Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
, CA 02051662 1999-02-25
SPRAY NOZZLE
The present invention generally relates to a
spray nozzle and more specifically to a nozzle to
discharge liquid material in a pattern which has the same
quantity of liquid material in each increment of the
pattern. The nozzle may be used in various orientations
in which a supply of pressurized liquid is available with
the liquid being discharged generally in a lateral
direction in relation to the path of movement of the
nozzle thereby rendering the nozzle quite effective for
use in discharging liquid fertilizer, growth retardant,
insect sprays, orchard spray material and the like in an
effective manner. In one embodiment of the invention, a
nozzle is provided with a discharge passageway, a
downwardly opening, inverted U-shaped extension of the
passageway and a curved blade diffuser in the inverted U-
shaped extension of the passageway to break up the liquid
flow into droplets and to cause the droplets to be
discharged in a lateral pattern with substantially equal
quantities of liquid material being discharged in each
increment of the path being traversed by the nozzle. In
another embodiment of the invention, an additive inj ector
is incorporated into the nozzle which enables a
controlled quantity of liquid material to be injected
into the main flow of liquid being discharged with the
diffuser effectively serving as a mixer for the additive
and the liquid discharged from the nozzle.
Spray nozzles of. various types are well known
for irrigation purposes, discharging fertilizer from a
mobile vehicle with a tank and pump assembly and for
various other purposes including spraying trees and
CA 02051662 1999-02-25
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orchards, applying insecticides, growth retardants and
the like. My prior Pat. No. 4,648,558 issued March 10,
1987 for Sprinkler Assembly discloses a discharge nozzle
with a diffuser to provide a spray pattern in which equal
quantities of liquid are discharged onto a surface area.
This patent and the prior art cited therein relate to
various types of sprinkler nozzles or spray nozzles but
the prior art does not disclose a nozzle in accordance
with the present invention.
l0
An object of the present invention is to provide
a spray nozzle having a body with a passageway
therethrough for receiving liquid under pressure with an
extension of the passageway being in the form of an
inverted, downwardly opening U-shaped passageway provided
with a diffuser blade adjacent the outer end thereof to
break the stream of liquid into droplets in a manner that
the droplets will be discharged over a path of movement
of the nozzle with each increment of the pattern covered
by the nozzle receiving substantially the same quantity
of discharged material.
Another object of the invention is to provide a
nozzle which enables a boom spray arrangement to be
modified by eliminating normally provided 20 ft. booms or
the like which extend laterally from opposite sides of a
mobile vehicle having a tank, pressure providing pump and
boom with a plurality of nozzles thereon and replacement
with two oppositely facing nozzles of this invention for
applying liquid laterally of the path of movement of the
vehicle with the spray pattern depositing equal amounts
of liquid throughout the lateral distance of application
of the liquid.
An aspect of the invention provides a nozzle
combined with an injector structure which
CA 02051662 1999-02-25
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enables ari additive material to be injected into the flow
passageway with the diffuser blade mixing the additive
material with the liquid passing through the nozzle to
provide a homogenous mixture and discharging this mixture
in the manner set forth in the preceding objects.
A feature of the invention is the provision of a
nozzle which can be mounted on the side of a truck to spray
growth retardant, weed :killer or the like onto road
right-of-way areas to reduce the necessity of mowing
along road right-of-ways with the nozzle also being
capable of being angled upwardly to spray orchard trees
and particularly spray the undersurface of the leaves on
orchard trees for more effective application of materials
to the trees.
Another aspect of the present invention is the
provision of a nozzle with an additive injector which
enables additive material to be discharged from the
nozzles without overcoming line pressure in a spray boom
thereby enabling additives to be applied under computer
control arrangements that may be responsive to infrared
survey of organic material present in an area being
covered by spray material.
These together with other obj ects and advantages
which will become subsequently apparent reside in the
details of construction and operation as more fully
hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to
the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein
like numerals refer to like parts throughout.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 is a rear elevational view of a spray
device illustrating two nozzles of the present invention
incorporated therein for discharging a spray pattern
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laterally to each side of a vehicle.
Figure 2 is a perspective view of the nozzle of
this invention.
Figure 3 is an end elevational view of the
nozzle.
Figure 4 is a longitudinal, sectional view of
the nozzle taken substantially along section line 4-4 on
Fig. 3 illustrating the structural details of the nozzle.
Figure 5 is a longitudinal, sectional view of
the nozzle taken along section line 5-5 on Fig. 4.
Figure 6 is a transverse, sectional view taken
along section line 6-6 on Fig. 4.
Figure 7 is a perspective view of the nozzle
with an additive injector structure incorporated therein.
Figure 8 is a longitudinal, sectional view taken
along section 8-8 line on Fig. 7 illustrating the
structural details of this embodiment of the invention.
Figure 9 is a transverse, sectional view taken
along section line 9-9 on Fig. 8 illustrating further
structural details of the additive injector nozzle.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The nozzle illustrated in Figs. 1-6 is generally
designated by reference numeral 10 and, as illustrated in
Fig. 1, a pair of nozzles 10 are attached to a tee
fitting 12 mounted at the rear of a tractor or similar
vehicle 14 provided with a supply tank 16 of liquid to be
discharged onto the ground surface 18 in both lateral
directions in relation to the tractor 14. The tank 16
contains a liquid and a pump (not shown) is utilized to
provide a supply of pressurized liquid to the tee fitting
and the nozzles 10. The nozzles 10 discharge the liquid
material in a laterally extending spray pattern 20 which
has overlapping inner portions. The nozzles 10
effectively replace booms which may be 20 ft. in length
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and extend laterally from the tractor in both lateral
directions thereby enabling the booms to be removed along
with the multiple spray nozzles employed thereon and this
entire assembly replaced by a pair of nozzles l0 attached
5 directly to the tee fitting 12. The nozzle 10 includes
a body 22 of tubular construction that is provided with
an externally threaded end portion 24 for mounting in the
end of the tee fitting 12 or other pipe. The body 22 is
provided with an enlarged flange 26 with flats 28 thereon
by which a wrench can be used to secure the nozzle 10 in
place on the tee fitting 12 in a well-known manner. The
end of the body 22 that is inserted into the tee fitting
is provided with an enlarged recess or passageway 30 that
extends a substantial distance into the body and
terminates in a shoulder 32 having a passageway 34 formed
therein at the center with the passageway 34 being of
circular configuration but smaller in diameter than the
passageway 30 as illustrated in Fig. 4.
Extending longitudinally from the body 22 is an
extension of the body generally designated by numeral 36
which basically is an inverted U-shaped member provided
with a pair of oppositely disposed walls 38 and 40 which
are spaced apart at the bottom edge and connected by a
web portion 42 at the upper edge with the interior of the
web portion 42 being designated by numeral 44 and forming
a continuation of the upper surface of the passageway 34.
The interior parallel surfaces 46 of the walls 38 and 40
are tangential to the side edge portions of the
passageway 34 as illustrated in Fig. 3 with the lower
edges 48 of the walls 38 and 40 extending downwardly
below the lower edge of the passageway. As illustrated,
the wall surfaces 46 are parallel and spaced apart a
distance equal to the diameter of the passageway 34 as
illustrated in Fig. 3 with the lower edges 48 being
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disposed substantially below the bottom portion of the
passageway 34 thus forming an inverted U-shaped channel
that is open to the bottom surface of the extension 36
with the inner wa7.1 of the slot-like passageway being
defined by reference numeral 50 which is perpendicular to
the passageway 34 with the wall 52 defining the bottom of
the passageway having a nominal width to provide a
cylindrical passageway 34 of a relatively short distance.
The discharge ends of the walls 38 and 40 and
the web portion 42 are generally perpendicular to the
longitudinal axis of the passageway 34 with the bottom
corners thereof being rounded as at 54. A diffuser 56 is
mounted in the discharge end of the nozzle and includes
a mounting plate 58 at its upper end received in a slot
,like recess 60 in the web portion 42 and secured therein
by pins or other type fasteners 62 to enable assembly of
the diffuser and also enable replacement or interchange
of the diffuser.
The diffuser 56 is in the form of a curved blade
structure having a generally vertically disposed blade
member 64 having an arcuately curved edge 66 facing the
passageway 34 and an arcuately curved outer lower corner
portion 68 generally conforming with the curvature of the
end edges 54 of the walls 38 and 40 as illustrated in
Fig. 4. The blade 64 includes an upper portion 70 that
tapers from a wider edge adjacent the curved edge 66 into
a narrow edge at the discharge end of the diffuser with
this tapered portion being generally triangular in
configuration and tapering from the leading to the
trailing edge of the blade 64. The curved edge 66 and
the major portion of the blade 64 has parallel side
surfaces which are spaced inwardly from the inner
surfaces 46 of the walls 38 and 40 as illustrated in
Figs. 5 and 6 with Fig. 5 illustrating the tapered
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configuration of the upper portion 70 of the diffuser 56.
The nozzle may be constructed of various
materials including metals, plastics and the like and can
be constructed of different dimensions. The stationary
diffuser provides effective diffusion of the liquid
stream passing through the passageway 34 to provide an
even spray pattern 20. At the present time, two sizes of
nozzles have been successfully used in which a nozzle
having a capacity of approximately 16-1/2 gals. per
minute has a passageway diameter of .375" and a nozzle
having 22 gals. per minute capacity has a passageway
diameter of .437". The ratio of diamater to the gallons
per minute discharged will be substantially constant with
the nozzles capable of discharging a pattern of
approximately 20' width on both sides of a tractor
thereby enabling two 20' booms to be replaced. The
nozzle can be used tc apply fertilizer or various other
materials to a surface and has also been used to apply
growth retardant along road right-of-ways to retard the
growth and thus reduce the mowing operations necessary
to keep the grass, weeds and the like along the road
right-of-way at an acceptable height thereby effectively
saving time and labor. When used as a growth retardant
spray, the nozzle cain be mounted on the side of a truck
that moves along the road right-of-way at a substantial
speed. The nozzle can also be used to spray orchards by
being angled upwardly depending upon the height
characteristics of the orchard trees.
The nozzle with additive injector illustrated in
Figs. 7-9 is generally designated by reference numeral 80
and includes a body 82 and passageway 84 together with
walls 86 and 88 forming an extension thereof and a
diffuser 90 associated with the inner surface of the
walls 86 and 88 in the same manner as the structure
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illustrated in Figs. 1-6. Tn this embodiment, the body
82 is provided with a cylindrical external recess or
manifold 92 having a plurality of radial passageways 94
formed therein which communicate the exterior of the
manifold 92 with the passageway 84 which is slightly
longer than the passageway 34 in the embodiment illus-
trated in Figs. 1-6. A manifold ring 96 of cylindrical
configuration closely encircles and rotatably engages the
manifold 92 with the inner surface of the manifold ring
96 being spaced from and rotatable in relation to the
manifold 92 with the space being designated by reference
numeral 98 and forming an annular manifold space in
communication with all of the radial passageways 94
thereby enabling injection of liquid material from the
manifold space 98 through the passageways 94 into the
longitudinal passageway 84. A screw threaded fitting 100
is mounted in the manifold ring 96 at one location
therein with the inner end of the fitting 100
communicating with the manifold space 98. The fitting
100 includes an extension 102 to which a flexible hose
104 may be connected in a sealed manner to discharge
additive material into. the manifold space 98. The
surface of body 82 is provided with a pair of spaced O-
rings 106 adjacent each edge of manifold 92 to seal the
manifold ring 96 in relation to the manifold 92 thereby
preventing leakage of additive material from the manifold
space 98 but yet permitting the manifold ring 96 to be
oriented in any desired angular relation and also
enabling the manifold ring 96 to be moved longitudinally
for disassembly to enable cleaning and the like when
necessary by overcoming the frictional engagement of the
O-rings 106 with the interior surface of the manifold
ring 96.
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The threaded connection of the nozzle 80 to a
supply pipe or tee fitting is the same as that
illustrated in Figs. 1-6 and the structure of the
inwerted U-shaped passageway defined by the walls 86 and
88 and the diffuser and mixer structur 90 also is the
same as that illustrated in Figs. 1-6.
This type of nozzle is especially useful in
arrangements in which an area to be provided with an
application of fertilizer or other liquid material is
surveyed by an aerial infrared survey to determine
organic material present in the soil. This type of
operation enables a computer control responsiwe to the
survey to introduce varying quantities of added material
which normally is introduced at the inlet of a boom. As
a spray wehicle travels at a relatively high speed across
the area being sprayed, there is a time lag between the
time the computer indicates a change in the additive
material until the change actually occurs since the
change in additive material must move outwardly through
the boom to the individual spray nozzle before it
actually is discharged thus introducing errors in the
application rate as determined by the survey. With this
additive injector, the additive material is actually
injected at the nozzle thereby providing an accurate
control for the quantity of additive material injected
into the liquid spray thereby producing a highly accurate
control for varying the rate of additive material
injected into the liquid being discharged and mixed
therewith by the diffuser 90. The manifold ring extends
completely around the body thus enabling the ring to
rotate 360° for mounting the nozzle at any position with
the supply tube positioned at any point around the
circumference. The manifold ring is also easily
removable for cleaning and servicing.
CA 02051662 1999-02-25
As indicated, the infrared survey is used to
determine soil organic matter and whether more or less
herbicide or other additive material is necessary.
However, rather than the chemicals being injected into
5 the suction side of a pump with considerable lag before
rate change gets _to the nozzles on a boom which is
travelling at a reasonably high rate of speed resulting
in substantial inaccuracies, the nozzle disclosed herein
injects the additive directly into the nozzle thus
10 providing instantaneous chemical rate changes as directed
by a controlling computer.
In the embodiment illustrated in Figs. 7-9, as
water travels from the large nozzle cavity into the
smaller orifice or passageway 84, the water accelerates
rapidly and lowers the pressure in the nozzle orifice.
In the use of this device, the water pressure may go from
40 PSI in the nozzle cavity to near 0 PSI as it passes
the injector tubes 94. This makes it possible to inject
chemicals with relatively simple low pressure pumps.
This construction also injects the chemicals all the way
around the stream of water through the passageways 94 for
more complete mixing. The diffuser will evenly
distribute the water along a narrow band and also acts to
further mix and blend the chemicals as the stream flows
past the diffuser. With the manifold ring in place, the
chemical enters the chemical injector into the manifold
through the injector tube or tubes and into the stream of
water. While this structure has some attributes of a
venturi, it is not a true venturi because it has no
convex constrictor normally found in venturi systems.
Even though this nozzle is not designed to self-feed, it
will do so if the chemical container is raised above the
nozzle level so that, in this condition, gravity and a
near 0 psi water pressure as it passes the injector tubes
will cause the nozzle to self-feed.
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The inverted U-shaped construction of the
discharge portion of the nozzle from the passageway or
orifice to the end of the nozzle is extremely important
to provide the accurate pattern of discharge. The width
of the discharge area remains the same as the diameter of
the passageway or orifice. However, the length of the
discharge area may vary. The radius of the leading edge
of the diffuser serves to pool the water and does not act
as a full radius or true half-circle. The width of the
diffuser is commensurate with the diameter of the
passageway and the double angle taper at the upper edge
of the diffuser to the trailing edge causes a vacuum to
be created in the area as the water exits the nozzle.
This creates a turbulence in the stream which breaks the
water droplets up for better distribution and coverage.
In describing the function of the diffuser, it is pointed
out that as the liquid comes in contact With the curved
face 66 of the diffuser 56, that portion in contact with
the curved face is directed downward around the curved
face of the diffuser and discharged toward the rear of
the nozzle to facilitate overlapping of the spray pattern
from the opposite nozzle. However, that is not the only
function of the radius or curve of the diffuser. While
the portion of liquid in contact with the curved face of
the diffuser travels in a downward direction, the portion
of liquid on either side of the diffuser attempts to
continue its travel past the diffuser in a straight line.
At this point, there is a confined liquid
flowing in two directions at a high velocity. This
creates a shearing effect between the two. This shearing
effect created by the liquid flowing in a downward and
circular direction around the face of the diffuser causes
a portion of the liquid passing on either side of the
diffuser to be drawn down also.
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The size and depth of the radius in the diffuser
in combination with the width of the diffuser determines
the distribution pattern of the liquid for a given
orifice size. &y changing this combination as described
above, the pattern can be shifted from heavy to light on
either end or the same from end to end.
The dimensions of a nozzle having a .375"
passageway includes a diffuser that has a radius of .250"
on the leading edge with the lower end thereof being
inclined at an angle approximately 50° to 60° from
vertical. The thickness of the blade may be .109 at the
leading edge and the rear edge of the tapered portion may
be .020 and the trailing radius may be .406. The overall
length of the mounting portion of the diffuser may be
.480 and the overall height of the diffuser from, the
upper edge to the lower edge may be .925. With the space
between the inner surface of the walls being .375 which
is the same as the diameter of the passageway 34, the
space between the surfaces of the diffuser at the lower
end portion thereof will be .132". The thickness of the
wall 52 may be .10 and the overall length of the
discharge portion of the nozzle designated by numeral 36
may be 1.450. As illustrated, the walls 38 and 40 may
have a notched upper surface and an inwardly curved lower
edge. However, this is not critical to operation of the
nozzle.
The material preferred for the nozzle body is
stainless steel and the material preferred for the
diffuser is a plastic material such as nylon or the like.
The nozzle may be used for applying various materials to
road right-of-ways,. power line right-of-ways, orchards,
fields to be planted or cultivated and wherever it is
desired to discharge a spray pattern having even
distribution of material in each increment of the spray
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pattern.
The foregoing is considered as illustrative only
of the principles of the invention. Further, since
numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to
those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the
invention to the exact construction arid operation shown
and described, and, accordingly, all suitable
modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling
within the scope of the invention.
