Turbine drive water sprinkler

A water sprinkler, comprising:

• a sprinkler housing for connection to a supply of water under pressure;
• a spray head carried by said housing and including a spray nozzle mounted for rotation with respect to said housing, said spray nozzle being oriented for direction of a stream of water in a radially outward direction from said spray head;
• a drive assembly rotationally driven by at least a portion of the water under pressure for providing a continuous rotational output;
• an incremental motion mechanism coupled to said drive assembly and driven thereby to provide an incremental output comprising a plurality of stationary positions of controlled duration separated by relatively rapid rotational movements;
• a lost motion assembly coupled between said incremental motion mechanism and said spray nozzle for transmitting said incremental output to drive said spray nozzle through a plurality of angularly spaced stationary positions of controlled duration separated by relatively rapid rotational movements through predetermined angular increments;
• and
• a reversing assembly for controllably reversing the rotational direction of said incremental output when said spray nozzle reaches an end limit of a prescribed arcuate path of rotation less than 360 degrees for reversing the direction of rotation of said spray nozzle within said prescribed arcuate path, said lost motion assembly including means responsive to such reversal of the rotational direction of said incremental output for adjusting the position of said spray nozzle with respect to said incremental motion mechanism for correspondingly adjusting the angular locations of the stationary positions of said spray nozzle upon successive reversals of the direction of rotation thereof.

A water sprinkler, comprising:

• a sprinkler housing for connection to a supply of water under pressure;
• a spray head having a lower half carried by said housing and fixed against rotation with respect to said housing, and an upper half rotatable with respect to said housing and carrying a spray nozzle oriented for direction of a stream of water in a radially outwardly direction from said spray head;
• means for dividing the water under pressure for flow along a first path and along a second path formed within said spray head, said flow paths both being coupled to said spray nozzle;
• pressure control means along said first path for maintaining a substantially constant pressure upon the portion of the water directed for flow along said second path;
• a drive assembly within said spray head lower half along said second path and including a water turbine wheel rotationally driven at substantially constant speed by the portion of the water in said second path, and speed reduction means driven by said turbine wheel for providing a substantially constant speed rotational output;
• and
• an incremental motion mechanism including means coupled between said speed reduction means and said spray head upper half for converting said constant speed rotational output to an incremental rotational output consisting of angularly spaced stationary positions of controlled duration separated by relatively rapid rotational movements through predetermined angular increments having an angular magnitude such that the angular locations of the stationary positions are varied upon successive revolutions of said spray head upper half.