Improvements in Apparatus for Watering or Sprinkling Lawns and other Surfaces.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 30th May, 1893
Complete Specification Left, 28th Feb., 1894-Accepted, 31st Mar., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Watering or Sprinkling Lawns
and other Surfaces.
I, ALEXANDER JOHN PROTHEROE, of Bourn House, High Road, Leytonstone,
in the County of Essex, Electrical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to apparatus for use in watering or sprinkling lawns and
other surfaces, and has for its object to provide means whereby the sprinkler can
be caused to move from place to place without an attendant.
According to my invention a sprinkler or distributer of any desirable construction
is mounted upon a carriage upon which is also mounted a turbine, water-wheel or
other water motor driven by the whole or part of the water passing to the
distributer. This water motor is connected by suitable gearing with the wheels or
axles of the carriage in such a manner that the passage of the water through the
water motor to the sprinkler or distributer causes the carriage to travel. The
direction of the travel may be regulated by means of a steering-wheel upon
the carriage.
Dated this 29th day of Max 1893
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Watering or Sprinkling Lawns
and other Surfaces.
I, ALEXANDER JOHN PROTHEROE, of Bourn House, High Road, Leytonstone,
in the County of Essex, Electrical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to apparatus for use in watering or sprinkling lawns and
other surfaces, and has for its object to provide means whereby the sprinkler can
be caused to move from place to place without an attendant.
According to my invention a sprinkler or distributer of any desirable construction
is mounted upon a carriage upon which is also mounted a turbine, water-wheel or
other water motor driven by the whole or part of the water passing to the
distributer. This water motor is connected by suitable gearing with the wheels or
axles of the carriage in such a manner that the passage of the water through the
water motor to the sprinkler or distributer causes the carriage to travel. The
direction of the travel may be regulated by means of a steering-wheel upon
the carriage.
To enable my invention to be fully understood I will describe the same by
reference to the accompanying drawings, in which :-
Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved watering or sprinkling apparatus ;
and,
Figure 2 is a rear elevation of the same partly in section and drawn to an
enlarged scale:

page_text: Figure 3 is a sectional plan of part of the apparatus shewing the driving
mechanism; and,
Figure 4 is an elevation of the front wheel and the adjacent part of the
framing:
Figures 5 and 6 are detail views of a sprinkling nozzle which I advantageously
employ.
a, a', a, a is the framing of the apparatus which as shewn is made of metal
tubing, the parts a, a of the said tubing serving for the conveyance of the water to
the sprinkling nozzles b, b arranged in the front bar a¹ of the framing. This
framing is mounted upon three wheels c, c, c', the wheels c, c being mounted on an
axle d carried in bearings in arms e, e and the front wheel c¹ running upon an axle f
carried in the lower ends of arms g,g.
is a box carried by the rear bar a³ of the framing and by the axle d and
containing gearing as hereinafter described. is the turbine or water motor for
propelling the apparatus, the said turbine or motor being fixed to one side of the
box and having its inlet pipe j adapted for connection to a flexible hose, whilst
the discharge pipe k is connected to the bar a² of the framing so that the water
after having operated the turbine will pass to the nozzles b, b.
On the shaft of the turbine, which extends into the box h, is keyed a worm m
which engages with a worm-wheel n mounted on a spindle o carried between
centres p, p, and on the shaft o is fixed a worm which
with a worm-
9.
engages
wheel on the axle d. The motion of the axles is communicated to the wheels
by means of ratchet and pawl mechanism or friction clutches so that the
apparatus may be pushed forward without rotating the axle d. In Figure 3A
I shew in connection with one of the wheels a ratchet wheel d' and pawl d²,
the ratchet wheel being fixed to the axle d and the pawl to the hub or boss of
the wheel.
It will be understood that as the water passes through the turbine it will
through the medium of the gearing above described rotate the axle d and so
propel the apparatus. In practice the gearing is so proportioned relatively with
the speed of the turbine that the apparatus will only travel at a slow speed over
the ground.
In order that the nozzles shall be supplied with water as uniformly as possible,
I advantageously plug the tube a' carrying the nozzles at the point & so that the
water for supplying one half of the nozzles will pass through one side a of the
framing and the water for supplying the other half of the nozzles through the other
side of the said framing. Any suitable form of nozzle may be employed but in
practice I find it advantageous to make the said nozzles, as shewn in Figures 5
and 6, with slits t so that the water will be distributed in flat sheets and I
arrange the nozzles so close together that the water discharged from one nozzle
overlaps that discharged from the adjacent nozzles.
The length of hose used with the apparatus is when commencing to use the
apparatus coiled up upon a platform on the framing, or otherwise suitably carried
thereon so that as the apparatus travels the hose will be uncoiled and paid out.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. In an apparatus for watering or sprinkling lawns and other surfaces a turbine
or other water motor connected by gearing with the wheels upon which the said
apparatus is mounted and adapted to propel the same, the said turbine or motor
being driven by the water flowing to the spraying nozzles of the apparatus,
substantially as described.
2. In an apparatus for watering or sprinkling lawns and other surfaces and
adapted to be propelled by a turbine, constructing the frame of the said apparatus
of tubing which serves to convey the water to the sprinkling nozzles, substantially
as described.

page_text: 3. The manufacture and use of the improved apparatus hereinbefore described
and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 27th day of February 1894.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.