US3702678A - Sprinkler - Google Patents

Abstract

A SPRINKLER DEVICE PARTICULARLY ADAPTED FOR INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS WHERE LARGE VOLUMES OFWATER ARE DISCHARGE, HAVING A HOUSING, SPRINKLER HEAD, AND HYDRAULIC ACTUATING MEANS WHICH MAY INCLUDE AT LEAST ONE DOUBLE-ACTING PISTON AND CYLINDER AND VALVE MEANS FOR PERIODICALLY REVERSING THE DIRECTION OF MOVEMENT OF THE PISTON AND MEANS IN OPERATIVE ENGAGEMENT WITH THE HYDRAULIC ACTUATING MEANS TO CONVERT RECIPROCAL MOTION OF THE PISTON TO ROTATABLE MOVEMENT OF THE SPRINKLER HEAD. THROUGH ALTERNATIVE EMBODIMENTS, THE SPRINKLER HEAD MAY BE ADAPTED TO ROTATE CONTINUOUSLY IN ONE DIRECTION OR TO OSCILLATE IN A FULL CIRCLE OR PART CIRCLE MODE OF OPERATION.

Description

F. HAUSER SPRINKLER 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 19. 1971 F. HAUSER SPRINKLER Nov. 14, 1972 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 19, 1971 F. HAUSER A 3,702,673

Nov. 14, 1972 SPRINKLER 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Aug. 19, 1971 5 mg 9% Iii J I 1 1w m G a c mm 1 a 1 y i A United States Patent 3,702,678 SPRINKLER Fred Hauser, 1544 Midvale Ave, Los Angeles, Calif. 90024 Filed Aug. 19, 1971, Ser. No. 173,177 Int. Cl. B05!) 3/04 U.S. Cl. 239-206 13 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A sprinkler device particularly adapted for industrial applications where large volumes of water are discharged, having a housing, sprinkler head, and hydraulic actuating means which may include at least one double-acting piston and cylinder and valve means for periodically reversing the direction of movement of the piston and means in operative engagement with the hydraulic actuating means to convert reciprocal motion of the piston to rotatable movement of the sprinkler head. Through alternative embodiments, the sprinkler head may be adapted to rotate continuously in one direction or to oscillate in a full circle or part circle mode of operation.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the field of industrial sprinklers, there is a need for a sprinkler which can discharge large volumes of water over substantial areas to minimize the number of sprinkler devices which must be installed to effect coverage over large areas such as may be required on golf courses, large expanses of grass, or other cultivated areas. Many types of self-propelled automatic sprinkler devices are known in the prior art but few if any of these devices are totally satisfactory when a large water discharge flow is required. It is believed that one of the inadequacies of such prior art sprinklers is that the water which passes through the discharge sprinkler head of the device first passes through the means for rotating the sprinkler head which may be an impeller, turbine, or other device in which the inlet water under pressure is caused to impinge upon a rotating body with a consequent loss of pressure prior to passing into the tube connected to the discharge port through which the water is expelled. The mechanism for converting dynamic water pressure constitutes an obstruction between the inlet opening and the water outlet of the sprinkler head which tends to decrease the radial distance over which the water is discharged and thus the area covered by the device. While these devices are suitable for applications in which relatively small areas are to be covered by the discharged water, they are less suitable as an industrial type of sprinkler device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic sprinkler device particularly adapted for the discharge of a large volume of water and including means for rotating the sprinkler head operated by a small portion of the water which passes through the sprinkler device. It is another object of the present invention to provide an automatic sprinkler device capable of handling substantial water flow for efficient water distribution and utilizing only small portions of the inlet water flow to rotate the sprinkler head. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a device as described which may be a continuous unidirectionally rotating type of sprinkler device or may be a part or full circle oscillating type of device. Another advantage of the present invention :is to provide a device as described which is relatively economical to manufacture, is reliable in operation and easily maintained with a long service life. Still another object of the invention is to provide a device in which the speed of rotation may be controlled over a selected arcuate sector of water discharge so that a sector which does not require the same volume of water as adjacent sectors may be more lightly sprinkled.

Generally, the present invention provides a sprinkler device including a housing having a water inlet and a sprinkler head having a water outlet in communication with the inlet, means for rotatably mounting the sprinkler head, hydraulic actuating means operable by water admitted through the housing inlet and including at least one double acting piston and cylinder means, valve means for periodically reversing the direction of movement of the piston, and means in operative engagement with the hydraulic actuating means to convert reciprocal movement of the piston to rotational movement of the sprinkler head rotatable mounting means. The water discharged through the sprinkler head water outlet passes through an unobstructed fluid passage from the water inlet to such outlet and the Water for operating the hydraulic actuating means is discharged to atmosphere through an opening other than the sprinkler head water outlet. In one embodiment, there is provided means which includes hydraulic actuating means to convert piston reciprocal movement to opposed rotation movement of means which may be selectively interconnected through a clutch to rotatable mounting means thereby providing unidirectional rotation of the sprinkler head. In another embodiment, the means for converting the reciprocal movement of the piston to rotational movement is connected to the rotatable mounting means through reversible driving means to provide oscilatory movement of the sprinkler head. The device may also include means for controlling the rate of flow of water out of the discharge opening of the hydraulic actuating means to control the speed of rotation of the sprinkler head over any selected arcuate sector of operation.

BRIEF DESCIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a vertical section view of a first embodiment of a sprinkler device constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the plane 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the plane 33 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a partial sectional view taken along the plane 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a partial sectional view taken along the plane 55 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a partial sectional view taken along the plane 66 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a partial sectional view taken along the plane 7-7 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a partial sectional view taken along the plane 8-8 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of one-way clutch means shown in FIGS. 1 and 2',

FIG. is a partial sectional view taken along the plane 1010 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 11 is a partial vertical section view of a second embodiment of a sprinkler device constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a sectional view of the device of the second embodiment;

FIG. 13 is a sectional view taken along the plane 13-13 of FIG. 12;

FIG. 14 is a partial sectional view taken along the plane 1414 of FIG. 12; and

FIG. 15 is a partial sectional view taken along the plane 15-15 of FIG. 11.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to the drawings, the sprinkler device of the present invention generally includes in the first embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 through 10, a housing 20, a sprinkler head 30, means 40 for rotatably mounting the sprinkler head, hydraulic actuating means 50, means 70 for converting reciprocating motion of the hydraulic actuating means to rotational motion of the sprinkler head, valve means 140, and means 180 for controlling the speed of rotation over a selected arcuate sector of water discharge.

Referring now to FIG. 1, the housing may have a generally cylindrical shape with a threaded opening in the lower end thereof for connection to a water pipe and to provide a water inlet 21 and an open end 22 at the upper end of the housing which is closed by a cap 23 mounted to the sprinkler head and movable therewith. The sprinkler device illustrated is of the pop up type wherein the cap 23 is normally in contact with the upper edge of the housing 20 so as to close the upper opening 22 and moves into the position shown when water is admitted into the device to effect operation thereof. The housing also includes a lower inner housing 24 which encloses means 50 and an upper inner housing 25 which encloses means 70 and 140.

The sprinkler device also includes a sprinkler head which may include one or more Water outlets 31, 31a in the form of nipples 32, 32a that are threadedly connected to a sprinkler head body 33. The sprinkler head body 33 is threadably engaged to the means 40 for rotatably mounting the sprinkler head and in the exemplary embodiment such means comprises the pipe 4.1 having a threaded upper end 42, a keyway 43 near the upper end, and a flange 44 at the lower end which restricts the vertical movement of the rotatable mounting means 40. An O-ring 45 is mounted above the flange 44 and around the pipe 41 to seal the pipe relative to the housing 24 when in its upper operative position. It will be readily appreciated that pipe 41 is both rotatably and slidably mounted with respect to housing 20 and that the sprinkler head 30 is fixedly mounted thereon so as to rotate and move vertically therewith.

The hydraulic actuating means 50, in the first exemplary embodiment, comprises a pair of double-acting piston and cylinder means. The cylinder comprises an annular chamber 51 formed in the inner lower housing 24. Disposed for slidable movement within chamber 51 is annular piston means 52 sealed with O-rings in the chamber 51. At diametrically opposed positions on the annular piston means 52 there are formed integral cups 53, 54 defining bores 55, 56 open at the upper ends.

It may be pointed out briefly at this point that the annular piston 52, during operation of the sprinkler device is reciprocated by the application of high pressure hydraulic fluid above or below the piston 52 in selective manner through means as will be more fully explained hereinafter.

The reciprocating motion of the annular piston 52 is converted by means 70 into rotational movement of the means 40 for rotatably mounting the sprinkler head 30. The converting means comprises a pair of piston shafts 71, 72 rotatably mounted in a pair of standards 73, 74 which are fixedly secured to the upper end of lower inner housing 24. The standards 73, 74 are carried on an an nular ring 75 which is secured to the inner housing 24 by cap screws 76 and O-rings. The lower ends of shafts 71, 72 depend downwardly into the annular chamber 51 and into the cup bores 55, 56. Each of the lower shaft portions extending within the annular chamber 51 has a helical groove, the shaft 71 having a left handed helical groove 77 and the shaft 72 having a right handed helical groove 78. As seen best in FIG. 3, the cups 53, 54 on the annular piston 52 are provided with helical keys 79, 80 which are in continuous engagement with the helical grooves 77, 78. It will be immediately apparent, therefore, that as the piston 52 reciprocates up and down in the chamber 51, the piston shafts 71, 72 will rotate since the vertical motion of the piston will be translated into rotational movement through the helical grooves 77, 78 and helical keys 79, 80.

The means 70 for converting the reciprocating motion of the hydraulic actuating means to rotational movement of the rotatable mounting means 40 also includes gear means which, in the first exemplary embodiment, includes piston shaft spur gear 81 mounted on shaft 71, supported by standard 73, and secured to the shaft 71 by a cap screw. The other shaft 72 also carries at its upper end a piston shaft spur gear 82 mounted by the standard 74 and secured to the shaft by a cap screw. Mounted on the pipe 41 toward its upper end and secured against rotational movement through the keyway 43 is a bushing 83 having a lower flange 84. The upper end of the bushing 83 is journaled in an opening in the upper inner housing 25 and the lower end of bushing 83 rests upon the upper end of a cylindrical extension of the lower inner housing 24. Resting on the shoulder 84 of the bushing 83 and free to rotate thereon is a ring gear 85 in continuous engagement with piston shaft spur gear 82 as seen best in FIG. 1. Positioned immediately above ring gear 85 is a spacer 86 on which is carried a second ring gear 87 in continuous engagement with the piston shaft spur gear 81 carried by shaft 71.

Clutch means is provided for selective interconnection between the ring gears 85, 87 and the bushing 83 which rotates with the pipe 41 and the sprinkler head 30. Such means, in the exemplary embodiment of FIGS. 1 through 10, comprises a pair of one- way spring clutches 88, 89 interconnecting ring gears 87 with bushing 83 and ring gear 85 with bushing 83, respectively. One- way spring clutches 88, 89 are entirely conventional and well known in the art and operate so that when connected to the ring gear they will transmit power from the ring gear to the pipe 41 when the ring gear rotates in one direction but will slip with respect to the pipe when the ring gear rotates in an opposite direction.

The sprinkler device also includes valve means for reversing the direction of movement of the annular piston 52 by controlling the flow of water to one side or the other of the piston while venting the opposite side to atmosphere. Such valve means, in both exemplary embodiments are substantially the same and reference may be had to FIGS. 2 and 4 through 8 for an explantation of such valve means. Referring particularly to FIG. 4, there is shown a valve water inlet passage 141 in fluid communication with the housing water inlet 21 and which extends upwardly in inner housing 24 and connects to a radially inwardly extending passage 142 which in turn is connected to a second vertically disposed passageway '143. Passageway 143 passes through a gasket 144 and a valve or distribution block 145 mounted on a portion of the annular ring 75. The valve outlet passages include a passage 146 (see FIG. 6) vertically disposed in the lower housing 24 and in fluid communication with a chamber portion 51a of the annular chamber 51 below the piston 52. The upper end of the passage 146 terminates in an opening at the upper surface of the valve block 145 at a radially spaced apart location from the opening of the inlet passage 143. A second outlet passage 147 (see FIG. 4) is also vertically disposed in the lower inner housing 24 and in fluid communication with an upper cylinder portion 51b of annular chamber 51 above piston 52. The upper end of the passageway 147 terminates in an opening at the upper surface of the valve block 145 at a location radially spaced from the opening of inlet passageway 143 and circumferentially spaced from the opening of outlet passage 146.

The valve means also includes a valve housing 150 (see FIG. 4) which includes a chamber 151 and is mounted above the valve block 145. The upper end of housing 150 is provided with a bore in which is disposed a shaft 152 suitably secured in the bore with O-rings and having an eccentric arm portion 153 at its lower end and within chamber 151. Depending downwardly from the eccentric arm 153 is a shaft 154 terminating in a wiper element 155 with a downwardly facing fiat contact surface to slide upon the upper surface of the distribution plate or valve block 145. The wiper is provided with a recess or channel 156 in a generally central zone of the downwardly facing surface and which continuously overlies the valve inlet passageway 143 and alternately overlies outlet passageway 146 or 147 (see FIG. It will be appreciated that as shaft 152 is rotated from one arcuate position to another the recess 156 of the wiper element 155 will first connect the inlet passageway 141 with the passageway 147 (as shown in FIG. 4) so as to connect the upper cylinder portion 51b with the water inlet 21 so as to force piston 52 downwardly. In this position, the upper end of the passageway 146 is in fluid communication with the chamber 151 of the valve and the valve body 150 also includes an opening 157 in a pipe 158 that is in fluid communication with atmosphere through a port 159 in the inner upper housing 25. When moved to its other arcuate position, the inlet passageway 143 will connect through the recess 156 in wiper element '155 with the passageway 146 which is in fluid communication with the cylinder portion 51a below the piston 52 so that the water under pressure will force the piston 52 upwardly. It will thus be appreciated that by rotating the shaft 152 the valve means 140 will alternately pressurize cylinder portions 51a or 51b so as to move the piston 52 in a reciprocating manner.

The shaft 152 carries an arm 160 (see FIG. 8) which is clamped thereon through a screw 161 and which carries at its outer end a pin 162. Mounted on the upper end of the valve body 150 is a gear sector 165 mounted for free rotation about a boss 166 of the housing 150 and secured thereto through a snap ring 167. Gear sector 165 carries a pin 168. The pins 162, 168 are interconnected by an overcenter spring 169. The gear sector 165 is in continuous engagement with gear 170 (see FIGS. 1 and 2) which may be integral with piston spur gear 82. The arcuate travel of the arm 160 is limited by a pair of stop pins 171, 172.

The sprinkler device also includes means 180- for controlling the speed of rotation of the sprinkler head 30. In the exemplary embodiment of FIGS. 1 through 10, such means comprises a circular plate 181 mounted above the bushing 83 and secured in its axial position by a housing support 182. The circular plate 181 has a plurality of circumferentially spaced threaded openings 183 near the outer marginal portion of the plate for receiving a screw or stud 184. Secured beneath the circular plate 181 is a second plate 185 of thin deformable metal having a plurality of slots '186 separating the plate into a plurality of radially extending arms 187. The inner marginal portion of the plate 185 is secured to the underside of plate 181 by a plurality of screws 188. The outer marginal portions comprising the radially extending arms are thus free and easily deformable from the position shown in FIG. 1 to that shown in FIG. 4 under the movement of screws 184. It will be seen that each of the radial arms 187 include edge portions 188 which are bent out of the plane of the arm 187 to provide a ramp. Mounted for slidable longitudinal movement in the upper inner housing portion 25, as seen best in FIG. 4, is a plug 189 having a pointed lower end which is received in the opening of the pipe 158 and thus restricts such orifice to control the rate of discharge of water from the exhaust side of the annular cylinder 51. The plug: 189 may be biased by means (not shown) to an unrestricted position and will normally occupy such position permitting free discharge of the water from the opening 157 which corresponds to maximum rotational speed of the sprinkler head 30. If a particular arcuate sector upon which water is to be discharged requires less water, and it is thus desired to rotate the sprinkler head through such arcuate sector at a greater speed the corresponding radial arm 187 is permitted to remain in its upper position as shown in FIG. 1 so that it will not contact the end of plug 189 allowing the orifice to remain open and permitting maximum discharge of water from the device. If it is desired to increase the water discharge over a particular arcuate sector, the screw 184 is threaded downward so as to depress the arm 187 over which it is positioned so that the free end of the arm 187 will contact the end of the plug 189 forcing it downward into the orifice of the opening 157 so as to restrict the discharge of water, slowing the movement of piston 52, and thus slowing the rotational speed of the sprinkler head over such arcuate sector. In operation most of the arms 187 may be depressed so that the sprinkler device will operate at a slower rotation speed as desired, and any overlapping sector with another sprinkler device (or other reason for discharging less water over a particular sector) will have its corresponding radial arm 187 in its upper position so as to increase the rotational speed over such sector. Obviously, many combinations of speed control are possible with means 180.

In operation, when water enters the inlet 21 of the housing 20 it will pass through the unobstructed pipe 41 causing the pipe to move upwardly from the position shown in phantom lines in FIG. 1 to the position shown in full lines or the pop up position whereby the water outlet nipples 32, 32a are exposed. A very small portion of the water, as is evident from the size of the Water passageway 1 41 will be diverted to the hydraulic actuating means through the valve means 140. Assuming that the piston 52 is initially in its lower position, the overcenter actuating means will be in a position such that the wiper will interconnect the inlet passageway 143 with the outlet passageway 146 through the recess 156 of the wiper, directing fluid to the cylinder portion 51a below the piston 52. The piston 52 will thus be forced upwardly and its linear or translatory motion will cause rotation of the piston shafts 71, 72 through the means for helically interconnecting the piston with said shafts. It will be noted that as viewed in FIG. 2, upward motion of the piston 52 through its right hand helical interconnection with the piston shaft 72 will cause gear 82 to rotate in a clockwise direction and thus cause ring gear 85 to rotate in a counter-clockwise direction. Conversely, piston shaft 71 will rotate in a counter-clockwise direction because of its left hand helical groove causing gear 81 to rotate in a like direction and ring gear 87 to rotate in a clockwise direction. Through the one-way clutch spring 89, the ring gear 85 will be in driving engagement with the bushing 83 on the sprinkler head roatatable mounting means 40 so as to cause counterclockwise rotation of the sprinkler head. During this operative engagement, the one-way clutch 88 is in nonoperative engagement with the bushing 83 and a slipping connection is effected.

It will also be seen that the rotation of piston shaft 72 will cause rotation of gear 170 which in turn engages gear sector which rotates on boss 166 and will eventually cause the center line between the pins 162,

168 to pass the pivotal axis of arm 160 providing a snap Overcenter action which will rotate the shaft 152 and the wiper 155. Wiper 155 will then move into the position shown in FIG. wherein the recess 156 thereof will interconnect the inlet passageway 143 with the outlet passageway 147 that, as may be seen from FIG. 4, is connected to the cylinder portion 51b above piston 52. This action thus causes a reversal of the movement of piston 52 in a downward direction which rotates piston shaft 72 counter-clockwise and piston shaft 71 clockwise. Accordingly, gear 81 on shaft 71 will rotate ring gear 87 in a counter-clockwise direction which causes engagement of one-way clutch 88 so as to drivingly interconnect gear 81 and the pipe 41 to thereby continue to rotate sprinkler head 30 in the counter-clockwise direction. During this engagement, of course, ring gear 85 is not connected to the rotatable mounting means 40 through its one-way clutch 89. Thus, it will be seen that the springler head 30 will rotate continuously in one direction such as the counter-clockwise direction described. It will also be apparent that each time piston 52 reaches its limit of travel, the gear sector 165 will have moved the arm 160 so as to cause the snap overcenter action which in turn operates valve means 140 to reverse the direction of movement of the piston. A continuously unidirectionally rotating sprinkler head operation is thus obtained from the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

The second exemplary embodiment of the invention is disclosed in FIGS. 11 through 15 and generally comprises a housing 220 identical to the housing of the first exemplary embodiment having an inlet opening 221. The housing also includes an inner housing 224 which defines a piston cylinder 225. The cylinder 225 includes a key 226. Within the cylinder 225 there is provided a piston 227 having a keyway 228 engaging the key 226 to prevent rotation of the piston during its vertical reciprocating up and down motion. Piston 227 defines a chamber 229 in which there'is disposed for rotational movement a piston shaft 230 having a helical groove 232 thereon for engagement with a helical key as in the first exemplary embodiment. The upper end portion of the piston 227 is closed by a cap 231 and suitable cap screws and Orings to seal the outer circumference of the piston with the wall of cylinder 225. The helical key 232 is integrally formed on cap 231 as seen in FIG. 15.

It is to be noted that in the first exemplary embodiment an annular cylinder and piston is provided with two piston shafts, whereby the piston cannot rotate about its axis during its up and down movement. Since a cylindrical piston 227 is provided in the second exemplary embodiment disposed within the cylinder 225, and thus rotatable with respect thereto about its own axis, the key and keyway 226, 228 are provided for preventing rotation of the piston 227 relative to the cylinder 225. In this manner the vertical movement of the piston 227 is converted to rotational movement of the piston shaft 230.

The upper end of cylinder 225 is sealed by a cylinder head 233 and suitable O-rings and has an opening through which a piston shaft extension 234 extends and on which is mounted gear means comprising a first gear portion 235 and a second gear portion 236. The gear portion 235 is in continuous engagement with a ring gear 237 (see FIG. 12) including a key 238 engaging a keyway 239 in a pipe 240 which comprises the means for rotatably mounting the sprinkler head in a manner identical to that of the first exemplary embodiment. Since ring gear 237 is fixed to the rotatable mounting means 240 vertical reciprocating movement of the piston shaft 230 through the gear portion 235 will be continuously transmitted into rotational movement of the sprinkler head. Upward movement of piston 227 produces clockwise rotation of gear portion 235 and counter-clockwise rotation of the sprinkle head while downward movement of the piston 227 causes clockwise rotation of the sprinkler head. It will therefore be immediately apparent that the means for converting reciprocating motion of the piston to rotational movement of the springler head in the second exemplary embodiment will result in oscillatory motion of the sprinkler head corresponding to movement of the piston.

The direction of movement of the piston is controlled by valve means indicated generally at 250 which includes a valve body 251 fixedly secured to the upper end of inner housing 224. The inlet to the valve is covered by a screen 252 for preventing foreign particles from entering the valve body 251 and has a valve inlet 253 at its upper end in fluid communication with a chamber 254 (see FIG. 14) within the valve body 251. Within the chamber 254 of the valve body there is provided a distribution plate and wiper element identical to that shown in the first exemplary embodiment and no further description thereof is deemed necessary. The chamber 254 of the valve body is in fluid communication with two outlet passageways, one of which is indicated at 255 in fluid communication with the upper end of piston cylinder 225. The other outlet passageway 256 is connected to a lower portion of the cylinder 225 (as seen in FIG. 13) and is connected at its upper end to the distribution plate in a circumferentially spaced apart location and radially spaced from the inlet opening 253 as in the valve construction of the first exemplary embodiment described above.

Overcenter actuating means is also provided in the sec ond exemplary embodiment and includes an arm 260 fixedly mounted on the upper end of a shaft 259 connected to the wiper element. The free end of arm 260 carries a pin 261. Mounted on the upper portion of the valve body 251 and in a plane immediately below the plane of arm 260 there is a second arm 263 carrying a pin 264. Arm 263 is mounted for free pivotal movement with respect to the housing upper portion 262 and is limited in its arcuate travel by stop elements 265, 266 which are supported at circumferentially spaced apart locations on a ring 267 (see FIG. 14) secured to the upper end of the housing 251 by a set screw 268. The pins 264 and 261 are interconnected by a spring 269 to provide the snap action of the overcenter device.

Mounted immediately below the arm 263 and concentric with the upper portion 262 of the housing 251 is a gear 270 which is in continuous engagement with intermediate gear 271 which is in turn in engagement with gear portion 236 fixed to shaft extension 234 of piston shaft 230. Gear 270 is provided with a plurality of threaded openings 272 for receiving stop screws, one of which is shown at 273, disposed in the plane of movement of the arm 263 and thus provides a stop limit for the arcuate movement of such arm. An additional stop screw may be employed to provide a second stop limit.

As in the first exemplary embodiment, the valve chamber 254 is provided with an opening 280 in a pipe 281 that extends upwardly from the valve body 251. Speed control means may be provided as in the first exemplary embodiment in cooperation with the opening 280.

In operation, assume that the piston 227 is at its upper limit of travel and commences its downward movement. The linear motion of the piston will through the helical groove 232 impart left handed rotation to the piston shaft 230 causing the gear portions 235, 236 to rotate in the counter-clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 12. Through gear portion 235 the ring gear 237 and pipe 240 to which the sprinkler head is fixedly mounted will rotate in a clockwise direction. The counter-clockwise rotation of gear portion 236 will rotate gear 270 in the counter-clockwise direction through the intermediate gear 271 until the stop screw 273 rotates to a position at which it contacts the arm 263 causing the arm 263 to rotate in the counter clockwise direction until the pins 261, 264 move to the opposite side of the axis of shaft 259 whereupon the spring 269 will cause the arm 260 to snap from its position against the stop pin 261a, as shown in FIG. 12, against the stop pin 261b which thereby rotates the wiper element placing the outlet passage 256 in communication with the high pressure fluid whereby the direction of movement of the piston 227 is reversed. As the piston commences its upward movement, the gear portions 235, 236rotate in a clockwise direction so that the sprinkler head rotates in a counter-clockwise direction. When the stop screw 273 on the gear 270 again reaches the opposite side of the arm 263, arm 263 will commence rotation in a clockwise direction until again the overcenter actuation occurs.

It will now be appreciated that the arcuate sector covered by the sprinkler device can be adjusted by means of the position and number of stop limit screws 273 which are threaded into openings 272. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 11 through 14, a single stop limit screw 273 is provided so that the sprinkler head will rotate in one direction a full 360 degrees and will then counter-rotate a full 360 degrees so as to provide what is commonly known as a full circle sprinkler. It will however be noted that while a full circle is covered by the sprinkler device the sprinkler head moves in an oscillatory manner rather than in the continuously unidirectionally rotating manner of the first exemplary embodiment. Moreover, the sector over which water is discharged may be made less than 360 degrees by placing a second stop limit screw 273 in one of the openings 272 whereby the arc defined by adjacent stop limit screws 273 will correspond to the arcuate sector over which water will not be discharged.

It will thus be seen from the preceding description of two exemplary embodiments of the present invention that the means for rotating the sprinkler head employs only a small proportion of the water which enters the sprinkler device housing and that such water is not discharged through the sprinkler head but is rather exhausted to atmosphere through the opening in fluid communication with the valve chamber. The water which passes through the sprinkler head moves through the unobstructed pipe 41 and 240 and thus the sprinkler device provides an efficient large water capacity device suitable for industrial or similar applications.

Obviously, modifications and changes to the exemplary embodiments shown will occur to those having skill in the art without departing from the scope of this invention.

Only a small portion of the water passing through the sprinkler device is required to provide rotational movement of the sprinkler head. For example, in a typical golf course sprinkler application, inlet water may be at a pressure of 80 p.s.i. The inside diameter of the nozzle 31 may be 7 inch and the inside diameter of the nozzle 31a may be inch. Under these conditions, the sprinkler device will discharge 80 gallons of water per minute. The speed of rotation may be set at one revolution per minute so that 80 gallons of water are discharged during one revolution. Since one revolution of the sprinkler head in the second embodiment corresponds to one full stroke of the piston, the volume of water required to provide the one revolution is the volume of the piston cylinder. This volume is approximately equal to /3 pint of water. Thus, approximately 75920 of the volume discharged is used to operate the device. Of course, under diiferent pressure conditions and sprinkler dimensions, this ratio will vary, but it will be seen that the water used for operation is only a small portion of the total water discharged.

I claim:

1. In a sprinkler device including a housing having a water inlet and a sprinkler head having a water outlet in communication with the inlet, the provision of:

means for rotatably mounting the sprinkler head;

hydraulic actuating means operable by water admitted through the housing inlet including at least one double-action piston and cylinder means;

valve means within said housing for periodically reversing the direction of movement of said piston in response to rotation of said sprinkler head; and

means in operative engagement with said hydraulic actuating means to convert reciprocal movement of said piston to rotational movement of said sprinkler head rotatable mounting means.

2. The provision of claim 1 wherein said rotatable mounting means provides an unobstructed fluid passage between said water inlet and said sprinkler head whereby the water discharged through said sprinkler head does not pass through said hydraulic actuating means.

3. The provision of claim 2 wherein the water operating said hydraulic actuating means is discharged to atmosphere through an opening other than the sprinkler head water outlet.

4. The provision of claim 1 additionally including second means in operative engagement with said hydraulic actuating means to convert piston reciprocal movement to rotational movement of said sprinkler head, and clutch means for alternately interconnecting said first and second means with said rotatable mounting means to provide unidirectional rotation of said sprinkler head.

5. The provision of claim 1 wherein said means for converting reciprocal movement of said piston to rotational movement of said sprinkler head includes gear means interconnecting said piston and said rotatable mounting means.

6. The provision of claim 1 wherein said means for converting reciprocal movement of said piston to rotational movement of said sprinkler head includes means for helically interconnecting said piston and a shaft for rotation of said shaft in one direction when the piston is moved in one direction and counter-rotation of said shaft when the piston moves in the opposite direction, a gear mounted on said shaft for rotation therewith and ring gear means mounted on said rotatable mounting means.

7. The provision of claim 6 wherein said ring gear means is non-rotatably mounted on said rotatable mounting means and is in continuous engagement with said piston shaft gear.

8. The provision of claim 6 wherein said hydraulic actuating means includes two double-acting piston and cylinder means and piston shafts, said converting means includes a gear on each of said piston shafts, said gear means comprises a pair of axially spaced ring gears rotatably carried by said rotatable mounting means, and a pair of one-way clutch means alternately interconnecting each of said ring gears with said rotatable mounting means each of which rotates said mounting means in only one direction and said piston shaft gears are each in continuous engagement with one of said ring gears.

9. The provision of claim 6 wherein said valve means includes overcenter actuating means in operative engagement with at least one of said piston shaft gears.

10. The provision of claim 3 wherein a plug is provided adjacent said discharge opening for controlling the rate of flow of water out of said hydraulic actuating inealns and thereby the speed of rotation of said sprinkler 11. The provision of claim 16 wherein said plug is mounted for movement toward and away from said opening on means biasing the plug away from the opening and said rotatable mounting means fixedly carries a plurality of radially extending arms and means for selective axial positioning of said arms for engagement with said plug so as to decrease the discharge flow and the rate of rotation of said sprinkler head over the arcuate sector in which said arms are positioned for engagement with said plug.

12. A sprinkler device for discharge of large volumes of water comprising:

a housing having a water inlet at its lower end;

a sprinkler head mounted for free rotation;

12 a pipe rotatably journaled in said sprinkler housing in 13. A sprinkler device as in claim 12 wherein said axial alignment with said water inlet and carrying Sprinkler head is mounted for limited vertical movement. the sprinnkler head at its upper end, said pipe hav- References Cited mg no internal obstruction to provide a smooth, uninterrupted water passage from the water inlet to 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS the sprinkler head water outlets; and 1,831,007 11/1931 Johnson 239-237 X means operable by a small portion of the water 2,209,961 8/1940 Lacy-Mulhall 239206 X admitted through said water inlet to provide rota- ,0 6 10/1963 Hunter 23924() X 3,567,127 3/1971 Raumaker et a1. 239-237 tional movement of said pipe and said sprinkler head, including at least one double-action piston and M. HENSON WOOD, JR Primary Examiner cylinder and valve means for controlling the direction of movement of said piston, said small portion LOVE Asslstam Exammer of water not being discharged through said sprinkler s CL head- 15 239 '239

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