Drip irrigation conduit and method of making the same

Claim 3

A method as defined in claim 1 including overlapping the longitudinally extending portions of the sheet to form at least one retaining tube with said secondary tube being within said retaining tube.

Claim 4

A method as defined in claim 1 including wrapping'the sheet at least part way around said secondary tube and carrying out at least a portion of said step of attaching said secondary tube to thereby attach the sheet to said secondary tube with the sheet wrapped at least part way around said secondary tube.

Claim 5

A method as defined in claim 3 wherein said step of attaching the longitudinally extending portions is carried out so that said secondary tube is within said supply tube.

Claim 6

An irrigation conduit comprising: an elongated secondary tube having a peripheral wall and at least one elongated secondary passage therein; an elongated supply tube having an elongated supply passage and including sheet material and means for joining longitudinally extending portions of the sheet material to form at least one seam, the cross-sectional area of said supply passage being greater than the cross-sectional area of said secondary passage; a region of said sheet material extending at least part way around the periphery of said secondary tube; means for retaining said secondary tube on said region of the sheet material; a plurality of transfer ports extending between said passages; and a plurality of discharge ports extending from said secondary passage to a location outside said passages whereby water can flow from the supply passage through the transfer ports, the secondary passage and the discharge ports.

Claim 7

An irrigation conduit comprising: an elongated secondary tube having a peripheral wall and at least one elongated secondary passage therein; an elongated supply tube having an elongated supply passage and including sheet material and means for joining longitudinally extending portions of the sheet material to form at least one seam, the cross-sectional area of said supply passage being greater than the cross-sectional area of said secondary passage; a region of said sheet material extending at least part way around the periphery of said secondary tube; means for retaining said secondary tube on said region of the sheet material; a plurality of transfer ports extending between said passages; and a plurality of discharge ports extending from said secondary passage to a location outside said passages whereby water can flow from the supply passage through the transfer ports, the secondary passage and the discharge ports.

Claim 8

An irrigation conduit as defined in claim 5 wherein the cross-sectional area of the sec- ondary passage is sufficiently small to cause the water to be discharged from the discharge ports at a trickle rate.

Claim 9

An irrigation conduit as defined in claim 5 wherein said region of the sheet material includes said longitudinally extending portions, said longitudinally extending portions being overlapped to define a retaining tube, said secondary tube being within said retaining tube and said retaining means including said retaining tube.

Claim 10

An irrigation conduit as defined in claim 5 wherein said sheet material includes first and second sheets of sheet material, said retaining means includes said second sheet of sheet material and a portion of said first sheet of sheet material, said secondary tube being retained between said second sheet and said portion of said first sheet.

Claim 11

An irrigation conduit as defined in claim 5 wherein said sheet material circumscribes the secondary tube and said region is bonded to the secondary tube, said discharge ports extend through the peripheral wall of the secondary tube and said region of the sheet material.

Claim 12

An irrigation conduit as defined in claim 5 wherein said retaining means includes means for attaching the sheet material to the secondary tube along at least two zones of said region, said zones being circumferentially spaced on said secondary tube and extending along said secondary tube whereby said supply tube in- clu des said region of sheet material between said zones and a portion of said secondary tube.