Hunter Industries Incorporated

Phillip A Hope

Loren W Scott

A top serviceable pop-up sprinkler includes a main cylindrical outer housing having a female threaded inlet at a lower end thereof A spring biased tubular riser is mounted inside the outer housing for vertical reciprocation through an opening in an upper end of the outer housing. A nozzle is fixed in a nozzle head rotatably mounted at an upper end of the riser for ejecting a stream of water. The nozzle is rotated over an adjustable arc by a conventional turbine, gear drive and arc adjustable reversing mechanism. A valve actuator component assembly, including a pilot valve, solenoid and pressure regulator is mounted in a generally rectangular component housing that is connected to the side of the cylindrical outer housing. A lid of the component housing aligns with, and effectively forms a part of, a circular ground support flange that extends horizontally from the upper end of the outer housing. The riser opening is eccentrically located in the circular ground support flange. A diaphragm valve module is mounted in the lower end of the outer housing for controlling the flow of water through the inlet in response to the opening and closing of the solenoid actuated pilot valve. The diaphragm valve module is configured so that it is removable as a unit from the outer housing through the opening in the upper end of the outer housing upon extraction of the riser. Thus, when the diaphragm valve fails, as is often the case, the diaphragm valve module can be easily repaired or replaced after removing the riser, without having to dig up the sprinkler. The diaphragm valve module is releasably held in position in the lower end of the outer housing by a snap ring having a pair of peripheral annular portions that can be radially retracted by squeezing opposing tabs on a central resilient connecting portion.

Pop-up sprinkler with top serviceable diaphragm valve module

A pop-up sprinkler has a diaphragm-type valve in the lower end thereof which is actuated by a remote pilot valve. The pilot valve may be either solenoid actuated, or hydraulically actuated by a suitable valve actuator component. In a first embodiment an upwardly opening valve actuator component assembly housing communicates with a hollow wire and hose housing. The wire and hose housing connects to the side of the cylindrical outer body of the sprinkler to position a lid of the valve actuator component assembly housing at surface level, but outside a circular ground support flange connected to the sprinkler body. In a second embodiment, the housing is situated so that the lid effectively forms part of the circular ground support flange. The valve actuator component assembly housing may contain, for example, a pilot valve coupled to a solenoid, and a regulator. The pilot valve and regulator are connected through hoses to the sprinkler body. When the solenoid fails it can be easily replaced by opening the lid of the valve actuator component assembly housing and pulling out the solenoid, without having to excavate and remove the sprinkler.

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Escondido, CA, United States of America

Phillip A Hope