LIQUID CONVEYING HOSE, ESPECIALLY FOR AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES

Abstract: A hose construction, and apparatus for continuously forming liquid-conveying hose therefrom, are described. The hose is for use mainly in agriculture to convey irrigating water. To eliminate the necessity of transporting large masses of hoses full of liquid, the hose is formed only as it is actually needed and can be dismantled. The hose is carried in the form of a sheet (1) wound on a drum (12) from which its unwound, rolled round a pipe (20) and its open, specially formed ends (2) are closed and sealed into a tube by the application of a jointing strip (3) and a sealing strip (8). These strips (3,8) are unwound from a separate drum (16). The strip (3) is essentially in the form of a series of open steel rings (4) embedded in a backing material (6) internally ribbed (7). When the strip (8) is inserted between the rims (2) the latter are pressed against the ribs (7) and so the hose is sealed.

Description: LIQUID CONVEYING HOSE APPARATUS AND HOSE CONSTRUCTION, ESPECIALLY FOR AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES The invention concerns a pipe or hose apparatus suitable for conveying liquids, especially water, which is capable of fulfilling liquid conveying tasks in agricultural cultivation or for other purposes. To serve intensive agricultural plant cultivating processes several solutions for conveying liquids, primarily water of irrigation, are known. In the early stages of development, open or closed system channel networks were constructed which included water take-off fittings and hydrants. This expensive solution had many practical disadvantages and was followed in the course of technical development by the use of flexible pipes or hoses to convey water. However, in this case hose reels full of liquid has to be moved about which represented a very significant extra weight and energy consumption. A further development was the trend of employing mobile irrigating and/or transporting devices in which empty pipe or hose elements were transported while the hoses full of liquid, i.eJ water of irrigation, were laid on the ground so as to ensure that water loads should not have to be carried unnecessarily. Patent literature contains several proposals to achieve this aim, wherein hoses or pipes are stored by being wound up or reeled as a sheet-like element and a closed hose or pipe is formed from the sheet-like element when required for use. Thus, for instance, such a solution is known from Hungarian Patent No. 165867 which took as its starting point the drawbacks of earlier solutions with a similar aim and which proposed a hose made up of the hose mantle surface spread out or developed in the manner of a sheet as well as a closing strip or band for securing it together and a closing edge, this hose being suitable primarily for irrigation purposes. Although the basic principle of this solution is based on correct premises, nevertheless it has a number of inherent shortcomings which have prevented it from being employed in practice. Thus, for instance, the proposed solution could not assure a satisfactory closing or joining of the mantle surface of the-hose and thus was not suitable for conveying pressurized liquids. The imperfections of the hose-forming organs and the sealing elements have not allowed this proposal to achieve its aim. The present invention seeks to overcome this disadvantage and aims to provide a liquid conveying apparatus and an associated hosepipe construction which achieves satisfactory sealing and which is suitable, even at high internal pressures, for conveying liquids or slurries or other fluids for distances as required by the actual demand or operation; and wherein the hose is continuously formed from elements which when assembled together take up a permanent hose shape. Accordingly, the invention consists of hose apparatus for conveying water or a slurry or other fluid which is advantageously employable for supplying water of irrigation to agricultural cultivations, the apparatus according to the invention consisting of hose elements arranged on a frame and wound up on reels or drums, the elements comprising a sheet-like hose mantle, a hose-jointing strip and a hose-sealing element wound up on drums. To form a hose from these elements the drums are rotated in synchronism and the hose mantle is applied or pressed onto a pipe by means of profiled rollers, and there are provided holding and clamping elements for holding the secured ends of the hose mantle and for sealing them together. The sheet-like, flexible hose mantle of the hose forming part of the invention is preferably provided with closing rims. A row of steel rings may be built into the hose-jointing strip or element, which later is made of a resilient material. Longitudinal ribs may be formed on the internal surface of the hose-jointing element, The hosesealing strip is preferably also a resilient body in which a stiffening wire extends throughout its length. The advantage of the invention may be summarised in that at any given time only that length of hose is assembled and used which is actually needed at any given instant. The invention is suitable not only for conveying liquids or Water but any other medium which can be conveyed in a hose Or tube system. A preferred embodiment of the invention is shown, purely by way of example, in the ccompAnying dlagrammatle drawings, wherein: Figure la is a cross-section of the hose construction, Figure lb is an axial section of the construction shown in Figure la, Figure lc shows, partly in section, a detail, namely a row of steel rings, and Figure 2 is a diagrammatic elevational view of the apparatus to illustrate its principle. Referring first to Figure 2, the apparatus according to the invention is made up from various elements and devices mounted on a chassis or frame; these elements and devices include a drum 12 for the hose mantle onto which is wound in strip-form the hose mantle 1 in an open and developed (spread-out) condition, while a drum 16 for the closing means has a hose-jointing strip 3 and hosesealing strip 8 wound on it side-by-side. A per se known regulating means, not illustrated in the drawings, is provided for regulating the movement of the drums to ensure that their peripheral celocities are the same, i.e. that they should pay out the respective strips 1,3 and 8 at the same rate. A hose is formed from the hose mantle 1 by applying it to a short length of pipe 20. The section of the pipe 20 serving for forming or building-up the hose is slightly conical. A guide roller 11 guides the hose mantle 1 on to the pipe 20 a guide roller 11 while to build up the hose thereon, there are provided, successively, a pair of profiled rollers 13 for clamping the hose, a pair of profiled rollers 14 for holding it together and mantleefastening rollers 15. The hose-jointing strip 3 and the hose-sealing strip 8 are guided and separated by a roller 17 while a roller 18 serves to apply the hose-jointing strip 3 and a closing roller 19 is provided to snap the hose-sealing strip 8 in. The hose construction is formed as these elements cooperate together. On the edges of the per se known sheet-like hose mantle 1 a closing rim 2 is formed which has the role of promoting perfect closing or sealing. As may be seen in Figure la the ends of the hose mantle 1 are bent and are received within the opening of the hose-jointing strip 3. This strip 3 is essentially a rectangular cross-section member having a hollow interior with an opening on one face to receive the ends of the mantle 1, The strip 3 contains a row of steel rings 4 of open cross-section and which may optionally also be provided with a textile or fabric lining 5 embedded in a rubber or other resilient bedding 6. The open ends of the steel rings 4 may expediently be bent back on themselves. Ribs 7 on the internal surface of the hose-jointing strip 3 extends thrcugh the rubber bedding 6 to clamp the closing rims 2 of the hose mantle 1. The closing means includes the hose-sealing strip 8 which is of T-shaped cross-section and which is also a resilient, expediently rubber, body containing a stiffening wire 9 and reinforced with a linen insert 10. The formation of a hose and the operation of the liquid conveying hose apparatus according to the invention are as follows The hoee mantle 1 is wound on the hose mantle drum 12 of the (expediently mobile) frame while the hose-jointing clamping strip 3 and the hose-sealing strip 8 are wound on the drum 16. The rotation of the two drums is so coordinated that the length of the hose elements paid out fron them is always the same per unit time. The hose for conveying liquids is continually formed in a direction moving away from the liquid off-take point, as follows : The hose mantle 1 is unwound from the drum 12 and is passed via the guiding roller 11 to the pipe 20. The front end of the pipe 20 is conical and the formation of the hose takes place on this section by stretching the mantle 1 on the pipe 20 with the aid of the clamping roller pair 13, the holding roller pair 14, the fastening rollers 15. The mantle 1 is then jointed and secured into a pipe by means of the jointing strip 3 running off the separating roller 17 and applied against the tube 20 by means of the application roller 18 and in the thus formed aperture or opening (see Figure la) the ends or rims 2 of the hose mantle 1 are held with the aid of ribs 7 and rings 4, Then by means of the closing roller 19 the hose-sealing strip 8 is pressed into the strip 3 between the two rims 2 such that the rims 2 of the hose mantle 1 are pressed against the hose-jointing strip 3. The closing rims 2 and the ribs 7 promote improved bonding, In this way the hose forming operation is accomplished and the finished hose slides off the pipe 20 as it is being continuously made and is laid on the ground. The rate of formation of hose and its laying on the ground takes place as a function of the displacement of the whole apparatus. Naturally the formation of the hose can be stopped in any position. Since at any given time fully finished hoses are present on the pipe 20, the conveying of the medium takes place continuously as the hose is formed. The dismantling of the hose may be achieved by reversing the operations and displacements described above. An advantage of the preferred embodiment of the invention lies in that it is not necessary to move about liquid-filled hoses or hose drums, nor is it necessary to cause liquid to flow in wound-up hoses which would mean the energy-intensive displacement of large masses, but instead at any given time liquid only needs to be circulated in the actually needed length of hose. In addition, a further advantage is that for irrigational cultivation the optimal mass of the machine and of the liquid is being conveyed so that the soil is not compressed, and its structure is not affected deleteriously and thus has no harmful influence on its microflora is exerted.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. A hose construction comprising a sheet-like hose mantle and hose mantle closing/sealing elements characterised in that the edges of the flexible hose mantle (1) adapted to be secured together are provided with a respective closing rim (2) made of a flexible material, and that one of the hose mantle closing/sealing elements being by a hose-jointing element (3) made from a row of open, resilient and strong rings (4) embedded in a resilient material and adapted to receive said rims (2), while the other closing/sealing element is a hose-sealing strip (8) adapted to clamp the rims (2) between itself and the jointing element (3). 2. A hose construction according to claim 1 characterised in that the hose-sealing strip (8) contains a wire reinforcement (9). 3. A hose construction according to claim 1 or 2 characterised in that the open ends of the said rings (4) are bent back on themselves and on the internal surface of the hose-jointing element (3) ribbing (7) is formed for resiliently engaging the said rims (2). 4. A hose according to claim 2 or claim 3 characterised in that the hose-jointing element (3) is provided with a reinforcing linen insert (5). 5. A hose construction according to any of claims 2 to 4 characterised in that the said sealing strip (8) contains a linen reinforcing liner (10). 6. Liquid conveying hose apparatus, especially for supplying agricultural cultivations with water of irrigation, for constructing a hose according to any of claims 1 to 5, comprising hose elements wound on drums arranged on a frame-work, coupling elements and a liquid discharge pipe, characterised in that it has a drum (12) for the hose mantle (1) and at least one additional drum (16) for a hose-jointing strip (3) and a hose-sealing strip (8), the hose mantle (1) and said strips (3,8) continuously unwound from the said drums (12,16) being applied against a liquid-conveying pipe (20) by means of profiled clamping roller means (13 profiled holding roller means (14), application roller means (18) for placing the hose-jointing strip (3) into a closing position, hose mantle fastening roller means (15) and sealing roller means (19) for fitting the hose-sealing strip (8), and regulating/driving means for driving said drums (12,16) in synchronism.

Inventors: WUTKA, IGNAC, BUKOVINSZKY, IVAN, FORGACS, CSABA, SCHALK, VILMOS
Applicants: BUKOVINSZKY, IVAN, FORGACS, CSABA, SCHALK, VILMOS, WUTKA, IGNAC
Application year: 1981
Main classification: A01G25
IPC codes: F16L11, A01G25