Display fountain, system, array and wind detector

Abstract

A fountain (50) comprises a supply of water under pressure, a primary fluidic diverter (10) having an input (12) for said supply, and first and second outputs (16a, b) diverging from said input. Two control ports (20a, b) are provided with control flow to direct input flow to one or other of the two outputs that lead to the two inputs of a vortex amplifier (40). This comprises a vortex chamber (54), a radial port (50), a vortex inducing port (60) and an axial output port (58). One (16a) of the diverter outputs is connected to the vortex inducing port, the other (16b) to the radial port, so that supply to said axial output port is modulated by formation of a vortex in the chamber when flow is to the vortex inducing port. The axial port leads to a nozzle whereby a vortex spray or axial jet is produced, depending on which diverter output (16a, b) is active. A wind detector (100) has a vertical jet (102) and a catcher (104) which fails to catch water from the jet in high wind conditions. The catcher feeds the control port (20a) of a diverter 101, or such other pressure or flow detector as may be convenient. A fountain array of elements may comprise a number of diverters, the outputs of which have branches supplying the control ports of others in the array, whereby internal control is provided.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.