OSCILLATING SNOW MAKING TOWER

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to the art of fluid sprinkling, and more particularly to snow making towers for ski slopes.

The present invention pertains to improvements in snow making towers of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,163, issued Nov. 1, 1994, for ADJUSTABLE SNOW MAKING TOWER. This patent discloses an adjustable snow making tower which includes a vertical ground support pole that is anchored into the ground and has a tower support pole coaxially received on this ground support pole for support of a snow tower for horizontal rotation on the ground support pole vertical axis. This type of snow making tower is generally referred to as an adjustable lean-out tower.

As opposed to such snow making towers, there is also available on the market what is referred to as a snow making fan gun that consists of an electric fan that drives an atomized water mist in subfreezing ambient conditions in order to produce snow. These machines are mounted on carriages or on towers and caused to oscillate. Oscillation of the machine is advantageous as it permits a wider distribution of the manufactured snow.

With this in mind, it is seen that it would also be advantageous to be able to oscillate the conventional lean-out snow making tower. Oscillation of the snow making tower will spread the snow out which improves the snow quality and permits more efficient and more effective snow coverage over the ski slope which means that the ski slope can be opened more quickly. It also reduces the amount of required grooming of the manufactured snow on the ski slope, which in turn reduces operational costs as less labor and fuel are required for the grooming process. However, this is not practical as electric power is generally not available to such snow making towers on the ski slopes.

However, it is an object of the present invention to provide an oscillating snow making tower without the required use of electricity.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The oscillating snow making tower of the present invention includes an oscillating fluid drive secured to the tower for horizontally oscillating the tower on its ground support pole back and forth between preset limits, and wherein, this oscillating fluid drive is powered by the water or air supplied under pressure to the snow making tower, thereby eliminating the need for access to electricity in order to oscillate the tower.

In a first embodiment, the oscillating fluid drive is disposed between the elongated pipe snow making tower and the ground support pole. For example, the water inlet for the elongated pipe tower is connected to this oscillating fluid drive for driving it with this water supplied under pressure, the water supply being preferable to the air supply under pressure in view of the fact that water is less compressible and therefore provides a more efficient and effective drive.

In a second embodiment of the present invention, the oscillating fluid drive includes the snow making nozzles at the top of the elongated pipe tower as the primary means for driving the tower in its oscillating movement. This is accomplished by two different possible arrangements. In a first possible arrangement, an oscillating fluid drive motor is connected to rotate selected of the snow making nozzles at the top of the elongated pipe tower about an axis in an oscillating manner for thereby oscillating the tower in rotation about its ground support pole.

This is possible as very little force is necessary to rotate the tower when the top end or nozzle head of the tower is extended out away from the axis of the tower support pole at its base. For example, a 30 foot tower angled at 30° off vertical places the upper end or nozzle head of the tower approximately 12 feet out from the tower support pole or post. This distance provides the necessary lever for the force of the fluid thrust from the nozzles to exert sufficient force to thereby cause the tower to be rotated.

In a third embodiment of the present invention, the snow making nozzles are also used as the means for driving the tower in the oscillating movement. However in this arrangement the snow making nozzles at the top of the tower are fixed in position on opposite sides of the tower pipe nozzle head, and an oscillating valve is provided for alternately supplying a dominant portion of the supply water under pressure to the water nozzles on opposite sides of the tower for thereby oscillating the tower in rotation about its ground support pole.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other objects and advantages appear in the following description and claims. The accompanying drawings show, for the purpose of exemplification, without limiting the invention or claims thereto, certain practical embodiments illustrating the principals of this invention wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view in side elevation of one embodiment of the oscillating snow making tower of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view in side elevation of a second embodiment of the oscillating snow making tower of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view in side elevation of a third embodiment of the oscillating snow making tower of the present invention;

FIG. 3C is an enlarged view in cross section of the snow making tower pipe shown in FIG. 3 as seen along section line 3C-3C;

FIG. 3A is an enlarged view in cross section of the mechanism utilized to limit the outer bounds of rotation for the oscillating snow making tower shown in FIG. 3 as seen along section line 3A-3A;

FIG. 3BL is an enlarged view in cross section of the lower end of the elongated pipe tower disclosing a face view of the oscillating valve provided in the oscillating snow making tower of FIG. 3 for alternately supplying a dominant portion of the water under pressure to the water nozzles on opposite sides of the top end of the tower for thereby oscillating the tower in rotation about its ground support pole, as seen along section line 3B-3B. The figure illustrates the position of the oscillating valve when the upper end of the snow making tower is rotated to its full right rotational limit;

FIG. 3BR is another cross sectional face view of the oscillating valve shown in FIG. 3BL, illustrating the valve position when the outer upper end of the snow making tower is at its full left rotational limit in its oscillating movement;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view in side elevation of the snow making nozzles and nozzle head at the upper most portion of the oscillating snow making tower shown in FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a top view of the nozzle head configuration shown in FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 1, a first embodiment of the present invention is illustrated. The snow making tower 10 of the present invention includes a substantially vertical ground support pole 11 having the bottom end thereof anchored into ground surface 12. Tower support sleeve 13 is coaxially mounted on ground support pole 11 for support thereon and free axial rotation thereon for a full 360°.

Upwardly extending support arm 16 is pivotally supported intermediate its ends to the upper end of tower support sleeve 13 at pivotal support connection 24 for pivotal movement substantially from horizontal to vertical about pivot 42.

Elongated pipe snow making tower 18 is provided with snow making nozzles 20 adjacent the upper end of the pipe tower at the nozzle head 32 and respective water and air connections 22 and 21 are provided at the lower end of pipe tower 18 for connection to remote sources of air and water under pressure through the hoses depicted for supply to the nozzles 20 for ultimate discharge into ambient atmosphere for manufacturing snow in subfreezing conditions in a known fashion.

The elongated pipe snow making pipe tower 18 itself is also pivotally secured intermediate its ends to the upper end of support arm 16 at pivotal connection 24 for movement in a vertical plane from parallel alignment with support arm 16 to positions below horizontal so that one may readily access the nozzles 20 from the ground for repair or exchange.

The support arm 16 vertically supports pipe tower 18 at any desirable angle. However, pipe tower 18 is preferably supported at 10° to 30° relative to vertical.

Pipe tower 18 is formed in two pipe sections 50 coupled with coupling 23.

The support arm 16 is constructed in two pieces with a tower metal base support sleeve 25 and a longer support tube 27 having its bottom end coaxially and slidably received in telescoping fashion in the upper end of bottom sleeve 25 for removable support.

A securing device or retainer 26 is provided at the base portion of pipe tower 18 for securing the base portion of pipe tower 18 in parallel alignment with support arm 16. This securing device may be easily released by removing an upper pin 28 from spaced ears 27 to permit the pipe tower 18 to rotate clockwise about pivot 24 at the upper end of support arm 16.

A pull cord or line is normally connected between the bottom end of pipe tower 18 and bottom end of the support sleeve 13, and a jack is also normally provided under support arm 16 in order to assist an operator in raising and lowering the pipe tower 18 for repair access to nozzles 20, and also for raising and lowering pipe tower 18 about pivot 42 in order to position tower 18 at the desired angular degree relative to vertical. However, this equipment has been omitted from the figures for the purpose of clarity.

A drip catch deflector 52 is provided on the tower structure to prevent water running down the tower 18 from dripping onto the support arm 16.

For details of the nozzle operation and the specifics for the construction of the tower 10 itself, reference should be had to U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,654, for SNOW MAKING TOWER.

An oscillating fluid drive 34 is secured to pipe tower 18 via support arm 16 for oscillating pipe tower 18 on ground support pole 11 back and forth between preset limits. Fluid drive 34 is powered by the water under pressure supplied to tower 18 via connection 22. The water outlet of fluid drive 34 is supplied to pipe tower 18 via hose 17 to supply nozzles 20. Oscillating fluid drive 34 is disposed between elongated pipe tower 18, via support arm 16, and ground support pole 11 whereby fluid drive 34, together with pipe tower 18, are rotated back and forth in oscillation on the upper end of ground support pole 11. Tower support sleeve 13 is rigidly secured to the housing of fluid drive 34 whereby support sleeve 13 rotates with fluid drive 34 as indicated by the arrow in the figure, which indicates an oscillating movement. In this manner, pipe tower 18 rotates in an oscillating manner on the top of support pole 11 within preset limits which are programmed into or preadjusted in fluid drive 34.

Oscillating fluid drive 34 is a water driven drive with adjustable limits for oscillating rotation. Examples of the type of fluid drive which may be utilized for drive 34 may be found in one or more of the disclosures set forth in U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,474,733 and 8,505,836, or in US Patent Application Publication Nos. 2016/0023222; 2015/0034737; 2016/0023222 and 2023/0173512.

Referring next to FIG. 2, a second embodiment of the oscillating snow making tower of the present invention is illustrated. In this embodiment, identical parts in this figure are numbered the same as in FIG. 1. However, in this embodiment, an oscillating fluid drive 34 is not provided at the top of support pole 11. Rather, the power support sleeve 13 is coaxially received over the upper end of ground support pole 11 for free axial rotation thereon, and it is preferable that a good ball bearing or roller bearing race be provided between the upper end of support pole 11 and support arm 16.

In this embodiment the fluid drive for driving pipe tower 18 into oscillating motion includes the snow making nozzles 20 as the primary means for driving the pipe tower 18 in its oscillating movement about support pole 11.

In this embodiment a water driven oscillating fluid drive 34′ is provided at the top of pipe tower 18 and supports thereon the nozzle head 32. The oscillating fluid drive 34′ may be selected to be of the same type as fluid drive 34 depicted in the embodiment of FIG. 1.

The oscillating fluid drive 34′ and the nozzle head 32 may be so designed wherein fluid drive 34′ rotates the entire nozzle head 32 in oscillating movement about a vertical axis as depicted by the movement arrow shown in the figure, or alternatively the nozzle head may be designed wherein the top nozzle set or an intermediate portion of the nozzles 20 may be oscillated as for example as illustrated in US Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0074242, entitled AXIAL ROTATABLE SNOW MAKING SPRAY HEAD AND METHOD FOR MAKING SNOW.

The limits of oscillating rotation for nozzle heads 32 may be preset in fluid drive 34′

By oscillating nozzle head 32 back and forth or oscillating selected nozzles 20 in nozzle head 32, pipe tower 18 is caused to oscillate back and forth in rotation on vertical support pole 11.

Referring next to FIG. 3, a third embodiment of the oscillating snow making tower of the present invention is illustrated. Identical parts are illustrated with the same reference numerals provided in the previous figures. In this embodiment, as was the case with the previous embodiment of FIG. 2, snow making nozzles are the primary means for driving the tower 18 in its oscillating movements.

In this embodiment the nozzle head 32 is provided with snow making nozzles 20 and 20′ that are fixed in position on opposite sides of the tower 18 as illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5.

The pipe tower 18 of FIG. 3 is oscillated back and forth on support pole 11 by alternately supplying a dominant portion of the water being supplied under pressure to the water nozzles 20 and 20′ on opposite sides of pipe tower 18 for thereby oscillating the tower about ground support pole 11. In other words, by first supplying a dominant portion of the water under pressure to nozzles 20 on the right side of pipe tower 18 and then alternately supplying the dominant portion of the water supply to the water nozzles 20′ on the left side of pipe tower 18, the pipe tower 18 may be driven back and forth in an oscillating movement about support pole 11.

A cross section of the elongated pipe tower 18 illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 3C.

The elongated pipe tower 18 is an extruded aluminum pipe provided with separate water channels 40′ and 40 on the left and right sides respectively of the pipe with a central conduit 41 for supplying the air under pressure to air nozzles 69.

Thus, by supplying the dominant portion of the water under pressure alternately to the separate side water channels 40 and 41, the nozzles 20 and 20′ alternately push the tower 18 to the left and then back to the right in an oscillating movement due to the thrust of the water being sprayed through the respective nozzles.

Alternating the dominant flow of the water supplied to the tower 10 to the segregated water channels 40 and 41′ is accomplished by an oscillating gate valve provided at the bottom end of the elongated pipe tower 18 for alternately supplying a dominant portion of the water under pressure to the water nozzles 20 and 20′ on opposite sides of the tower nozzle head 32 for thereby oscillating the tower in rotation about ground support pole 11. The details of this oscillating valve are illustrated in FIGS. 3BL and 3BR.

The oscillating valve 42 illustrated in FIGS. 3BL and 3BR includes a rotating valve gate dish 48 with a left inlet port 43 and a right inlet port 44, and the valve 42 is additionally provided with a left outlet port 45 and a right outlet port 46. A downwardly depending actuation stem 47 is rigidly secured at its upper end to the valve gate disk 48 of gate valve 42, whereby downwardly depending actuation stem 47 is permitted to rotate left in and right within the bounds of slot 49 provided within the valve housing 55. When valve stem 47 is moved left or right within slot 49, valve gate disk 48 rotates with it about its center. O ring seals 56 are received in corresponding annular grooves on opposite sides of valves gate disk 48 in order to permit disk 48 to easily rotate within its housing 55 and to eliminate the leakage of water under pressure within the valve assembly out of housing 55 through slot 49. A similar inner O ring seal 57 is provided for engagement between valve gate disk 48 and inner air conduit 41.

Outlet port 43 provides access to and outlets to the left side channel 40′ of elongate pipe tower 18, and outlet port 46 provides an outlet to right side water channel 40 within elongated pipe tower 18.

Left and right oscillating limit stops 60 and 61 respectively limit the maximum left side and right side movement of the oscillating valve 42 due to the stopping engagement of downwardly depending actuation stem 47 against a respective stop 60 or 61.

As may be seen from FIG. 3, oscillating valve 42 on snow making tower 10 is positioned to the left or the rear of the point where sleeve 13 rotates about support pole 11. Thus when oscillating valve 42 (valve housing 55) is in the position as shown in FIG. 3BL, the nozzle head 32 of snow making tower 10 has pivoted to the right to its maximum right turn oscillating position where it is stopped due to the engagement of downwardly depending actuation stem 47 with left stop 60. As shown in FIG. 3BL this causes downwardly depending actuation stem 47 to be forced to the right thereby positioning gate valve disk 48 in the position illustrated in FIG. 3BL.

At this position the dominant portion of the water under pressure being forced to engage the face of valve 42 at disk 48 will flow through the fully open inlet port 44 on through outlet port 46 and on into the right hand water channel 40 of elongated pipe tower 18, and a non dominant portion of the water under pressure will be forced through the now much smaller gated outlet port 45 on the left on into the left side water channel 40′ of elongated pipe tower 18 due to the fact that gate valve disk 48 has gated off a major portion of outlet port 45.

When this occurs, the water spray valves 20 on the nozzle head 32 are supplied with the major portion of the water supply under pressure and the non dominant water supply is supplied to the left hand or left side water nozzles 20′. Accordingly, the primary thrust from the right side nozzles 20 is dominant and will force the entire tower 18 into a left hand rotation of the oscillating cycle.

When the elongated pipe tower 18 has rotated sufficiently to the left, downwardly depending actuation stem 47 will engage the right hand stop 61 as illustrated in FIG. 3BR and the position of valve actuating gate disk 48 is rotated to the position illustrated in FIG. 3BR. In this position the valve 42 thus reverses the dominant flow of water under pressure instead into the fully opened left hand outlet port 45 and the outlet port 46 on the right side is gated to be partially closed whereby the non dominant portion of the water now flows in the right hand channel 40 of elongated pipe tower 18, and the dominant portion of the water under pressure is permitted to flow within the left hand channel 40′ of elongated pipe tower 18.

This will accordingly provide the dominant thrust from the left side water nozzles 20′ and thereby reverse the rotation of elongated pipe tower 18 about support post 11, whereby the oscillating motion will perpetuate itself.

The adjustment and operation of the stops 60 and 61 is illustrated in FIG. 3A. Stops 60 and 61 are supported respectively by ring support plates 65 and 66 which are permitted to rotate about support pole 11, and are both supported by annular support plate 67, which is welded to support pole 11, as illustrated in FIG. 3.

Accordingly, stops 60 and 61 can be positioned anywhere within 360° of rotation in order to precisely position the limits of tower rotation in its oscillating movement. After positioning, the stops 60 and 61 can be locked in position by locking down or tightening the respective set screws 70 and 71 against support pole 11.

It should be realized that other mechanisms and variations for the oscillating valve 42 may be provided. For example, a fluid or water actuated valve may be provided to adjustably alternate the supply of the dominant portion of the supply water to opposite sides of the elongate pipe tower. Such fluid distribution valves are manufactured by Paramount Leisure Industries, Inc. of Phoenix, Arizona, and described in one or more of the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 4,592,379; 6,311,728; 6,314,999; 6,360,767 and 6,878,293.

OSCILLATING SNOW MAKING TOWER

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