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US 4,226,366 AGranted
Irrigation systems
OwnerGunnar P. Nortoftinventor
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OwnerGunnar P. Nortoftinventor
Estimating the term…
A field irrigator of the movable type, adapted to move slowly through a long irrigation zone and comprising a rotary water gun mounted on a drive chassis and receiving water through a hose from a supply source at one end of the irrigation zone. The irrigator is connected or provided with a control system causing the chassis to move stepwise along the zone and wait at the end of each short step until an irrigation detector, preferably a timer, has registered the attainment of a predetermined irrigation in or along the step. A truly constant irrigation along the entire zone is obtained when the steps are of uniform lengths and the irrigation is set to be the same by each step, while a differentiated irrigation along the zone is obtainable when the control system includes a memory unit for storing selective irrigation requirements for the various steps or groups of steps.
An agricultural irrigation apparatus of the type having a flexible water supply hose, one end of which is connectable with a stationary water supply source and another end of which is connected to an irrigation device that is operable to be moved along an irrigation zone and spray water therealong, driving means for advancing the irrigation device along consecutive partial lengths of said irrigation zone, and control means for controlling the operation of said driving means along each of said partial lengths of the irrigation zone, characterized in that an advancement measuring means is provided for measuring the actual displacement of the irrigation device along the irrigation zone independent of the time of operation of said driving means, said advancement measuring means being operatively connected to said control means for producing a displacement control signal at the end of each partial length, and in that irrigation control means are provided for producing an irrigation control signal in response to the attainment of a predetermined amount of irrigation in each respective partial length, said control means being operable to stop or substantially slow down the speed of said driving means from an advancement speed thereof in response to said displacement control signal and being operable to return said driving means to said advancement speed in response to said irrigation control signal.
In an agricultural irrigation apparatus of the type having a flexible water supply hose, one end of which is connectable with a stationary water supply source and another end of which is connected to an irrigation device that is operable to be moved along an irrigation zone and spray water therealong, driving means for advancing the irrigation device along consecutive partial lengths of said irrigation zone, and control means for controlling the operation of said driving means along each of said partial lengths of the irrigation zone, the improvement comprising measuring means associated with the control means for individually controlling the advance of said irrigation device during each of said partial lengths in response to measurements of both the actual distance travelled and amount of irrigation supplied by said irrigation device to insure that individual irrigation requirements of the respective partial lengths are met.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.