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OwnerBurr Courtright, Dale E. Olson +1inventors
InventorsBurr Courtright, Dale E. Olson, Alvin H. Smolkowski
Estimating the term…
A water-propelled prime mover in and for agricultural irrigation systems. The hose to be coupled to and pulled by the prime mover, to supply water under pressure for irrigation purposes, also supplies water pressure for torquing the wheel line of the irrigation system and for advancing the prime mover, through its capstan revolvement, along an anchored cable, stretched over an intended course of travel. Means are provided to sense and utilize deflections of the wheel line, and also to control prime mover propulsion and wheel-line torque; further, to relate and vary the relationship of wheel line revolvement and prime mover advance, depending upon line conditions, so that the line and prime mover travel in proper mutual orientation.
In an irrigation system for irrigating an area of a field which irrigation system includes a liquid conduit supported by wheels extending over a portion of said area to be irrigated, a drive unit for supplying liquid to said conduit and for rotating said conduit and wheels, said drive unit comprising means allowing movement of said drive unit along a path, means rotatably mounting said conduit to said drive unit for rotation about a generally horizontal axis generally normal to the path of the drive unit, means for rotating said conduit, means for driving said drive unit along the path, and control means for controlling the relative speed of the drive means for said drive unit and said conduit in response to fore and aft relative displacements of said drive unit and said conduit.
In an irrigation system for irrigating an area of a field which irrigation system includes a liquid conduit supported by wheels extending over a portion of said area to be irrigated, a drive unit for supplying liquid to said conduit and for rotating said conduit and wheels, said drive unit comprising means allowing movement of said drive unit along a path, means rotatably mounting said conduit to said drive unit for rotation about a generally horizontal axis generally normal to the path of the drive unit, means for rotating said conduit, means for driving said drive unit along the path, and control means for controlling the relative speed of the drive means for said drive unit and said conduit in response to fore and aft relative displacement of said drive unit and said conduit, and wherein said control means further comprises a closed loop linkage attached to said conduit a distance from said drive unit, a portion of said linkage being of flexible cable, and means in response to movement of said flexible portion of said cable in the direction of its length corresponding to relative fore and aft displacement of said drive unit and said conduit for selectively controlling the relative speed of said drive for said drive unit and said conduit.
An agricultural irrigation system including, in combination, an elongate irrigation line provided with spaced, supporting, keyed wheels, first means for translating said irrigation line in a direction transverse to said line, second means coupled to said line for applying mechanical torque to said line, and third means responsive to irrigation line deflection for automatically adjusting at least one of said first and second means to vary the ratio of the speed of revolvement of said irrigation line to the speed of translation of said irrigation line, whereby to tend to correct said deflection.
In an irrigation system having an elongate, wheel-supported irrigation line constructed for movement over a field in a direction transverse to said wheel line:
A unit for torquing and also translating an agricultural wheel line, said unit including, in combination, a frame;
For moving an agricultural wheel line including an elongate, central irrigation line and wheels mutually spaced along and keyed to said wheel line, in combination, structure comprising a frame, said frame being provided with ground-support means for enabling said frame to be translated, torquing gear means carried by and journaled, with respect to said frame, for applying torque to said central irrigation line;
In combination an agricultural-irrigation wheel line, ground-supported structure coupled to said wheel line and having first means for translating said wheel line and second means for applying torque to said wheel line, and third means responsive to wheel line deflection for automatically altering the torque so applied by said second means relative to such translation effected by said first means, whereby to tend to correct such deflection.
An agricultural irrigation system including, in combination, an elongate irrigation line provided with spaced, supporting, keyed wheels, first means for translating said irrigation line in a direction transverse to said line, second means coupled to said line for applying mechanical torque to said line, and third means responsive to irrigation line deflection for automatically adjusting at least one of said first and second means to vary the ratio of the speed of revolvement of said irrigation line proximate said first means to the speed of translation of said irrigation line proximate said second means, whereby to tend to correct said deflection.
In an irrigation system for irrigating an area of a field which irrigation system includes a liquid conduit supported by wheels extending over a portion of said area to be irrigated, a drive unit for supplying liquid to said conduit and for rotating said conduit and wheels, said drive unit comprising:
In an irrigation system for irrigating an area of a field which irrigation system includes a liquid conduit supported by wheels extending over a portion of said area to be irrigated, a drive unit for supplying liquid to said conduit and for rotating said conduit and wheels, said drive unit comprising:
In an irrigation system for irrigating an area of a field which irrigation system includes a liquid conduit supported by wheels extending over a portion of said area to be irrigated, a drive unit for supplying liquid to said conduit and for rotating said conduit and wheels, said drive unit comprising a frame, wheels rotatably mounted on said frame for supporting said frame above the ground and for movement along a path, means rotatably mounting said conduit to said drive unit frame for rotation about a generally horizontal axis generally normal to the path of the drive unit, a first sprocket concentrically secured to said conduit for rotation therewith, a first radial arm secured at one end for rotation about said axis of said conduit and first sprocket, a first liquid drive means mounted between said frame and the other end of said first arm to impart an oscillating pivotal movement to said first arm, pawl means pivotally mounted to said first arm, and frame and selectively engaging the teeth of said first sprocket for imparting rotation to said first sprocket in response to pivotal movement of said first arm in one direction and for preventing reverse rotation of said first sprocket upon pivotal movement of said first arm in the opposite direction, the frequency of said oscillations of said first arm being proportional to the amount of liquid supplied to said first liquid drive means, a capstan rotatably mounted to said frame about an axis generally parallel to the axis of said conduit for engagement with a fixed cable extending along said path of movement, whereby rotation of said capstan moves said drive unit along said cable and said path, a second sprocket concentrically secured to said capstan for rotation therewith, a second radial arm secured at one end for rotation about the axis of said capstan and second sprocket, a second liquid drive means mounted between said frame and said second arm to impart an oscillating pivotal movement to said second arm, pawl means pivotally mounted to said second arm and frame and selectively engaging the teeth of said second sprocket for imparting rotation to said second sprocket in response to pivotal movement of said second arm in one direction and for preventing reverse rotation of said second sprocket upon pivotal movement of said second arm in the opposite direction, the frequency of said oscillations of said second arm being proportional to the amount of liquid supplied to said second liquid drive means, and means for controlling the rate of rotation of said second sprocket relative to said first sprocket, and hence the rate of rotation of said capstan relative to said conduit, said controlling means comprising a closed loop linkage attached to said conduit a distance from said drive unit, a first section of said linkage extending from said conduit at an angle rearwardly toward said drive unit and a second section of said linkage extending at an angle from said conduit forwardly toward said drive unit, a portion of said linkage being of flexible cable, a first liquid input means to said first liquid drive means, a second liquid input means to said second liquid drive means, a first valve means in said first liquid input means for controlling the amount of liquid fed to said first liquid drive means, a second valve means in said second liquid input means for controlling the amount of liquid fed to said second liquid drive means, said first and second valve means having valve actuating means associated therewith, means engaging said closed loop linkage means with said actuating means of said first valve means to move said first valve means in the closed direction as said linkage means moves in response to movement of said drive unit to a position behind said conduit a predetermined amount, and means engaging said closed loop linkage means with said actuating means of said second valve means to move said second valve means in the open direction an amount proportional to linkage movement as said linkage moves in response to movement of said drive unit to a position behind said conduit and to move said second valve means in the closed direction an amount proportional to linkage movement as said linkage moves in response to forward movement of said drive unit to a position ahead of said conduit.
In an irrigation system for irrigating an area of a field which irrigation system includes a liquid conduit supported by wheels extending over a portion of said area to be irrigated, a drive unit for supplying liquid to said conduit and for rotating said conduit and wheels, said drive unit comprising:
In an irrigation system for irrigating an area of a field which irrigation system includes a liquid conduit supported by wheels extending over a portion of said area to be irrigated, a drive unit for supplying liquid to said conduit and for rotating said conduit and wheels, said drive unit comprising means allowing movement of said drive unit along a path, means rotatably mounting said conduit to said drive unit for rotation about a generally horizontal axis generally normal to the path of the drive unit, means for rotating said conduit, means for driving said drive unit along the path, and control means for controlling the relative speed of the drive means for said drive unit and said conduit in response to fore and aft relative displacement of said drive unit and said conduit, said controlling means further comprising a linkage attached to said conduit a distance from said drive unit, a first section of said linkage extending from said conduit at an angle rearwardly toward said drive unit and a second section of said linkage extending at an angle from the same side of the conduit forwardly toward said drive unit, and means in response to movement of said linkage corresponding to relative fore and aft displacement of said drive unit and said conduit for selectively controlling the relative speed of said drive for said drive unit and said conduit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.