Abstract:
An automatically opened and closed water gate includes a water gate and an opening and closing mechanism combined together. The opening and losing mechanism consists of an oil pressure cylinder with a movable piston rod for driving movable pulleys for pulling or releasing wire ropes extending around a plurality of stationary pulleys and fixed with the water gate. Then the water gate is pulled up and down by means of the wire ropes operated by the opening and closing mechanism to pull up or lowering down the water gate automatically, for adjusting water level of a canal, a watercourse, an irrigation channel, etc.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    This invention relates to a automatically opened and closed water gate, particularly to one having a simple structure for easy operation, and capable to be opened and closed automatically according to the height of water level.  
           [0002]    Water gates are widely used for irrigation, for draining sewerage, and for adjusting water levels of canals, and mostly are located for away from towns, cities, so they are better operated by automation than by manual work. Moreover, it should be easily maintained and repaired.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0003]    The purpose of the invention is to offer an automatically opened and closed water gate, having a simple structure for easy operation.  
           [0004]    The invention has the following features.  
           [0005]    1. The water gate is opened and closed by a wire rope moved around movable pulleys and stationary pulleys by moving up and down the movable pulleys driven by a piston rod of an oil cylinder.  
           [0006]    2. Two wire ropes are provided for two movable pulleys and two pairs of stationary pulleys so as to pull up and down the water gate for opening and closing water passage.  
           [0007]    3. The water gate can be installed to swing up and down or move up and down, and in case of moving up and down, the water gate may have two portions, an upper and a lower half gate, for easily separating from each other to keep a proper water level.  
           [0008]    4. When the water gate have two portions, the upper half gate can automatically moved up for a certain height with the lower half gate kept stationary, forming a gap between the upper and the lower half gate for water to flow out until a set water level is acquired. Then the upper half gate may automatically be moved down to close on the lower half gate to stop water flow. In case that the water level rises up higher than the preset one, the upper half gate is first moved up and then the lower half gate is also moved up to allow a large volume of water flow out.  
           [0009]    5. If the water gate is made to swing up and down for exhausting water, a float is made use of for starting an oil cylinder to operate an opening and closing mechanism for exhausting water when the float is moved up by water buoyancy to drive a control valve. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       [0010]    This invention will be better understood by referring to the accompanying drawings, wherein:  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 1 is a front partial view of a first embodiment of an automatically opened and closed water gate in the present invention;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 2 is a front partial cross-sectional view of a second embodiment of an automatically opened and closed water gate in the present invention;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the water gate in the second embodiment in a closed condition in the present invention;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the water gate in the second embodiment in a half-closed condition in the present invention;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the water gate in the second embodiment in an opened condition in the present invention;  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 6 is a front partial view of a third embodiment of an automatically opened and closed water gate in the present invention;  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the water gate in the third embodiment in a closed condition in the present invention;  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the water gate in the third embodiment in an opened condition in the present invention;  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 9 is a diagram of an oil route used for an oil pressure cylinder in the automatically opened and closed water gate in the present invention;  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 10 is a front cross-sectional view of another embodiment of an opening and closing mechanism in the present invention; and,  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 11 is a side cross-sectional view of another embodiment of an opening and closing mechanism in the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0022]    A first embodiment of an automatically opened and closed water gate in the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, includes a water gate  1  and an opening and closing mechanism combined together.  
         [0023]    The water gate  1  is placed in a gate opening  30  of a concrete frame  3 , having a plurality of sliding wheels  10  at two vertical sides for sliding along a vertical post to keep smooth up and down movement of the water gate  1 , a plurality of water seals  11  fixed on proper positions of the water gate for sealing water from leaking through the water gate  1 . Further a rope base  12  is respectively mounted on two sides of an upper surface of the water gate  1 , bound with ends of two wire ropes  40 ,  41 , which extend around two stationary pulleys  13  respectively located at two opposite sides of an upper surface of the concrete frame, and then reach an opening and closing mechanism  2 .  
         [0024]    The opening and closing mechanism  2  includes an oil cylinder  20  having a piston rod  200 , and the end of the piston rod  200  is fixed with a shaft  212  of two movable pulleys  21 ,  21 ′. The two ends of the shaft  212  are fitted movably in two sidewalls of a housing  23  of the opening and closing mechanism  2 , permitting shrinking and extending movement of the piston rod  200  move up and down the two movable pulleys  21 ,  21 ′ by means of two wire ropes  40 ,  41 . Further, two upper stationary pulleys  210 ,  210 ′ are provided respectively at two upper sides beside the two movable pulleys  21 ,  21 ′ and two lower stationary pulleys  211 ,  211 ′ are provided respectively at two lower sides beside the two movable pulleys  21 ,  21 ′. The two wire ropes  40 ,  41  separately extend around the pulleys  211 ,  211 ′,  210 ,  210 ′ and  21 ,  21 ′ and then have their upper ends  400 ,  410  fixed firmly above the two movable pulleys  21 ,  21 ′. Then the two movable pulleys are made to move up and down by means of the two ropes  40 ,  41  pulled by the piston rod  200  operated by the oil pressure cylinder  20  functioned by oil moving in an oil route shown in FIG. 9. Then the water gate  1  is moved up and down accordingly, opened and closed.  
         [0025]    The opening and closing mechanism  2  may have a second embodiment as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, including an oil cylinder  20  having a piston rod  200 , and an end of the piston rod is fixed with a shaft  212  of two movable pulleys  21 ,  21 ′, with two ends of the shaft  212  fitted movably in two sidewalls of a housing  23 . Then shrinking and extending movement of the piston rod  200  causes the two movable pulleys  21 ,  21 ′ move up and down. Further, two upper stationary pulleys  210 ,  210 ′ are provided at an upper side beside the movable pulleys  21 ,  21 ′ and two lower stationary pulleys  211 ,  211 ′ are provided at a lower side beside the movable pulleys  21 ,  21 ′. The two upper stationary pulleys  210 ,  210 ′ are fixed on a shaft  213 , and the two lower stationary pulleys  211 ,  211 ′ are fixed on a shaft  214 . Then two wire ropes  40 ,  41  separately extend around those pulleys orderly and then upper ends  400 ,  410  of the wire ropes  40 ,  41  are fixed above the movable pulleys  21 ,  21 ′. Then the piston rod  200  of the oil pressure cylinder  20  shrinks or extends by the cylinder  20  operated by the oil moving in the oil route shown in FIG. 9.  
         [0026]    Next, a second embodiment of an automatically opened and closed water gate is shown in FIGS.  2 - 5 , having the same structure of an opening and closing mechanism  2  as the first embodiment, but the water gate  1 A has a different structure from that in the first embodiment. The water gate  1 A is divided in two portions, an upper half gate  5  and a lower half gate  6 , combined together. The upper half and the lower half gate all have a plurality of sliding wheels  10  of the same structure as those in the first embodiment for maintaining up and down movement of the water gate  1 A, and a sloped lower surface  50  and a sloped upper surface  60  respectively. The advantage of the sloped contact surfaces  50  and  60  is to remove water pressure against the upper half gate  5  by raising up for a certain height only the upper half gate  50  for water contacting with the upper half gate to flow out first so that water pressure against the water gate  1 A may be alleviated. Further, at least two linking rods  51  are provided vertically through the upper half and the lower half gate  5  and  6 , and each linking rod  51  has a large diameter head respectively formed at an upper end and a lower end and is fixed with the upper half gate as integral or movable. So when the upper half gate  5  is moved up for a certain height, the lower ends of the linking rods  51  may contact an inner lateral wall of the lower half gate and lift up the lower half gate as the upper half gate is continued to be moved up. Then there is not only a gap formed between the upper and the lower half gate, but also a gap formed between the lower half gate and a bottom of the gate opening of the concrete frame. This two stages of lifting up of the two half gates for opening the water gate can save water volume and also lessening water pressure against the water gate. And it depends on the length of the linking rods that the two stages of opening the water gate can be realized possible.  
         [0027]    In order to permit the second embodiment of the water gate automatically opened and closed, a float mechanism  8  is added to the water gate, having a float  60  provided in a float chamber  31  formed in the wall of the concrete frame  3 , and the float chamber  31  has an inlet  310  for water to flow therein to keep the same water level with that of the water gate. When the float  80  is lifted to a preset level, a float rod  800  fixed upright on the float  80  may contact a micro switch  81  so as to start the oil pressure cylinder to operate the opening and closing mechanism to raise up the water gate automatically. When the water level falls down to a preset height, the float rod  800  may also fall down, not contacting the micro switch  81  to activate the oil pressure cylinder of the opening and closing mechanism to close the water gate.  
         [0028]    Next, FIGS. 6, 7 and  8  show a third embodiment of an automatically opened and closed water gate, including a water gate  1 B to be swung up and down, a stationary pulley  32  in the concrete wall  3 , a horizontal shaft  70  fixed at a lower end of the water gate  1 B to let the water gate  1 B possible to swing down and up. Then the third embodiment also has a float  80  contained in a float chamber  31  in the concrete frame  3  and an inlet  310  formed in the bottom of the float chamber  31  in the same as the second embodiment. Then the water level in the float chamber  31  is the same as that of the water gate. Further, a vertical rack  801  is connected upright with an upper end of the float rod  31 , extending out of the float chamber  31 , and a gear  802  is placed beside the rack  801  and engages both the rack  801  and a gear  830  fixed on a manual rod  83  with a shaft having a one-way bearing. When the gear  802  is rotated by up movement of the float  80 , the gear  830  is rotated at the same time, but the float  80  may be kept positioned in place in case of reaching a preset point owing to the one-way bearing so the water gate may be started to swing down to open. If the manual rod  83  is moved to separate the gear  802  from the gear  830 , the float  80  may fall down because of no resistance, so the water gate may be closed by handling manually after the water level falls down.  
         [0029]    While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been described above, it will be recognized and understood that various modifications may be made therein and the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications that may fall within the spirit and scope of the invention.