Method of Irrigating Plants Page: 2 of 3
[1], 1 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this patent.
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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.
ELTON P. REID, OF WACO, TEXAS.
METHOD OF IBRIGATING PLANTS.Speoifation of Letters Patent. Patented Sept. 10, 1918.
Application fled lune 8, 1918. Serial No. 238,862.To all whom it may concern:
Be it known that I, ELTON F. Rim, atiti-
zen of the United States, residing at Waco,
in the county of McLennan and State of
5 Texas, have invented certain new and useful
Improvements in Methods of Irrigating
Plants, of which the following is a specifica-
tion..-
This invention relates to a process or
10 method of irrigating plants, trees; shrubs or
the like.
One of the objects of the present invention
is to provide a simple and practicable proc-
ess adapted to convey irrigating means in
15 the form of a solid to a point adjacent the
roots of the plants whereby the moisture
will be most readily taken up. A further.
object is to provide a method of the above
general character particularly adapted for
20 irrigating plants in hot dry climates.
The invention accordingly consists in such
steps and the relation of each step to each
of the other steps. as will be hereinafter
more fully pointed out in the following de-
25 scription and as set forth in. the appended
claims.
- Figure 1 is a side elevation partly in sec-
tion showing largely diagrammatically the
complete apparatus;
so Figs. 2 and 3 are detail views.
Referring now to the drawings in detail
and more particularly to Fig. 1, 5 denotes
the floor of the body portion of a vehicle
of any desired type, but as herein shown,
35 the apparatus comprises a self-contained
automobile tractor, preferably of tractor
form having an engine indicated at 6, one
or more steering wheels 7 at the forward
part and a tractor chain 8 in the rear. This
40 chain 8 is adapted to travel about the
sprockets 10 and 11 driven by a central
sprocket 12 which in turn is rotated by
means of chain 13 operated from a main
transverse drive shaft 14. This,. of course,
45 is connected in any desired manner with
the main engine 6 and includes suitable
transmission, change speed, and engine con-
trol, as may be necessary. The front or
steering wheels 7 are connected in any suit-
50 able manner as by means of rope or chain
15 to a rear wheel 16 at the bottom of shaft
17 the upper end of. which shaft is provided
with a steering handle 18. The driver's or.
operator's seat 20 is conveniently located at
65 the rear of the machine, as indicated.
Mounted in the upper rear part of thebody of the vehicle is a two-part chamber
21 adapted to hold or contain a freezing
mixture such as a brine or gas of any desired
type and if of that character requiring com- 60
pression, a pump is preferably provided
driven from or adapted to be connected with
-the main source of power 6; as may be neces-
sary. As the particular type of refrigerant
and- method of'use forms no special part of 65
the invention, details of such apparatus are
for clearness omitted, it being sufficient to
indicate an inlet 22 to this tank.
. Adjacent this tank 21 either above or sur-
rounding it as may be desired for insulating 70
purposes, is a second tank, having an inlet
23 for supplying wafer at intervals to a se-
ries of split molds 24 (Fig. 2) operatively
associated with the refrigerator tank; ferti-
lizer may be mixed with the water, if de- 75
sired. These molds are .of general cylindri-
cal shape having pointed ends and after the
water has been frozen therein they may be
separated along longitudinal lines, as indi-
cated for example, in Fig. 2, to discharge so
the pellet or projectile of ice into an endless
conveyer belt 25 positioned therebeneath.
This conveyer belt is adapted to convey the
ice projectiles to one or more discharging
devices 26 indicated by a gun mounted in 86
pivotal bearings 27 whereby its direction
may be varied at will. This gun is prefer-
ably operated by compressed air obtained
from air pump shown, diagrammatically at
28 and connected in any desired manner 90
with the main source of motive supply 6.
A trigger 30 is associated with the gun for
discharging it as desired while a second
trigger 31 is positioned convenient to the
operator for actuating the endless belt 25 95
in the step by step manner to feed the pro-
jectile to the gun 26.
As shown in Fig. 1, plants are indicated
at 32 and the gun is shown as, discharging
a projectile 33 into the ground adjacent the 100
roots of the plants. In this manner the ice
is protected from the direct rays of the sun
as well as the dry atmosphere by the layer
of dirt thereover and will slowly melt al-
lowing the roots of the plants to absorb the 106
full extent of moisture. If desired, an at-
tachment 34 may be connected with the rear
of the machine for.coveririg over the hole in
the ground made by the entering projectile
thereby to more 'efficiently conserve the 110
moisture.
In operation, the machine travels along1,278,216.
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Reid, F. Elton. Method of Irrigating Plants, patent, September 10, 1918; [Washington D.C.]. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1257810/m1/2/: accessed July 2, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.