Reversing mechanism for an irrigation sprinkler with a reversing gear drive

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10099231-B2
Application number	US-201514801654-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 16, 2015
Priority date	Jun 12, 2007
Publication date	Oct 16, 2018
Grant date	Oct 16, 2018

Abstract

A sprinkler can include a turbine, a nozzle, a gear drive and a reversing mechanism. The gear drive and the reversing mechanism rotatably couple the turbine and the nozzle. The gear drive can shift a direction of rotation of an output stage that is coupled to the reversing mechanism. The reversing mechanism can include a shift member coupled with the gear drive.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A sprinkler comprising:
a turbine;
a nozzle;
a gear box case;
a planetary gear drive comprising:
a first sun gear configured to rotate about a sun gear axis;
a second sun gear configured to rotate about the sun gear axis;
a first planetary gear meshed with the first sun gear and configured to rotate about a first planetary gear axis;
a second planetary gear configured to rotate about a second planetary gear axis and to be driven by the second sun gear; and
at least one ring gear;

a first gear carrier rotatable about the sun gear axis and configured to fix the first and second planetary gear axes in place with respect to each other;
a reversing mechanism rotatably coupling the turbine and the nozzle, the planetary gear drive including at least a portion of the reversing mechanism having a shifting drive shaft that reciprocates between a first position and a second position to alternately engage the first and second sun gears and thereby change a direction of rotation of subsequent stages of the planetary gear drive; and
at least one clutch dog connected to the drive shaft, the at least one clutch dog configured to engage with at least one clutch tooth formed on the first sun gear when the shifting drive shaft is in the first position and engage with at least one clutch tooth formed on the second sun gear when the shifting drive shaft is in the second position.

2. The sprinkler of claim 1 , comprising a riser enclosing the planetary gear drive, an outer case surrounding the riser, and a coil spring surrounding the riser and normally holding the riser in a retracted position within the case and compressible to allow the riser to telescope to an extended position when pressurized water is introduced into the case.

3. The sprinkler of claim 2 , wherein the nozzle is carried inside a nozzle turret rotatably mounted at the upper end of the riser.

4. The sprinkler of claim 1 , wherein the reversing mechanism includes:
a shift member connected to the shifting drive shaft;
a pivotable shift fork with a first cam and a second cam spaced from the first cam, the first cam configured to engage the shift member and raise the shifting drive shaft when the shift fork is pivoted to engage the first cam with the shift member, the second cam configured to engage the shift member and lower the shifting drive shaft when the first fork is pivoted to engage the second cam with the shift member; and
a housing and a shift crank pivotally supporting the shift fork in the housing.

5. The sprinkler of claim 4 , wherein the reversing mechanism further includes an over-center spring biasing the shift fork so that either the first cam or the second cam is engaged with the shift member.

6. The sprinkler of claim 5 , wherein the over-center spring is a coil spring having a first end connected to the housing and a second end connected to the shift crank.

7. The sprinkler of claim 4 , further comprising a shift toggle extending from the housing, the shift toggle being connected to the shift crank.

8. The sprinkler of claim 7 , wherein the sprinkler further includes a fixed arc tab extending from a gear box housing of the planetary gear drive in a predetermined location so that the fixed arc tab can be engaged by the shift toggle as the housing is rotated by the planetary gear drive to pivot the shift fork to cause one of the first and second cams to engage the shift member.

9. The sprinkler. of claim 7 , wherein the sprinkler further comprises a nozzle turret carrying the nozzle, a carrier ring coupled to the nozzle turret and rotatable relative to the housing, a bull gear ring coupled to the carrier ring, and an adjustable arc tab extending from the carrier ring in a predetermined location so that the adjustable arc tab can be engaged by the shift toggle as the housing is rotated by the planetary gear drive to pivot the shift fork to cause the other one of the first and second cams to engage the shift member.

10. The sprinkler of claim 1 , wherein the first gear carrier is formed as part of the gear box case.

11. The sprinkler of claim 1 , wherein the gear box case comprises two ring gears.

12. The sprinkler of claim 1 , further comprising an idler gear positioned between the second sun gear and the second planetary gear.

13. The sprinkler of claim 1 , further comprising a second gear carrier coupled to the first gear carrier.

14. The sprinkler of claim 13 , wherein the first and second sun gears are positioned between the first gear carrier and the second gear carrier.

15. The sprinkler of claim 1 , wherein the at least one clutch dog is configured to pass through a neutral position when transitioning between engagement with the first sun gear and second sun gear, wherein the at least one clutch dog is engaged with neither the first sun gear nor the second sun gear when in the neutral position.

16. A sprinkler comprising:
a turbine;
a nozzle;
a planetary gear drive assembly comprising:
a first planet gear configured to rotate about a first planet gear axis;
a first sun gear configured to be in constant engagement with the first planet gear and to rotate about a sun gear axis;
a second planet gear configured to rotate about a second planet gear axis;
an idler gear configured to be in constant engagement with the second planet gear and to rotate about an idler gear axis; and
a second sun gear configured to be in constant engagement with the idler gear and to rotate about the sun gear axis;

a reversing mechanism rotatably coupling the turbine and the nozzle, the planetary gear drive assembly including at least a portion of the reversing mechanism having a shifting drive shaft that reciprocates between a first position and a second position to alternately engage the first and second sun gears and thereby change a direction of rotation of subsequent stages of the planetary gear drive assembly; and
at least one clutch dog connected to the drive shaft, the at least one clutch dog configured to engage with at least one clutch tooth formed on the first sun gear when the shifting drive shaft is in the first position and engage with at least one clutch tooth formed on the second sun gear when the shifting drive shaft is in the second position.

17. The sprinkler of claim 16 , wherein the first sun gear comprises an internal cavity, wherein the second sun gear comprises an internal cavity in communication with the internal cavity of the first sun gear, and wherein the at least one clutch dog is configured to move within the internal cavities of both the first and second sun gears when moving between engaging the at least one clutch tooth of the first sun gear and engaging the at least one clutch tooth of the second sun gear.

18. The sprinkler of claim 16 , wherein the at least one clutch dog is configured to drive rotation of the nozzle in a first direction when the at least one clutch dog is engaged with the at least one clutch tooth of the first sun gear, and to drive rotation of the nozzle in a second direction opposite the first direction when the at least one clutch dog is engaged with the at least one clutch tooth of the second sun gear.

19. The sprinkler of claim 16 , wherein each of the first planet gear axis, the sun gear axis, and idler gear axis are parallel to each other, and wherein respective distances between each of the first planet gear axis, the sun gear axis, and idler gear axis are fixed in a direction perpendicular to the sun gear axis.

20. A sprinkler comprising:
a turbine;
a nozzle;
a ge

Assignees

• Hunter Industries

Inventors

• Clark Michael L
• Simmons Zachary B

Classifications

• B05B15/74

  driven by the discharged fluid · CPC title

• B05B15/70

  Arrangements for moving spray heads automatically to or from the working position · CPC title

• B05B3/0431 Primary

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B05B3/0432 Primary

  the rotation of the outlet elements being reversible (B05B3/0444 takes precedence) · CPC title