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US 5,312,045 AGranted
Liquid metering distributor for agricultural chemicals
AssigneeJohn Blue Company
InventorDouglas Johnston
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A valve metering system for spraying agricultural chemicals to the soil from a driver-operated moving vehicle through nozzles substantially independent of pump pressure. The system has a valve which is driver presetable prior to spraying. The valve is driver adjustable while the vehicle is moving for increasing or decreasing nozzle flow. Indicating means readable by the driver from the moving vehicle during spraying indicates spray rate through the nozzles as a percentage of pump flow.
Claims10
An apparatus for controlling fluid flow supplied from a source to a pump to be sprayed by at least one nozzle onto soil from a moving vehicle at a substantially constant preselected rate substantially independent of pump pressure, comprising:
- a valve having a valve body and a valve member, said valve member having a chamfer located along a minor portion of the longitudinal axis of said valve member, said valve body having a fluid inlet, a fluid outlet and a flow passageway connecting said fluid inlet and said fluid outlet, said valve body having a bore for slidably receiving said minor portion of the longitudinal axis of said valve member, said valve body having a valve seat, said chamfer longitudinally overlapping to a variable extent with said valve seat, said chamfer being locatable at a variable rotational distance relative to said valve seat, said valve seat being longitudinally slidable relative to said valve member and said valve member being rotatable relative to said valve seat;
- positioning means attached to said valve for sliding said valve body to a longitudinal position relative to said chamfer on said valve member such that the overlap of said chamfer is changeable relative to said fluid outlet of said valve body for varying the flow area through said by-pass valve so as to vary the fluid flow being supplied to the at least one nozzle, said longitudinal position of said valve seat being selectable by a user prior to spraying fluid from the at least one nozzle based upon the cross-sectional area of the at least one nozzle preselected by the user;
- rotating means attached to said valve for rotating said valve member in clockwise and counterclockwise directions for varying the flow are through said valve such that the orientation of said chamfer relative to said valve seat is changeable so as to vary the fluid flow being supplied to the at least one nozzle;
- actuation means connected to said rotating means for actuating said rotating means, said actuation means actuable by the user from the moving vehicle during spraying;
- indicating means associated with said positioning means for indicating the relative longitudinal position of said valve seat to said chamfer;
- and
- rotational indicating means associated with said rotating means for indicating the relative rotational position of said valve member to said valve seat such that the relative rotational position of said rotational indicating means indicates the percentage of fluid flow being supplied from the supply source to the pump to the at least one nozzle.
4 more elements
An apparatus for controlling fluid flow supplied from a source to a pump to be sprayed by at least one nozzle onto the soil from a driver-operated moving vehicle at a substantially predetermined rate substantially independent of pump pressure, comprising:
- a valve having a valve body and a valve member, said valve member having a chamfer located along a minor portion of the longitudinal axis of said valve member, said valve body having a fluid inlet, a fluid outlet and a flow passageway connecting said fluid inlet and said fluid outlet, said valve body having a bore for slidably receiving said minor portion of the longitudinal axis of said valve member, said valve body having a valve seat, said chamfer longitudinally overlapping to a variable extent with said fluid outlet of said valve body, said chamfer being located at a variable rotational distance from said valve seat;
- said valve body being longitudinally slidable relative to said valve member to vary the extent said chamfer overlaps with said fluid outlet;
- positioning means attached to said valve for sliding said valve body to a longitudinal position relative to said chamfer in said valve member such that the overlap of said chamfer is changeable relative to said fluid outlet of said valve body for varying the flow area through said valve so as to vary the fluid flow being supplied to the at least one nozzle, said longitudinal position of said valve body relative to said chamber being based upon the cross sectional area of the at least one nozzle, said longitudinal position of said valve seat being presetable by the driver prior to spraying fluid from the at least one nozzle;
- rotating means attached to said valve for rotating said valve member in clockwise and counterclockwise directions for varying the flow area through said valve such that the orientation of said chamfer relative to said outlet of said valve body is changeable so as to vary the fluid flow being supplied to the at least one nozzle;
- actuation means electrically connected to said rotating means for actuating said rotating means, said actuation means being actuable by the driver from the moving vehicle during spraying;
- longitudinal indicating means associated with said positioning means for indicating the relative longitudinal position of said fluid outlet of said valve body to said chamfer;
- rotational indicating means associated with said rotating means for indicating the relative rotational position of said valve member to said valve seat such that the relative rotational position of said rotational indicating means indicates the percentage of fluid flow being supplied from the source to the pump to the at least one nozzle;
- and
- limiting means for limiting the rotation of said valve member.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.