Abstract:
A sprinkler base is provided comprising a platform component and a flow component. The flow component may have a tubular body encompassing a flow passage. A fluid inlet and a first fluid outlet may communicate with each other via the flow passage. The first fluid outlet may be arranged to receive a sprinkler head extending perpendicularly to an axis of the tubular body. The platform component may include mounting means to hold the tubular body of the flow component. Restraint means may be provided to retrain the tubular body against rotation about the axis of the tubular body relative to the platform component in one of a plurality of rotational positions.

Description:
INTRODUCTION 
       [0001]    A sprinkler base is disclosed that may be adjusted for placement on sloping surfaces. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Sprinklers that are used in a variety of irrigation applications may opiate with the sprinkler head arranged in a vertical or inverted orientation. Slight variations from vertical may occur without seriously affecting the operation of the sprinkler head or water distribution efficiency. However, larger deviations from vertical may affect operation of a sprinkler. To our knowledge there are currently no manufactured sprinkler bases that have the ability to adjust the sprinkler head to the preferred vertical or near vertical position when the base is placed on a sloping surface. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0003]    A sprinkler base is provided comprising a platform component and a flow component. The flow component may have a tubular body encompassing a flow passage. A fluid inlet and a first fluid outlet may communicate with each other via the flow passage. The first fluid outlet may be arranged to receive a sprinkler head extending perpendicularly to an axis of the tubular body. The platform component may include mounting means to hold the tubular body of the flow component. Restraint means may be provided to retrain the tubular body against rotation about the axis of the tubular body relative to the platform component in one of a plurality of rotational positions. 
         [0004]    The mounting means may comprise a pair of circumferential members engaging respective ends of the tubular body. The circumferential members may be ‘C’ shaped and may have a circumferential opening to permit the passage of the first outlet there through when the tubular body is inserted through the circumferential members to be engaged thereby. 
         [0005]    The restraint means may comprise the circumferential members and the tubular body having interengaging shaped surfaces. The interengaging shaped surfaces may be toothed surfaces. The teeth on the interengaging toothed surfaces may be spaced at angles of 5-15° about the axis of the tubular body and preferably at angles of 11-12°. 
         [0006]    The tubular body may have a second outlet in fluid communication with the inlet and the first outlet via the flow passage. The inlet and second outlet may be at opposite ends of the tubular body and the flow passage, the inlet and second outlet may be co-axial. A filter may be fitted into the flow passage. The filter may have a screening suit ace separating the first outlet from the inlet and second outlet, to screen fluid exiting through the second outlet while allowing fluid to exit the first outlet unscreened. 
         [0007]    A flow restriction device may be provided to restrict an opening of the first outlet through which fluid flows. 
         [0008]    A bottom surface of the platform component may have two or more elongate members and preferably 3 elongate members connected by a raised bridge. The elongate members may be spaced to conform to valleys of corrugations in a corrugated sheet material. The bridge may be elevated from the elongate members to pass over ridges of the corrugated sheet material. The elongate members may be spaced at centres which are 71-81 mm or a multiple thereof. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0009]    Referring to  FIG. 1  a sprinkler base  100  is illustrated which comprises a platform  101  and a flow conduit  102 , each of which have co-operating parts which allow the platform and flow conduit to inter-engage such that the flow conduit  102  is supported in use in a chosen orientation by the platform  101 . 
         [0010]      FIGS. 2 &amp; 3  separately illustrate the platform  101  and the flow conduit  102 . The platform  101  is configured with a central channel  110  and two ‘skids’  111  positioned either side of the central channel and connected to the central channel by arms  115 . The flow conduit  102  comprises a tubular body  121 , which is locatable within the central channel  110  for lateral support. The tubular body  121  is terminated at either end by threaded ends  126 . the diameter and thread of the threaded ends being selected to match common hose fitting components. The illustrated sprinkler base shows the central body component having 25 mm diameter male threads at each end. This allows commonly available end caps and snap-on hose connection fittings to be connected to the tubular body  121 . The tubular body  121  also includes a turret  122  having an internal thread  123  sized to accommodate fittings such as sprinkler heads ( 400  in  FIG. 4  illustrated by way of example—different sprinkler heads may also be used in the present base). The raised turret  122  in the illustrated tubular body  121  is provided with a 15 mm diameter female threaded socket for attachment of a sprinkler head. There is a large range of sprinkler heads available having a 15 mm male thread that will be suitable for use with this sprinkler base design. The illustrated platform  101  has dimensions which are adequate in width and length to support most 15 mm male threaded sprinkler heads. 
         [0011]    The tubular body  121  will typically be fitted with a snap-on hose fitting  131  at an inlet end  150  to allow connection to a hose and a cap  132  to close the tubular body  121  at the other end  151  (hereinafter referred to as the outlet end). However fittings can be cascaded by replacing the end cap  132  on the outlet end  151  with a second snap-on fitting  131  (not shown), which allows connection of a second hose connected to a further sprinkler fitting. In this way any number of fittings may be daisy-chained together (subject to limitations of supply pressure). 
         [0012]    Landscape surfaces that are subject to irrigation, including domestic gardens, can vary greatly in slope. While many gardens have substantially horizontal surfaces there are many that have significant slopes. Spray irrigation will become ineffective for extremely sloping surfaces, but may be effective for surfaces having angles of up to in the order of 45° from the horizontal. 
         [0013]    The sprinkler base  100  illustrated in  FIG. 1  permits compensation for the common range of surface slopes, and is capable of correctional adjustments spanning a least the range from 0° to 45° either left or right about an axis passing through the attachment point of the incoming water supply. The minimum incremental adjustment is small enough to enable the sprinkler head  400  attached to the base (see  FIG. 4 ) to be adjusted to an axial orientation at or near vertical when the base is placed on a sloping surface. The illustrated sprinkler head is of the type having a spout  401  and a wobbling spray deflector  402 . In the illustrated embodiment the increment of adjustment is 11.25°, permitting the sprinkler head to be adjusted to within +/−5.625 off the vertical. Smaller angles of correction can be made by simply rotating the sprinkler base on the sloping surface to achieve a reduced deviation from the desired vertical orientation of the sprinkler head at the expense of a small deviation from vertical in the direction perpendicular to the fall line of the slope. 
         [0014]    The tubular body  121  has outwardly facing circumferential teeth  125  at either end, adjacent to the threaded ends  126 , which engage with corresponding inwardly facing teeth  112  on “C” shaped mounts  117  at either end of the platform  101  allowing the platform  101  and flow conduit  102  to inter-engage, preventing rotation of the flow conduit  102  about its axis relative to the platform  101 . The teeth  112 ,  125  are shown as triangular teeth in the drawings, but other shapes such as square, sinusoidal, circular etc. will be equally effective. Assembly is achieved by inserting the flow conduit  102  through the ‘C’ shaped mounts  117  with the turret  122  passing through the openings  301  (refer to  FIG. 3 ) in the ‘C’ shaped mounts. Once in position the snap-on fitting  131  and the end cap  132  are screwed onto the respective ends  150 ,  151  of the flow conduit  102  to retain the flow conduit  102  within the ‘C’ shaped mounts with the outwardly facing teeth  125  of flow conduit  102  engaging the inwardly facing teeth  112  of the ‘C’ shaped mounts  117 . Rotational positioning of the flow conduit  102  relative to the platform  101  may be achieved by moving the flow conduit  102  longitudinally (i.e. axially) to disengage the inwardly facing teeth  112  of the ‘C’ shaped mounts  117  from the outwardly facing teeth  125  of the flow conduit  102 . The outwardly facing teeth  125  of the flow conduit  102  will fully disengage from the inwardly facing teeth  112  of the ‘C’ shaped mounts  117  before the turret  122  reaches the inner edge of the shaped mounts  117 , so that the ‘C’ shaped mounts do not impede the rotational adjustment. 
         [0015]    However such the longitudinal movement of the flow conduit  102  is only possible after either the end cap  132  or the snap on fitting  131  is removed as these fittings abut the ‘C’ shaped mounts  117  when screwed on to prevent longitudinal movement of the flow conduit  102  relative to the platform  101  in normal use conditions. When the required rotation of the flow conduit  102  has been made, it is slid in the opposite longitudinal direction to re-engaging the teeth  125  of the flow conduit  102  with the teeth  112  of the ‘C’ shaped mounts  117 . Once the teeth the teeth  125  of the flow conduit  102  are re-engaged with the teeth  112  of the ‘C’ shaped mounts  117 , the flow conduit may be restrained against axial movement by re-fitting the end cap  132  and/or the snap-on hose connector  131  to prevent further axial movement. 
         [0016]    The central channel  110  and the skids  111  of the platform  101 , occupy one plane so that lower surfaces of all three components sit evenly on flat ground when the sprinkler is in use. The two skids  111  are spaced at equal distances from the central channel  110  and have dimensions selected to allow the platform to sit within the valleys of commonly produced corrugated roof sheeting (lion, fibreglass etc.) or Custom Orb™ as it is sometimes called. With the lower surfaces sitting in the valleys of the corrugated material, the height of bridging parts  115  of the platform  101  are made sufficiently high to clear the peaks of the corrugated material. This configuration allows the sprinkler base  100  and sprinkler head  400  to be used on rooftops for cooling of building structures such as chicken sheds, bird, aviaries. workshops, houses, etc. Corrugated sheeting is commonly manufactured with the corrugations at a pitch of 76 mm and accordingly the skids  111  are preferably located at a spacing of in the order of 76 mm (e.g. in the range of 71-81 mm) from the central channel. 
         [0017]    The platform  101  also includes two pre-moulded holes  114  so the sprinkler base can be secured to roofing iron ridges by roofing screws, enabling the sprinkler base to be installed on a sloping roof with the central channel  110  and the skids  111  running across the direction of the corrugations. 
         [0018]    Roof pitch angles for houses and sheds are commonly designed at 22.5°, but are also known to vary in Australia from 5° to 25°. The co-operating teeth  112 ,  125  on the sprinkler base can effectively correct the orientation of the sprinkler head  400  to a near vertical position by using the corresponding rotational positions of 11.25°, 22.5°, 33.75° or 45°. 
         [0019]    The sprinkler base also incorporates a set of pressure regulating discs  140  (only one shown) which may be placed within the turret  122  under the sprinkler head when it is screwed into position. These disks comprise a plastic annulus  141  the opening  142  of which is used to control the flow rate and water distribution diameters of the sprinkler output. Four such pressure regulating discs  140  are provided, each with different sized opening  142  and these are stored in moulded recesses  113  in the platform  101 . The different sized openings in the pressure regulating discs  140  provide differing amounts of pressure reduction to adjust for differing supply pressures and/or differing watering requirements 
         [0020]    Referring to  FIG. 5 . a flow through filter  500  is provided to prevent blockages in the pressure regulating disc and sprinkler head during operation. The filter  500  is inserted into the flow conduit  102  through one or other end  150 ,  151  of the flow through conduit  102  and seats against the snap-on hose fitting  131  and the end cap  132 . Referring to  FIG. 5 , an inlet end  502  of the filter  500  preferably seals against the snap-on hose fitting  131  and an outlet end  503  of the filter preferably seals against the end cap  132 , however if two snap-on hose fittings are fitted to the flow through conduit  102 , then the outlet end  503  of the filter  500  will also seal against the second snap-on hose fitting. The filter  500  comprises a tubular filter screen  501  having a multitude of small screen apertures  504  defined between circumferential rings  505  and longitudinal ribs  506  of the tubular filter screen. By configuring the flow through filter  501  with a tubular filter screen  501  and open ends  502 ,  503  the free flow of water is allowed through the central passage of the tubular screen  501  onto the next sprinkler base when multiple sprinklers are used in a series. Only the water exiting through the turret  122  that will flow through the pressure regulating disc  141  and sprinkler head  400  passes through the screen apertures  504  of the flow through filter  500 . 
         [0021]    Multiple sprinkler bases can be connected and used in a series across an extended garden area, around roof edges and/or along the roof top ridge. By utilising the pressure regulating discs the pressure to be applied to each sprinkler base can be regulated to reduce variations in sprinkler throw. The occurrence of blockages can be reduced due to the inclusion of now through filters. 
         [0022]    Flushing can be carried out by removing the termination end cap on the last base of the series and flushing the pipeline or hoses. 
         [0023]    This sprinkler base described herein has multiple applications for irrigation, dust suppression and cooling. Components for this sprinkler base can be produced from plastics, metals or metal alloys etc. by moulding or casting.