Automatic sequence control apparatus

Claim 2

In an automatic sprinkler sequence control apparatus for controlling the operating sequence of a plurality of individual electrically activatable sprinkler components, the improvement comprising: a rotary switch including a shaft rotatably journaled in a support frame for unlimited rotation in one direction, detent means acting between said shaft and support frame for holding said shaft in a series of stable detent positions which are equally angularly spaced throughtout a full 360* turn of said shaft, a first contact deck having a plurality of first output contacts supported in a portion of a circular path about said shaft connected respectively through a plurality of first connecting means to a plurality of individual output terminals for said individual electrically activatable components, a first wiper contact means carried by said shaft and having a plurality of first angularly spaced wiper contacts sequentially engageable, one at at time, with said output contacts on rotation of said shaft, succeeding adjacent engaged positions of said wiper contact means with said output contacts coinciding with a succession of adjacent detent positions of said shaft; means for actuating said rotary switch including a trip lever oscillatably supported for swinging movement about said shaft and biased in one direction against a stop, and a pawl carried by said lever engageable with teeth on a ratchet wheel on said shaft to incrementally rotatably advance said shaft and wiper contact means between succeeding adjacent detent positions in response to repeated oscillations of said trip lever through a predetermined arc, the number of teeth on said ratchet wheel being a whole multiple of the number of said detent positions; timing means including a timing member and means for rotating said timing member at constant speed past said trip lever, a plurality of timing elements carried by said timing member sequentially engageable with said trip lever, each said timing element being effective when moved past said lever to oscillate said lever through said predetermined arc to rotatably advance said shaft and wiper contact means from one of said detent positions to a next adjacent detent position; and an electrical power source connected between said wiper contact means and a common output terminal for said individual electrically activatable components; whereby sequential actuation of said trip lever by said timing elements advances said wiper contact means to connect said power source successively between said individual output terminals and said common terminal to thereby activate and deactivate the individual electrically activatable components in predetermined sequence determined by the positions of said timing elements on said timing member.

Claim 3

In an automatic sprinkler sequence control apparatus according to claim 1 in which the relationship between said wiper contact means, output contacts, and detent positions of the shaft is S (N + 1) (360/D) where S the arcuate spacing of the wiper contacts on the wiper contact means about the shaft, in degrees, N the total number of output contacts connected to said individual output terminals, and D the total number of said detent positions of said shaft in a full 360* turn.

Claim 4

In an automatic sprinkler sequence control apparatus according to claim 1 in which said wiper contact means has a plurality of said wiper contacts equally arcuately spAced about said shaft.

Claim 5

In an automatic sprinkler sequence control apparatus according to claim 1 having a second contact deck having a plurality of second output contacts identical in number and position in the deck of said plurality of first output contacts supported in a portion of a circular path about said shaft connected respectively through a plurality of second connecting means to a first common conductor leading to a main output terminal for a main electrically activatable component connected between said main output terminal and said common output terminal; a second wiper contact means carried by said shaft having a plurality of second wiper contacts identical in number and orientation on said shaft to said first wiper contacts sequentially engageable, one at a time, with said second output contacts on rotation of said shaft, succeeding adjacent engaged positions of said first and second wiper contact means with corresponding first and second output contacts being coincident with one another; said electrical power source also being connected between said second wiper contact means and said common output terminal; whereby said main electrically activatable component is energized by said power source through said second wiper contact means simultaneously with energization of any of said individual electrically activatable components through said first wiper contact means.

Claim 6

In an automatic sprinkler sequence control apparatus according to claim 4 in which said first wiper contact means is engageable with only one of the first output contacts at a time enabling it to disengage a first output contact before engaging a succeeding adjacent first output contact; and said second wiper contact means is simultaneously engageable with a pair of adjacent second output contacts enabling said second wiper means to engage a second output contact before disengaging a preceding adjacent second output contact; whereby said main electrically activatable component is energized continuously for the entire period between energization of the first and deenergization of the last of said plurality of individual electrically octivatable components.

Claim 7

In an automatic sprinkler sequence control apparatus according to claim 5 in which said second wiper contact means has at least one wiper contact wider than the wiper contact of said first wiper contact means.

Claim 8

In an automatic sprinkler sequence control apparatus according to claim 4 in which each of the first and second wiper contact means has a plurality of wiper contacts equally arcuately spaced about the shaft.

Claim 9

In an automatic sprinkler sequence control apparatus according to claim 4 including a separate mode selector switch for each of said first connecting means and a corresponding second connecting means, and a second common conductor connecting each switch direct to said electrical power source, each said switch being actuatable between manual and automatic mode positions, each said switch being effective in the automatic mode position to a. connect the corresponding individual output terminal to said electrical power source through the corresponding first connecting means and a corresponding one of said first output contacts when the latter is engaged by said first wiper contact means, b. connect said main output terminal to said electrical power source through the corresponding second connecting means and a corresponding one of said second connecting means when the latter is engaged by said second wiper contact means, each said switch being effective in the manual mode position to connect said corresponding individual output terminal and said main output terminal direct to said electrical power source through said second common conductor and thereby bypass said first and second connecting means and said wiper contact means and output contacts.

Claim 10

In an automatic sprinkler sequence control apparatus according to claim 1 including a separate moDe selector switch for each of said first connecting means and a common conductor connecting each switch direct to said electrical power source, each switch being actuatable between manual and automatic mode positions, each switch being effective in the automatic mode position to connect the corresponding individual output terminal to said electrical power source through a corresponding one of said output contacts when the latter is engaged by said wiper contact means, and each switch being effective in the manual mode position to connect said corresponding individual output terminal direct to said electrical power source through said common conductor and thereby bypass said first connecting means and said wiper contact means and output contacts.

Claim 11

In an automatic sprinkler sequence control system having: a plurality of sprinkler means each connected through conduit means to a source of water; an individual electrically activatable valve in said conduit means controlling flow to each sprinkler means; the improvement comprising programming means having a rotary switch including a shaft rotatably journaled in a support frame for unlimited rotation in one direction, detent means acting between said shaft and support frame for holding said shaft in a series of stable detent positions which are equally angularly spaced throughout a full 360* turn of said shaft, once contact deck having one plurality of output contacts supported in a portion of a circular path about said shaft connected respectively to said electrically activatable valves, one wiper contact means carried by said shaft and having a plurality of wiper contacts equally arcuately spaced about said shaft, each being sequentially engageable with said output contacts on rotation of said shaft, succeeding adjacent engaged positions of said wiper contacts with said output contacts coinciding with a succession of adjacent detent positions of said shaft; means for actuating said rotary switch including a trip lever oscillatably supported for swinging movement about said shaft and biased in one direction against a stop, and a pawl carried by said lever engageable with teeth on a ratchet wheel on said shaft to incrementally rotatably advance said shaft and wiper contact means between succeeding adjacent detent positions in response to repeated oscillations of said trip lever through a predetermined arc, the number of teeth on said ratchet wheel being a whole multiple of the number of said detent positions; timing means including a timing member and means for rotating said timing member at constant speed past said trip lever, a plurality of timing elements carried by said timing member sequentially engageable with said trip lever, each said timing element being effective when moved past said lever to oscillate said lever through said predetermined arc to rotatably advance said shaft and wiper contact means from one of said detent position; an electrical power source connected between said wiper contact means and each of said individual electrically activatable valves; whereby sequential actuation of said trip lever by said timing elements advances said wiper contact means to connect said power source successively to said individual electrically activatable valves to thereby energize and deenergize said valves in predetermined sequence determined by the positions of said timing elements on said timing member.

Claim 12

In an automatic sprinkler sequence control system having: a plurality of sprinkler means each connected through conduit means to a source of water; an individual electrically activatable valve in said conduit means controlling flow to each sprinkler means; the improvement comprising programming means having a rotary switch including a shaft rotatably journaled in a support frame for unlimited rotation in one direction, detent means acting between said shaft and support frame for holding said shaft in a series of stable detent positions which are equally angularly spaced throughout a full 360* turn of said shaft, once contact deck having one plurality of output contacts supported in a portion of a circular path about said shaft connected respectively to said electrically activatable valves, one wiper contact means carried by said shaft and having a plurality of wiper contacts equally arcuately spaced about said shaft, each being sequentially engageable with said output contacts on rotation of said shaft, succeeding adjacent engaged positions of said wiper contacts with said output contacts coinciding with a succession of adjacent detent positions of said shaft; means for actuating said rotary switch including a trip lever oscillatably supported for swinging movement about said shaft and biased in one direction against a stop, and a pawl carried by said lever engageable with teeth on a ratchet wheel on said shaft to incrementally rotatably advance said shaft and wiper contact means between succeeding adjacent detent positions in response to repeated oscillations of said trip lever through a predetermined arc, the number of teeth on said ratchet wheel being a whole multiple of the number of said detent positions; timing means including a timing member and means for rotating said timing member at constant speed past said trip lever, a plurality of timing elements carried by said timing member sequentially engageable with said trip lever, each said timing element being effective when moved past said lever to oscillate said lever through said predetermined arc to rotatably advance said shaft and wiper contact means from one of said detent position; an electrical power source connected between said wiper contact means and each of said individual electrically activatable valves; whereby sequential actuation of said trip lever by said timing elements advances said wiper contact means to connect said power source successively to said individual electrically activatable valves to thereby energize and deenergize said valves in predetermined sequence determined by the positions of said timing elements on said timing member.

Claim 13

In an automatic sprinkler sequence control system according to claim 10 having a main electrically activatable flow controlling component in said conduit means controlling flow of water from said source to said valves; another contact deck having a plurality of output contacts supported in a portion of a circular path about said shaft and connected to said main electrically activatable flow controlling component; said other contact deck having wiper contact means carried by said shaft and a plurality of wipeR contacts identical in number and spacing about said shaft to said plurality of wiper contacts in said one contact deck and sequentially engageable, one at a time, with the output contacts in said other deck on rotation of said shaft, said electrical power source also being connecting between the wiper contact means in said other deck and said main electrically activatable flow controlling component; whereby said main electrically activatable flow controlling component is energized by said power source through the wiper contact means in said second deck simultaneously with energization of any of said individual electrically activatable valves through the wiper contact means in said one deck.

Claim 14

In an automatic sprinkler sequence control system according to claim 11 in which each of said plurality of wiper contacts in said one deck are engageable one at a time with the output contacts in that deck enabling each wiper contact to disengage an output contact before engaging a succeeding adjacent output contact; and each of said plurality of wiper contacts in said other deck are simultaneously engageable with a pair or adjacent output contacts in that deck enabling each wiper contact to engage an output contact before disengaging a preceding adjacent output contact; whereby said main electrically activatable component is energized for the entire period between energization of the first and deenergization of the last of said valves.

Claim 15

In an automatic sprinkler sequence control system according to claim 12 in which the wiper contacts in said other deck are wider than the wiper contacts in said one deck.

Claim 16

In an automatic sprinkler sequence control system according to claim 10 in which said shaft is rotatably in said one direction to override said ratchet, and there is a manually operable knob on said shaft effective to rotatably index said shaft in said one direction to a selected position.

Claim 17

An automatic sprinkler sequence control system comprising: a plurality of sprinkler means each connected through conduit means to a source of water; an individual electrically activatable valve in said conduit means controlling flow to each sprinkler means; a main electrically activatable flow controlling component in said conduit means controlling flow of water from said source to said valves; rotary switch means including a support frame, a rotary shaft rotatably journaled in said support frame, detent means acting between said shaft and frame for sequentially retaining said shaft in a plurality of evenly arcuately spaced stable detent position, separate first and second contact decks at axially spaced locations along said shaft, each deck having a series of output contacts corresponding in number to said plurality of valves supported in a portion of a circular path about said shaft, separate first and second wiper contact means carried at axially spaced locations on said shaft each having at least one wiper contact sequentially engageable on rotation of said shaft with corresponding output contacts in said first and second decks respectively, succeeding engaged positions of said wiper contact means on said output contacts coinciding with some succeeding detent positions of said shaft, said wiper contact of said first wiper contact means being engageable with only one of the corresponding output contacts at a time enabling it to disengage an output contact before engaging an adjacent succeeding one, said wiper contact of said second wiper contact means being simultaneously engageable with a pair of adjacent ones of the corresponding output contacts enabling it to engage an output contact before disengaging an adjacent preceding one; means for actuating said rotary switch means to rotate said shaft to cause said first and second wiper contact means successively to engage the corresponding output contacts including a trip lever journaled for forward and backward swinging movement thrOugh a predetermined arc about said shaft, means biasing said trip lever in a backward swinging direction, stop means limiting such backward swinging movement, and a pawl carried by said lever engageable with a ratchet wheel on said shaft effective to incrementally rotatably advance said shaft and said first and second wiper contact means in response to repeated forward and backward swinging movement of said trip lever, the number of teeth on said ratchet wheel being a whole multiple of the number of said detent positions; and timing means including a timing disc and means for rotating said disc at constant speed past said trip lever, a plurality of timing elements carried by said timing disc sequentially engageable with said trip lever, each said timing element being effective when so engaged to swing said trip lever through said predetermined arc to rotatably advance said shaft and said first and second wiper contact means from one of said detent positions to the next; the relationship between output contacts, detent means, ratchet teeth, and first and second wiper contacts being S (N + 1) (360/D) where S the arcuate spacing of said wiper contacts in each wiper contact means, about the shaft, in degrees N the total number of said output contacts in each deck D the total number of said detent positions of said shaft in a full 360* turn; an electrical power source having one power output terminal connected in common to one power input terminal of said main electrically activatable flow controlling component and to one power input terminal of each of said electrically activatable vavles, said electrical power source having another power output terminal connected in common to both of said first and second wiper contact means; and conductor means connecting the output contacts in the first contact deck to another power input terminal of each of said electrically activatable valves, and connecting all of the output contacts in the second contact to another power input terminal of said main electrically activatable flow controlling component; whereby sequential actuation of said trip lever by said timing elements causes said ratchet to simultaneously rotatably advance said first and second wiper contact means, thereby successively activating and deactivating said valves individually and in sequence through said first wiper contact means, and maintaining said main flow controlling component activated for the entire sprinkling period between actuations of the trip lever by the first and last timing elements in said plurality of timing elements.

Claim 18

An automatic sprinkler sequence control system comprising: a plurality of sprinkler means each connected through conduit means to a source of water; an individual electrically activatable valve in said conduit means controlling flow to each sprinkler means; a main electrically activatable flow controlling component in said conduit means controlling flow of water from said source to said valves; rotary switch means including a support frame, a rotary shaft rotatably journaled in said support frame, detent means acting between said shaft and frame for sequentially retaining said shaft in a plurality of evenly arcuately spaced stable detent position, separate first and second contact decks at axially spaced locations along said shaft, each deck having a series of output contacts corresponding in number to said plurality of valves supported in a portion of a circular path about said shaft, separate first and second wiper contact means carried at axially spaced locations on said shaft each having at least one wiper contact sequentially engageable on rotation of said shaft with corresponding output contacts in said first and second decks respectively, succeeding engaged positions of said wiper contact means on said output contacts coinciding with some succeeding detent positions of said shaft, said wiper contact of said first wiper contact means being engageable with only one of the corresponding output contacts at a time enabling it to disengage an output contact before engaging an adjacent succeeding one, said wiper contact of said second wiper contact means being simultaneously engageable with a pair of adjacent ones of the corresponding output contacts enabling it to engage an output contact before disengaging an adjacent preceding one; means for actuating said rotary switch means to rotate said shaft to cause said first and second wiper contact means successively to engage the corresponding output contacts including a trip lever journaled for forward and backward swinging movement thrOugh a predetermined arc about said shaft, means biasing said trip lever in a backward swinging direction, stop means limiting such backward swinging movement, and a pawl carried by said lever engageable with a ratchet wheel on said shaft effective to incrementally rotatably advance said shaft and said first and second wiper contact means in response to repeated forward and backward swinging movement of said trip lever, the number of teeth on said ratchet wheel being a whole multiple of the number of said detent positions; and timing means including a timing disc and means for rotating said disc at constant speed past said trip lever, a plurality of timing elements carried by said timing disc sequentially engageable with said trip lever, each said timing element being effective when so engaged to swing said trip lever through said predetermined arc to rotatably advance said shaft and said first and second wiper contact means from one of said detent positions to the next; the relationship between output contacts, detent means, ratchet teeth, and first and second wiper contacts being S (N + 1) (360/D) where S the arcuate spacing of said wiper contacts in each wiper contact means, about the shaft, in degrees N the total number of said output contacts in each deck D the total number of said detent positions of said shaft in a full 360* turn; an electrical power source having one power output terminal connected in common to one power input terminal of said main electrically activatable flow controlling component and to one power input terminal of each of said electrically activatable vavles, said electrical power source having another power output terminal connected in common to both of said first and second wiper contact means; and conductor means connecting the output contacts in the first contact deck to another power input terminal of each of said electrically activatable valves, and connecting all of the output contacts in the second contact to another power input terminal of said main electrically activatable flow controlling component; whereby sequential actuation of said trip lever by said timing elements causes said ratchet to simultaneously rotatably advance said first and second wiper contact means, thereby successively activating and deactivating said valves individually and in sequence through said first wiper contact means, and maintaining said main flow controlling component activated for the entire sprinkling period between actuations of the trip lever by the first and last timing elements in said plurality of timing elements.