Planetary drive self-propelled irrigation apparatus

Claim 1

An hydraulic motor powered planetary drive self-propelled irrigation apparatus comprising a. a water distributing pipe, b. a plurality of towers supporting said distributing pipe, c. each tower having a generally triangularly shaped frame including a lower horizontal tubular member supported in a U-shaped flat bottomed open top cross member, d. hydraulic fluid feed and return lines carried by said frame, e. a bracket having a flat horizontal top plate fastened to the bottom of the open top cross member and extending laterally beyond said cross member, and a vertically downwardly extending plate depending from the edge of the top plate of the bracket remote from the cross member, f. a hydraulic motor mounted on said downwardly extending plate of the bracket on the side beneath said cross member, said motor having an output shaft extending through said plate, g. a gear reducer assembly housed in a rotatable hub casing and mounted on said depending bracket plate on the side opposite the motor, and having an input shaft aligned with the motor shaft, and h. a wheel mounted on the hub casing and rotatable about an axis aligned with the motor shaft axis, the mounting of the motor and hub casing on opposite sides of the bracket disposing the motor substantially beneath and in line with the frame cross member and disposing the wheel in an offset position laterally of the frame.