Water sprinkler with flat plate pattern control

A vertical-axis water sprinkler comprising a hollow housing with an inlet port, a spray head rotatable on said axis and carrying an outlet nozzle at a radial position thereon, means for rotating said spray head, and control means inside the housing for limiting the flow through the housing to spray water only in a desired adjustable and resettable pattern about the sprinkler, wherein the control means comprises:

• a hollow shell defining a vertical conduit about said axis and a collection chamber rotatable about said axis, both in communication to said outlet nozzle;
• said collection chamber having a flat, axially-facing wall with at least one elongated, radially extending aperture formed therein communicating said collection chamber to the interior of said housing and to said inlet port;
• and
• a plurality of pattern defining plates adjustably fixed in said housing in facially-sealing contact with said apertured wall of the collection chamber, each of said plates lying adjacent a circumferential arc segment of the wall and being movable with respect to said wall and to each other to block flow through selected portion of said radial aperture within said arc segment,
• whereby the control means defines an area of a selected shape about said axis which is swept by the aperture and which is not blocked by any of said plates, said area corresponding in relative size and in shape to the area to be sprayed by the sprinkler.

A method of spraying water in a desired pattern of ground coverage using a vertical-axis sprinkler with a rotating spray head, comprising the steps:

• aligning, with a radial direction of a spray of water from said spray head to said pattern, a radially-extending sampling aperture formed in a horizontal disk rotating with said spray head, the sampling aperture having a circumferentially enlarged width at radially outward portions;
• passing a flow of water through said sampling aperture from a source of water to said spray head;
• and
• blocking said flow of water through a selected, radially outward portion of said aperture in at least a part of an arc of rotation of said spray head, the unblocked portion at each circumferential position of the spray head and sampling aperture being in direct relation to the corresponding radius of the pattern of ground coverage desired in said part of said arc, such that the shape of the unblocked portion is geometrically substantially identical in shape to the pattern of ground coverage desired in said part of said arc.