Nelson Irrigation Corporation

Robert L Rupar

Craig B Nelson

Chad Daniel Leinweber

Joseph Daniel Sinden

Rex Daniel Ness

Richard John Berrier

Mark A Bauman

Michael R Townsend

An irrigation system is composed of a mobile sprinkler cart; a system water supply pipe supporting a plurality of hydrants adapted to be engaged by the mobile sprinkler cart and to supply water to a sprinkler supported on the cart; and an addressable electronic ID tag mounted on each hydrant. A main controller is programmed to control operation of the mobile sprinkler cart, and the ID tag is adapted to send at least hydrant identifying data to the main controller to thereby enable the main controller to move the mobile sprinkler cart to the hydrant.

Irrigation system with smart hydrants and related method

A linear water feed apparatus for use in agricultural irrigation includes a linear-move machine with a mobile truss assembly supporting a plurality of individual sprinklers and adapted for movement in a specified direction across a field to be irrigated. The truss assembly is oriented transverse to the specified direction, and a supply pipe is arranged in the specified direction along or within the field to be irrigated. The supply pipe mounts a plurality of water supply hydrants at spaced locations along the pipe, each of the hydrants enclosing a water supply valve. A docking station is supported at one end of the truss assembly closest to the supply pipe, and is adapted to engage and open successive ones of the water supply valves in the plurality of hydrants. The docking station assembly includes a docking station that is suspended from a frame for floating movement about at least three mutually perpendicular axes.

Linear-feed irrigation apparatus and related method

A pop-up sprinkler assembly includes a cylindrical housing having a cap on an upper end thereof, the cap having an opening, a lower end of the cylindrical housing having an internal thread for attachment to a source of pressurized water. A stem is mounted in the cylindrical housing with a spring radially between the stem and the cylindrical housing for normally biasing the stem to a retracted position within the cylindrical housing. The stem is extendable through the opening in the first cap to an extended position when water under pressure is supplied to the cylindrical housing. The stem has a threaded upper end to which an alternative sprinkler head is attached. An adapter housing is received over the cap and secured to the cylindrical housing, the sprinkler housing having an open upper end, the adapter housing having a diameter sufficient to receive the alternative sprinkler head when the stem is in the retracted position. A cover is secured to an upper end of the sprinkler head and adapted to close the open upper end of the adapter housing when the stem is in the retracted position. A conversion kit for adapting the otherwise incompatible sprinkler head to the pop-up assembly is also provided.

Sprinkler head conversion for pop-up assembly

A pop-up, rotating stream sprinkler device includes an outer housing having a first longitudinal axis, an inlet end adapted for connection to a source of liquid under pressure, a first inner housing telescopically mounted within the outer housing for movement between retracted and extended positions, and having a second longitudinal axis coincident with the first longitudinal axis, and an outlet end provided with a first arcuate slot adapted to discharge a stream of liquid under pressure. A non-rotatable shaft supports at one end thereof a substantially hollow distributor for rotation thereon downstream of the outlet. The other end of the shaft is fixedly mounted in the first inner housing, and the hollow distributor includes an interior chamber enclosing a brake assembly for retarding the rotation of the distributor. A nozzle disk is removably and rotatably secured to the first inner housing and provided with at least one discharge orifice, so that the nozzle is rotatable to align any part of the at least one discharge orifice with the arcuate slot.

Growing community of inventors

Walla Walla, WA, United States of America

Robert L Rupar