1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sprinkler adapter device, and more particularly to a sprinkler adapter device applied to a sprinkler and coupled to a water hose to intermittently discharge water at different water flow rates.
2. Description of the Related Art
Sprinkler systems currently applied to gardening have conduits connected to a water source and multiple sprinkler adapters mounted on the conduits and connected to other water manifolds or sprinkler heads so as to spray water over a place that is large in area. Based on the site condition to be deployed and the expected water spray patterns, various sprinkler heads are mounted on conduits that are also connected to a water source to meet a customized requirement. However, technically, such sprinkler adapters only allocate water from the water source to different conduits in the sprinkler systems, and have very limited function and need to be further improved.
An objective of the present invention is to provide a sprinkler adapter device able to intermittently discharge water at different water flow rates.
To achieve the foregoing objective, the sprinkler adapter device has an inlet-driving unit, a rotary seat, an outlet valve, a discharge rotor and a cover.
The inlet-driving unit has a body, a spindle and a spin element. The body is hollow and has a chamber and a first connection portion. The chamber is defined in the body. The first connection portion is formed on the body and communicates with the chamber. The spindle is mounted in the chamber. The spin element is rotatably mounted around the spindle.
The rotary seat is hollow, is driven by the spin element to rotate, and has a top board having a shaft hole mounted around the spindle.
The outlet valve is mounted on the spindle and has a disk and multiple lower valve holes. The disk has a top surface. The lower valve holes are formed through the disk and spaced with an interval between each other. Each lower valve hole has an opening and a lower guide plane. The lower guide plane is formed between an inner wall of the lower valve hole and the top surface of the disk. The discharge rotor is connected with the rotary seat to rotate relative to the outlet valve, and has a partition board and multiple upper valve holes. The partition board has a bottom surface. The upper valve holes are formed through the partition board to respectively correspond to the lower valve holes. Each upper valve hole has an opening and an upper guide plane. The upper guide plane is formed between an inner wall of the upper valve hole and the bottom surface of the partition board. A gap formed between each upper guide plane and the partition board communicates with a gap formed between a corresponding lower guide plane and the disk when the upper guide plane overlaps the lower guide plane.
The cover is hollow, and has an end and a second connection portion. The end is mounted on the body. The second connection portion communicates with an inner space of the cover.
After pressurized water flows into the sprinkler adapter device, the water pressure drives the spin element of the inlet-driving unit to rotate with the rotary seat, and synchronously drives the discharge rotor to rotate. With the design of the upper valve holes of the discharge rotor and the lower valve holes of the outlet valve, water can flow through the upper valve holes and the lower valve holes at different flow rates when the portions of the upper valve holes respectively overlapping those of the lower valve holes are varied. When the upper guide planes of the upper valve holes respectively overlap the lower guide planes of the lower valve holes and most of the portions of the upper valve holes respectively misaligning with those of the lower valve holes, only a small amount of water can pass through the lower valve holes and the upper valve holes to the water outlet. Accordingly, when assembled with a sprinkler head, the sprinkler adapter device provides an adequate amount of water for generating different water spray patterns. Additionally, the discharge rotor can be smoothly and steadily rotated relative to the outlet valve.
Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
With reference to
The inlet-driving unit 10 has a body 11, a shaft seat 12 and a spin element 13. The body 11 is hollow and has a chamber 111, an opening, inner threads, a first connection portion 113, a water inlet 114 and a shoulder 112. The chamber 111 is defined in the body 11. The opening is formed through a top of the body 11 and communicates with the chamber 111. The inner threads are formed on an inner wall of the body 11 and extend downwardly from the opening. The first connection portion 113 is formed on a lower portion of the body 11, is reduced in diameter relative to the body 11, and has threads formed around a periphery of the first connection portion 113. The water inlet 114 is formed through a bottom of the first connection portion 113 and communicates with the chamber 111. The shoulder 112 is formed on an inner wall of the body 11 and is adjacent to the first connection portion 113.
The shaft seat 12 is hollow and has a bottom board, a sidewall, a spindle 121, a positioning hole 122 and multiple water holes 123. With further reference to
The spin element 13 is annular and has a board, multiple annular walls formed around a perimeter of the board, a shaft hole 131, multiple passages 135, two slots 132, multiple blades 133, two guide pieces 134 and two driving elements 14. The shaft hole 131 is centrally and axially formed through the board of the spin element 13 and is mounted around the spindle 121 of the shaft seat 12. The passages 135 are circumferentially formed through the spin element 13 and around the shaft hole 131. The slots 132 are oppositely formed through the board of the spin element 13. The blades 133 are radially and separately formed on a bottom of the spin element 13 and respectively correspond to the water holes 123 of the shaft seat 12. Each guide piece 134 is formed inside one of the slots 132 and extends obliquely and upwardly from the board of the spin element 13. Each driving element 14 may be a metal ball and is received in one of the slots 132 and on a corresponding guide piece 134.
The rotary seat 20 is hollow and has a top board and an annular wall formed around a perimeter of the top board, an outer diameter smaller than an inner diameter of the shaft seat 12, multiple top bars 22, a shaft hole 21, multiple locating holes 23, multiple through holes 24 and two push blocks 25. The top bars 22 are radially formed on and protrude upwardly from the top board. The shaft hole 21 is centrally formed through the top board. Each locating hole 23 is formed through one of the top bars 22 and is adjacent to the shaft hole 21. The through holes 24 are formed through the top board of the rotary seat 20 and each through hole 24 is formed between two adjacent top bars 22. The push blocks 25 are oppositely formed on and protrude from an inner wall of the annular wall of the rotary seat 20. Because the shaft hole 21 of the rotary seat 20 is mounted around the spindle 121 of the shaft seat 12 and the spin element 13 is received in the rotary seat 20, the push blocks 25 respectively correspond to the slots 132 and the driving elements 14 of the spin elements 13. When each driving element 14 centrifugally and outwardly abuts a corresponding push block 25, the rotary seat 20 is selectively rotated synchronously with the spin element 13 when the driving elements 14 respectively abut against the push blocks 25, or stays still when the driving elements 14 and the push blocks 25 are separated.
The outlet valve 30 has a disk 31, a shaft column 32, a rod hole 33 and multiple lower valve holes 34. The shaft column 32 is formed on and protrudes downwardly from a bottom of the disk, has a non-circular cross section corresponding to that of the positioning hole 122,and is mounted in the positioning hole 122 of the spindle 121. The rod hole 33 is centrally formed through the disk 31 and formed in the shaft column 32. The lower valve holes 34 are circumferentially formed through the disk and spaced at an equal distance apart from a rotation center of the shaft column 32. With reference to
The discharge rotor 40 has a partition board 43, multiple upper valve holes 44, a collar 42, and a flange 41. The partition board 43 has a center rod 431 centrally formed on and protruding from a bottom surface of the partition board 43, and is rotatably mounted in the rod hole 33 of the outlet valve 30. The upper valve holes 44 are circumferentially formed through the partition board 43 and spaced at an equal distance apart from a rotation center of the center rod 431 to respectively correspond to the lower valve holes 34. The distance from the rotation center of the center rod 431 to each of the upper valve holes 44 is equal to that from the rotation center of the shaft column 32 to a corresponding lower valve hole 34. Each upper valve hole 44 has an upper guide plane 441 formed between an inner wall of the upper valve hole 44 and the bottom surface of the partition board 43. The upper guide plane 441 may be a chamfer plane. The upper guide plane 441 of each upper valve hole 44 is opposite to the lower guide plane 341 of the corresponding lower valve hole 34 when the upper valve hole 44 coincides with the lower valve hole 34. The collar 42 is annularly formed on and protrudes from the partition board 43. The flange 41 is formed on and protrudes outwardly from the bottom of the partition board 43, and has multiple engagement blocks 45 and a recess 46. The engagement blocks 45 are formed on and protrude from a bottom of the flange 41 and respectively engage the locating holes 23 of the rotary seat 20 so that the discharge rotor 40 and the rotary seat 20 can rotate simultaneously. The recess 46 is formed in a bottom of the flange 41 to receive the disk 31 of the outlet valve 30, and communicates with the upper valve holes 44.
When the discharge rotor 40 is rotated relative to the outlet valve 30, a front portion between the top surface of the disk 31 and each of the upper valve holes 44 and the lower valve holes 34 in the rotation direction is defined as a front hole edge, and an opposite portion to the front portion is defined as a rear hole edge. In the present embodiment, the upper guide plane 441 of each of the upper valve holes 44 is formed on a corresponding front hole edge and the lower guide plane 341 of each of the lower valve holes 34 is formed on a corresponding rear hole edge.
Furthermore, preferably, a ratio between a longitudinal height of the upper guide plane 441 of each upper valve hole 44 and that of the lower guide plane 341 of a corresponding lower valve hole 43 is 3:4. A length of each of the upper guide planes 441 formed around an opening of a corresponding upper valve hole 44 is less than one half of the perimeter of the opening of the upper valve hole 44. A length of each of the lower guide planes 341 formed around an opening of a corresponding lower valve hole 34 is less than one half of the perimeter of the opening of the lower valve hole 34.
With reference to
After the discharge rotor 40 is further rotated clockwise relative to the outlet valve 30 and the upper valve holes 44 and the lower valve holes 34 are partially overlapped, the water flow rate flowing from each of the lower valve holes 34 to a corresponding upper valve hole 44 increases. With reference to
With reference to
With further reference to
The cover 50 is hollow, takes a form of an annulus, and has a base portion, threads, a second connection portion 501, a water outlet 502, a first O-ring 51 and a second O-ring 52. The base portion is annular and hollow. The threads are formed on a periphery of the base portion. The second connection portion 501 is formed on and protrudes upwardly and centrally from the base portion, and is reduced in diameter relative to the base portion. The water outlet 502 is formed through the second connection portion 501 and has a bore diameter corresponding to an inner diameter of the collar 42 of the discharge rotor 40. The second O-ring 52 and the first O-ring 51 are sequentially mounted on the flange 41 of the discharge rotor 40. The second O-ring 52 and the first O-ring 51 may be made of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE or teflon), i.e. a wear-resistant material, and a waterproof material respectively. When the threads on the base portion of the cover 50 are screwed into the inner threads at the opening of the body 13, an inner side of the cover 50 abuts against the first O-ring 52 and the second O-ring 51. The second connection portion 501 may have threads formed on an inner wall of the second connection portion 501 or on a periphery of the second connection portion 501.
With reference to
With reference to
With reference to
Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
099221245 | Nov 2010 | TW | national |