The Toro Company

Other

Brannon W Polk

Todd A Otto

Steve A Swinney, Ii

Bart T Ellson

Steven R Peterson

David J Norlander

Robert J Bisson

Kent S Hahn

William J Jugovich

David J Martin

Timothy Patrick Sosnowski

Bruce A Granger

John H Weber

John Story

Chakradhari Ratala

A mobile turf sprayer operates to spray a product onto a turf site. In some embodiments the mobile turf sprayer identifies a plurality of regions of the turf site to be sprayed and automatically sprays product onto those regions as the mobile turf sprayer moves about the turf site.

Mobile turf sprayer

A vehicle mounted sprayer has a plurality of spray booms equipped with downwardly facing spray nozzles. A control console includes a rounded palm rest with the most often used operational spray controls placed directly ahead of the palm rest for easy actuation by the operator as the operator rests the palm of one hand on the palm rest. A pivotal hose reel for manual spraying has pivotal motion about a vertical axis into one of a plurality of adjusted positions relative to the sprayer to ease unwinding and rewinding of the hose from the hose reel. A hill assist system holds the sprayer on a hill for a predetermined time to give the operator enough time to place the sprayer into forward motion up the hill from a standing stop. The spray through the booms can be selectively added to flow in a tank agitation system to boost agitation effectiveness.

Sprayer with easily locatable operational controls, hill assist, pivotal hose reel, and agitation boost

A sprayer has a tank for holding a spray solution that is applied to a ground or turf surface. The sprayer includes an agitation system having a plurality of agitation nozzles that extend into the tank that are accessible from outside the tank and can be removed and replaced without using tools. The sprayer may include a rinse system carried onboard the sprayer which is segregated from the spray and agitation systems to avoid contaminating the rinse liquid prior to the time the rinse liquid is sprayed into the tank through rinse nozzles. The rinse nozzles include upwardly and downwardly directed nozzle ports and a bottom spinner for thoroughly cleaning all interior surfaces of the tank. The sprayer may also include a chemical eductor mounted on the side of the tank, whose weight is counterbalanced by springs, and which easily pivots between lower and upper positions on the tank.

Sprayer having spray solution agitation system

A turf sprayer has a truss shaped center boom and a pair of pivotal truss shaped wing booms within which spaced spray nozzles are supported. A drift shroud system comprises three integral and one-piece drift shrouds comprising a center shroud for the center boom and a pair of side shrouds for the wing booms. Each shroud is attached to an underside of the corresponding boom in a manner such that the shrouds project below the booms and not substantially above the booms to leave the truss-shapes of the booms open and unobscured to provide access to the spray nozzles within the booms. The shrouds each have openings in a top wall thereof for receiving the spray exiting from the nozzles with the spray passing downwardly between spaced front and rear walls of the shrouds.

Drift shroud system for spray booms of turf sprayer

A self-propelled and self-contained shrouded walking boom unit including a small tank and pump mounted on the unit. The unit also has a small transmission and DC drive which makes the unit self-propelled. The configuration is such that the operator walks in front of the spray applicator system with the spray being applied behind the operator. The operator steers the applicator and controls the spray from a handle attached to a single front steering wheel.

Self-propelled walking spray boom

A spray delivery system including a sectional boom attachable to a vehicle. The boom includes first and second movable arms and a fixed arm, each arm housing a plurality of spray nozzles. Each arm can include a frame having openings so that the arms are light-weight and so that the nozzles housed in the frames for protection can spray through the openings in the bottom surface of the frame. The movable arms include an operation position and a retracted position and the arms each include a drift shroud covering to prevent wind from interfering with the application of spray from nozzles. The drift shrouds can include windows that align with the openings in the frame such that an operator can see the spray from the nozzle from the operator's seat in the vehicle.

Spray delivery system

A fluid sprayer system using a modulated hydraulic control valve and a positive displacement pump to control the amount of fluid sprayed by the system. The modulated hydraulic control valve may be controlled using pulse width modulation and may be provided with a substantially constant source of hydraulic fluid. The pulse width modulated hydraulic control valve provides the hydraulic fluid to a hydraulic motor as a controlled flow. The controlled flow serves to control the hydraulic motor that controls a positive displacement pump. The position displacement pump is used to control the amount of fluid sprayed by the system. The control system changes the signal to the control valve so as to mitigate pressure changes otherwise caused by said positive displacement pump.

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Evansville, IN, United States of America

Brannon W Polk