Drip-type irrigation emitter

Claim 2

An irrigation emitter, comprising: a housing having a cylindrical wall with an inlet opening extending therethrough adjacent one end thereof, said housing also having an axially extending discharge nozzle spaced from said inlet opening; a valve seat surrounding the inner end of said nozzle; a valve disc in said housing having one side thereof engageable with said seat, said valve disc having a metering groove in the seating side thereof, said groove serving as an orifice when the valve disc is seated, said valve disc being formed of resilient, deformable material so that when said valve disc is seated, the cross-sectional area of said orifice will vary in accordance with the changes in pressure acting on the non-seating side of said valve disc and maintain a uniform rate of flow through the emitter, regardless of variations in the pressure acting on said disc.

Claim 3

An irrigation emitter as claimed in claim 1, wherein the metering groove is generally triangular in cross-section.

Claim 4

An irrigation emitter as claimed in claim 1, wherein the valve seat has a knife-edge engageable by the valve disc.

Claim 5

An irrigation system comprising: an irrigation line; at least one emitter connected in said irrigation line, said emitter comprising a cylindrical housing arranged parallel with said irrigation line and having an axial outlet; an extension projecting tangentially relative to said housing and connecting said housing with said irrigation line, said extension having a passage extending therethrough communicating with said irrigation line at one end and with the upper portion of the interior of the housing at the other end, said emitter being connected with said irrigation line so that said extension projects upwardly on an angle from said irrigation line, whereby back-flow through said passage is prevented when the supply of water to the irrigation line is shut off.

Claim 6

An irrigation system comprising: an irrigation line; at least one emitter connected in said irrigation line, said emitter comprising a cylindrical housing arranged parallel with said irrigation line and having an axial outlet; an extension projecting tangentially relative to said housing and connecting said housing with said irrigation line, said extension having a passage extending therethrough communicating with said irrigation line at one end and with the upper portion of the interior of the housing at the other end, said emitter being connected with said irrigation line so that said extension projects upwardly on an angle from said irrigation line, whereby back-flow through said passage is prevented when the supply of water to the irrigation line is shut off.

Claim 7

An irrigation emitter to be connected in an irrigation line, comprising: a cylindrical housing having an inlet for the introduction of water at one end, a discharge nozzle at its other end and a sediment collecting cavity between said inlet and said discharge nozzle; valve means in said housing controlling the flow of water through said nozzle; means connected with said valve means and movable axially in said housing in response to pressure and flow through said housing and arranged to initially partially obstruct flow and build up a back pressure in said housing; means in said housing cooperable with said valve means for suddenly releasing said back pressure upon predetermined axial movement of said valve means to effect flushing of said cavity; and additional valve means carried by said movable means operable after flushing to control the flow of water through said nozzle at a metered rate.

Claim 8

An irrigation emitter to be connected in an irrigation line, comprising: a cylindrical housing having an inlet for the introduction of water at one end, a discharge nozzle at its other end and a sediment collecting cavity between said inlet and said discharge nozzle; valve means in said housing controlling the flow of water through said nozzle; means connected with said valve means and movable axially in said housing in response to pressure and flow through said housing and arranged to initially partially obstruct flow and build up a back pressure in said housing; means in said housing cooperable with said valve means for suddenly releasing said back pressure upon predetermined axial movement of said valve means to effect flushing of said cavity; and additional valve means carried by said movable means operable after flushing to control the flow of water through said nozzle at a metered rate.

Claim 9

An irrigation emitter as claimed in claim 5, wherein the axially movable means connected with the valve means is an agitator and includes blades for effecting rotation thereof by the water introduced into the housing.

Claim 10

An irrigation emitter as claimed in claim 6, wherein the water is introduced into the housing at a point eccentric to the axis of the housing causing the same to flow in a spiral path and rotate the agitator.

Claim 11

An irrigation emitter, comprising: a housing having a cylindrical wall with an inlet opening extending therethrough adjacent one end of said housing; a plug closing said one end of said housing and having a side wall provided with a notch registrable with said inlet opening to control the rate of flow of water into said housing, said housing having a transverse wall axially spaced from said one end of said housing and cooperating with said plug to form a sediment cavity, said transverse wall having a hollow axially extended portion forming a discharge nozzle with an annular seat at the inner end of said discharge nozzle; an agitator rotatably mounted in said cavity and being axially movable therein, said agitator having a circular wall and a plurality of vanes extending therefrom toward said plug being arranged to effect rotation of said agitator in response to the flow of water through said cavity, said agitator including an extension projecting axially from said circular wall and into said discharge nozzle; a flow control valve mounted on said extension and cooperating with said nozzle for controlling the flow of water through said nozzle; a compression spring in said cavity having one end engaged with said circular wall of said agitator and its other end engaged with said transverse wall of said housing and surrounding said seat; and a valve disc mounted upon said extension of said agitator and axially movable into engagement with said seat.

Claim 12

An irrigation emitter, comprising: a housing having a cylindrical wall with an inlet opening extending therethrough adjacent one end of said housing; a plug closing said one end of said housing and having a side wall provided with a notch registrable with said inlet opening to control the rate of flow of water into said housing, said housing having a transverse wall axially spaced from said one end of said housing and cooperating with said plug to form a sediment cavity, said transverse wall having a hollow axially extended portion forming a discharge nozzle with an annular seat at the inner end of said discharge nozzle; an agitator rotatably mounted in said cavity and being axially movable therein, said agitator having a circular wall and a plurality of vanes extending therefrom toward said plug being arranged to effect rotation of said agitator in response to the flow of water through said cavity, said agitator including an extension projecting axially from said circular wall and into said discharge nozzle; a flow control valve mounted on said extension and cooperating with said nozzle for controlling the flow of water through said nozzle; a compression spring in said cavity having one end engaged with said circular wall of said agitator and its other end engaged with said transverse wall of said housing and surrounding said seat; and a valve disc mounted upon said extension of said agitator and axially movable into engagement with said seat.

Claim 13

An irrigation emitter as claimed in claim 8, wherein the inner surface of the housing wall forming the sediment chamber is tapered inwardly in a direction away from the plug, and the outer periphery of the circular wall of the agitator cooperates with said tapered wall to reduce the clearance area therebetween as the agitator is moved axially, whereby to increase the back pressure in the sediment chamber in accordance with the axial movement of the agitator.

Claim 14

An irrigation emitter as claimed in claim 8, wherein the outer edges of the vanes of the agitator are inclined relative to the axis of the agitator to facilitate rotation of the agitator.

Claim 15

An irrigation emitter as claimed in claim 8, wherein the inlet opening of the housing is eccentric to the axis of the sediment cavity.

Claim 16

An irrigation emitter as claimed in claim 8, wherein the plug is rotatably adjustable to vary the position of its notch relative to the inlet opening to control flow into the housing.

Claim 17

An irrigation emitter as claimed in claim 12, wherein the plug also has a wall concentric with its notched wall to provide an annular channel in the plug for imparting a rotary flow pattern to the water introduced into the housing through the eccentric inlet opening to thereby cause rotation of the agitator.

Claim 18

An irrigation emitter as claimed in claim 8, wherein the seat surrounding the discharge orifice is in the form of a knife edge.

Claim 19

An irrigation emitter as claimed in claim 14 wherein the valve disc has a generally radially disposed metering groove in the face thereof which engages the knife-edge seat.

Claim 20

An irrigation emitter as claimed in claim 15, wherein the metering groove in the valve disc is triangular in cross-section, and the valve disc is formed of resilient pressure-deformable material so that when the valve disc is seated, the cross-sectional area of the metering groove will decrease as the water pressure in the sediment cavity increases to proportionally reduce the rate of flow into the discharge nozzle as the pressure in the cavity varies.

Claim 21

An irrigation emitter as claimed in claim 8, wherein the valve disc has a plain face which engages the valve seat.

Claim 22

An irrigation emitter as claimed in claim 8, wherein the inner surface of the wall of the discharge nozzle has an inwardly projecting annular ridge, and the flow control valve on the agitator is arranged to cooperate with said ridge to control the initial rate of flow of water through said nozzle.

Claim 23

An irrigation emitter as claimed in claim 18, wherein the flow control valve has a cylindrical end portion with a sliding fit in the annular ridge and wherein said flow control valve has longitudinal channel means extending inwardly from said cylindrical end portion and along which water can flow when the flow control valve is moved to a position in which the cylindrical end portion is disposed outwardly of said annular ridge.

Claim 24

An irrigation emitter as claimed in claim 8, including a cover enclosing the nozzle, said cover having at least one discharge opening formed therein.

Claim 25

An irrigation emitter as claimed in claim 8, wherein the outer end of the discharge nozzle has a seat formed thereon and wherein said last-mentioned seat has at least one orifice notch formed therein, and including additionally a mist valve having a conical wall portion engageable with said notched seat and having guide means extending therefrom into the discharge orifice; a cover mounted on the housing enclosing said mist valve and having an opening through which mist can be discharged; and a compression spring disposed between said cover and said mist valve, urging said mist valve toward said notched seat.

Claim 26

An irrigation emitter as claimed in claim 8, wherein the valve disc has a metering groove of a cross-sectional area at least as great as that of all of the notches in the notched valve seat.

Claim 27

An irrigation emitter as claimed in claim 8, wherein the valve disc has a plurality of metering grooves whose aggregate cross-sectional area is at least as great as that of the total cross-sectional areas of the notches in the notched valve seat.

Claim 28

An irrigation emitter as claimed in claim 8, wherein the compression spring has a sufficient number of convolutions such that they are very close together when the valve disc is seated and function as a strainer.