US 7,152,812 B1Granted

Front mounted zero turn radius walk behind sprayer

OwnerWilliam D. Johnsoninventor

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Abstract

The present invention comprises a walk behind zero turn radius drive unit and a front spray frame carrying a plurality of transversely spaced, clearly observable spray nozzles. The drive unit permits accurate and high productivity traverse of the application area with the ability to steer around obstacles and accurately traverse an irregular edging pattern. The spray frame includes a pair of folding spray arms, each of which carried dispensing nozzles. Another set of nozzles is positioned at the sides of the frame. All the nozzles are within the forward lateral view of the operator permitting ready steering of the drive unit around the borders of the application area. The nozzles are supplied with liquid from a frame mounted tank by an electric pump powered by the drive unit. The spray nozzles are controlled by an operator valve positioned adjacent the drive unit control, thereby allowing operator to control the application during travel. For narrower application paths the boom arms may be raised and the boom nozzles inactivated by the control valve. The sprayer is also provided with an edging curtain that is removably mounted at the sides of the frame. The curtain provides a lateral spray barrier and drip edge that, in combination the ZTR drive, provides close delineation between adjacent areas to prevent unwanted treatment of a border area.

A walk behind sprayer for applying maintenance liquids within the border of a turf growing area comprising:

a walk behind zero turn radius drive unit having an engine operatively connected to a pair of laterally spaced manually steerable drive wheels;
a rear operator control handle assembly for selectively controlling rotation of said drive wheels;
a generally rectangular metal frame connected at a rear end to the front end of said drive unit and having a pair of laterally spaced wheel assemblies including pivotal wheels connected at the front end thereof;
sprayer arms mounted on opposite sides of said frame and extending outwardly therefrom, said arms moveable between a horizontal spray position and a vertical stowed position;
a transversely disposed fluid tank mounted on the top of said frame;
an electric pump mounted on said tank and having an inlet in said tank for removing liquid from said tank, said pump having an outlet fluidly connected with an inlet on valve means carried on said control handle;
a first fluid conduit having an inlet connected with a first outlet on said valve means and a distal end extending transversely across said frame;
a first plurality of fluid dispensing nozzles on said distal end of said first fluid conduit;
a second fluid conduit having an inlet fluidly connected with a second outlet on said valve means and having branch conduits extending to said spray arms;
fluid dispensing nozzles on said branch conduits, said valve means being manually operative to block flow to said fluid conduits in a first position and to selectively deliver fluid to said conduits in secondary positions;
and a vertically extending spray barrier transversely attached to a side of said frame adjacent one of said sprayer arms in said stowed position, said spray barrier effective to block outward spray of liquid from an adjacent nozzle on said first conduit for direction downwardly at defined drip edges thereby preventing unwanted application of the liquid beyond the border.

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Abstract

Claims13