12 by the driving wheel 18.

At spaced points along its length, the pipe 10 is provided with brackets 68 of varying shape. Each bracket 68 is clamped around the pipe 10 and has a pair of parallel spaced-apart depending fiat wall portions 70. Secured between such wall portions 70 are a series of overlapping vertically disposed supporting plates 72. The supporting plates 72 are of minimal thickness in a horizontal direction transversely of the pipe but have substantial vertical height to resist sagging or downward bending of the pipe 10. The plates 72 thus serve to reinforce the pipe 10 and support it against vertical deflection. The plates 72 are arranged successively to form what may be regarded as one continuous plate. In this connection, it will be noted that fasteners 74 passing through the wall sections 70 serve to connect the overlapped plates 72 and hold them rigidly together. Accordingly, when the pipe 10 is filled with water, the weight of such water will apply a tensile loading on the plates 72.

Each bracket 68 will also be seen to include a pair of laterally oppositely projecting bosses 76 around which a pair of suspension cables 78 are strung. The cables 78 are hung from a transverse bracket 80 which is supported at its opposite ends by a pair of parallel angularly extending support cables 82. The support cables 82 will be seen to extend angularly above the horizontal water distributing pipe 10.

Turning now to FIGS. 1 and 2, the general arrangement of the support cables 82 and the provision of intermediate ground engaging supports for the horizontal water distributing pipe 10 will be seen. It will be noted that vertical pairs of supporting members 84 and 86 are disposed at equally spaced locations along the pipe 10 between the vertical standpipe 12 and the vertical pipe 30. The cables 82 are hung from the upper ends of the intermediate vertical supporting members 84 and 86 as well as from the brackets 56 and 34. The cables 82 extend angularly and downwardly from the bracket 56 toward the center of that portion of the pipe 10 between the vertical standpipe 12 and the vertical supporting members 84 beneath the bosses 76 of an adjacent pair of brackets 68, and thence upwardly and angularly to the upper ends of the vertical supporting members 84. The arrangement of the cables 82 between the two pairs of vertical supporting members 84 and 86 is the same as the arrangement of the supporting cables 82 between the vertical supporting members 86 and the pipe 30, and also is the same as the arrangement of the cables 82 between the vertical supporting members 84 and the vertical standpipe 12. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the support cables 82 pass directly beneath the bosses 76 of the two brackets 68 located at the center of the portion of the pipe 10 between the several supports from which the cables 82 are hung. The vertical suspension cables 78 are hung from cables 82 at locations intermediate to their upper and lower extremities. It will be apparent that it is possible to hang any number of vertical suspension cables 78 from the support cables 82, rather than just the illustrated single pair of cables 78 for each slope of the cables 82.

As will be noted by a comparison of FIGS. 3 and 4, the length of the depending wall portions 70 of the brackets 68 difiFer from one another. The wall portions 70 become progressively longer the closer the brackets 68 are to the center of the horizontal pipe 10, with the longest (in a vertical direction) portions 70 being located at the mid length of the pipe 10. It will be also noted from FIG. 4 that a cross member 88 is provided at certain of the brackets 68 located generally at the mid length of the pipe 10. The cross members 88 extend transversely with respect to the plates 72 and are provided with openings through which the tension cables 62 pass to hold the tension cables 62 spaced apart at such locations a distance greater than their spacing at either the vertical standpipe 12 or the vertical pipe 30. The cross members 88 also assure a greater vertical distance between the pipe 10 and the cables 62 at the mid length of the pipe 10 than at the opposite ends thereof.

The design of the intermediate ground-engaging supporting structure associated with the members 84 and 86 is best illustrated in FIG. 7. The structure associated with the members 84 is the same as the structure associated with the members 86 and, accordingly, the illustration of the structure associated with the member 86 in FIG. 7 will suffice to describe the structures associated with the supporting members 84. It will be seen that the vertical supporting members 86 have the form of tubes and are interconnected at their upper ends by a cross member 88. The supporting members 86 extend downwardly over lower tube members 90 which are supported on a platform 92 that is connected at 94 to a spring assembly 96. The spring assembly 96 supports a pair of groundengaging wheels 98 for rotation about axes parallel to the pipe 10, The wheels 98 lie on the opposite sides of a vertical plane passing through the pipe 10. It will be seen that the tube members 90 are interconnected by a bracket assembly 100 adjacent their lower ends so that the two tube members 90 are held in perfectly parallel spaced relationship. A long coil spring 102 is supported within each of the tube members 90 and extends upwardly into the adjacent member 86. Each coil spring 102 is seated at its lower end against an abutment member 104 resting on the platform 92 and bears at its upper end against a spacer block 106 which is positioned at the upper end of the vertical member 86.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the wheels 98 are arranged to support a portion of the weight of the pipe 10, the longitudinally extending structure associated with the pipe 10 and the water carried by the pipe 10. This is all accomplished through the springs 102. As the wheels 98 pass over a rise in the ground, the springs 102 will compress so that an unduly high load will not be transferred to such wheels. To this end the springs 102 desirably have a relatively low rate.

As may be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, an outlet pipe 108 is connected to the vertical pipe 30 and has a valve 110 incorporated therein. The outlet pipe 108 is adapted to be connected to any one of four different stationary vertical pipes 112, each having a fitting 114. As the horizontal water distributing pipe 10 rotates about the vertical axis of the standpipe 12, it will move into alignment with the upper end of each stationary pipe 112. Four stationary pipes 112 are desirably provided, one being located at each corner of the rectangular area to be serviced by the irrigating device. (See FIG. 9.) Each vertical pipe 112 is connected to an arcuate horizontal stationary pipe 113 which nuns generally along the hypotenuse of each triangular area at the corners of a square plot of land to be irrigated. Such a rectangular area is generally indicated at 116 in FIG. 9. The vertical standpipe 12 Will be seen to be located in the center of the area 116 and the circle described by the wheel 18 will be seen to be tangent to the sides of the area 116. The stationary horizontal pipes 113 are disposed at each of the corners of the area 116 and they have a plurality of outlets 118 adapted to merely distribute water onto the ground within corner areas 120. As indicated at 122 in FIG. 1, the ground around each triangular corner area 120 may be mounded up to contain the water delivered thereto through the outlet pipes 118. During the time that the outlet pipe 108 is connected to a given vertical stationary pipe 112, the motor 20 is disengaged and the sprinkler heads 16 are closed. This is accomplished by virtue of the fact that the sprinkler heads 16 are solenoid valve controlled, as is indicated by the construction illustrated in FIG. 5. Accordingly, each of the sprinkler heads 16 may be turned off by the simple operation of an electrical switch. The horizontal pipe is left in a stationary position during the time that a given corner area 120 is to be watered. After a corner area 120 has been watered, the coupling 114 is disconnected, the valve 110 is closed, the sprinkler heads 16 are turned back on and the motor 20 is reactivated to resume the angular movement of the pipe until it comes into alignment with the next stationary vertical pipe 112. By this means an entire square area can be irrigated and an increase of approximately 27% is obtained in the irrigated land over the use of a device not having the stationary pipes 112. It should be emphasized that the proportion of the parts illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 are grossly exaggerated in order to longitudinally compress the device into the space allowed on the drawing sheet. In practice, the cables 82 are disposed at only a very slight angle to the horizontal. By way of example, the upper ends of the cables 82 may be fifteen feet above the ground while the pipe 10 may be 900 feet in length.

The irrigating device of the present invention is distinguished by its simplicity of construction, the minimum number of parts required and the efficient utilization of the material associated with the horizontal pipe 10 in order to support the pipe 10 against downward deflection under the load of the water carried thereby and against snaking or lateral deflection in a horizontal plane during the movement thereof about the vertical standpipe 12. The device is also distinguished by its ability to irrigate an increased area of land.

While the invention illustrated herein is well calculated to fulfill the objects above stated, it will be apparent that the invention is susceptible of modification, variation and change without departing from the fair meaning or intended scope of the subjoined claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An irrigating device comprising a substantially horizontally extending pipe adapted to carry water thereth-rough, a generally vertically arranged elongated plate disposed in vertical alignment with said pipe, a pair of elongated tension members disposed on opposite sides of a vertical plane including said pipe and operable to apply a compressive load to said pipe and resist bending of said pipe in a horizontal plane, and bracket means interconnecting said pipe, said tension members, and said plate at spaced locations along the length thereof and operable to maintain a predetermined spacing between said pipe, said tension members, and said plate at said locations.

2. The structure set forth in claim 1, including means connecting said bracket means and said tension members to establish a predetermined spacing between said tension members and said pipe at at least one location along the length of said pipe.

3. The structure set forth in claim 1, in which said plate comprises a plurality of plate sections joined together in overlapped relation at said bracket means.

4. The structure set forth in claim 1, including a plurality of vertically extending support members for said pipe and at least one support cable hung from the upper ends of said vertical support members and extending angularly and downwardly to said pipe at a location intermediate said vertical support members.

5. The structure set forth in claim 4 including a plurality of suspension cables hung from said support cable and connected to said pipe at the lower ends thereof.

6. An irrigating device including a generally horizontally extending water distributing pipe rotatable about a central water supply pipe, said horizontally extending pipe having sprinklers for delivering water therefrom at spaced locations along its length, a valve and a fitting at the end of said horizontally extending pipe remote from said supply pipe, and a plurality of stationary water delivery pipes at the corners of a rectangular area to be irrigated, said stationary pipes having means engageable with said fitting for the reception of water from said horizontally extending pipe.

7. The structure set forth in claim 6 including solenoid valves for selectively disabling said sprinkler heads.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 757,338. 4/1904 Nolting 239-212 1,255,777 2/1918 Norton 239-177 2,477,748 8/1949 Hutchins 267-60 X 2,564,996 8/1951 Rasbach 267-60 X 2,628,863 2/1953 Maggart 239-212 X 2,642,311 6/1953 Beyer 239-213 X 2,691,522 10/1954 Brinson et al 267-60 2,889,948 6/1959 Leuenberger 239-212 X 3,001,727 9/1961 Zybach 239-177 3,237,867 3/1966 Hogg 239-212 3,259,219 7/1966 Wallace 239-212 X FOREIGN PATENTS 204,422 9/ 1910 Great Britain.

SAMUEL F. COLEMAN, Primary Examiner.