Copyright © Françoise Herrmann
Rain Bird drip irrigation emitters, also known as “drippers”, are primarily designed to provide very small quantities of water (drips), at the base of a plant, by compensating the water pressure coming from a water source, such as a watering tube. In other words, irrigation for a plant by reducing to a drip the water flow that would otherwise normally flow from a watering tube without pressure control. Attached strategically at various intervals to a watering tube, drip irrigation emitters also each provide varying amounts of water (measured in gallons per hour [GPH]) to the base of a given plant type. Varying drips of water for each plant type, extracted from the regular flow of water in a tube, as a result of having travelled through bottlenecks, and a patented maze of tiny diversion walls, within each emitter.
Compared to overhead and underground irrigation systems, the advantages of drip irrigation are considered several-fold (Rain Bird). Drip irrigation is, above all, water-efficient, selective, and suited for small areas. Drip irrigation provides very small amounts of water to each individual plant. Water is targeted at the roots, thus discouraging weeds from growing around the plant, and leaves from molding. Drip irrigation is also easy to install, expand, and modify.
The Rain Bird drip irrigation emitter is a patented invention, covering the design of a small irrigation device (<1 inch), resistant to the fast flow of normally running water, usually inside a .5 or .75-inch watering tube. The US utility patent, US5820029, titled Drip irrigation emitter, was awarded on October 13th, 1998, to Elaine Marans. The patent was assigned to Rain Bird Sprinkler Manufacturing Corp.* in Glendale, California.
Included below, the patent Figure 2, with the images of two marketed Rain Bird drip irrigation emitters, a blue half-gallon emitter and a red two-gallon emitter. The patent Figure 2 is an exploded view of the Rain Bird irrigation emitter 10. The patent Figure 2 depicts a cup-shaped base 20, with a circular floor surface 32, and a cylindrical upstanding outer wall 34. The circular floor 32 comprises a channel pattern 26, designed to divert (and thus reduce) the incoming flow of water, causing the water to exit as "drips" from the downward hollow stem 36. Above the channel-patterned diversion 26, on the floor surface 32, spacer posts 38 are designed to support the cap 22, which fits inside the cup-shaped base 20, together with the valve 28 beneath.
The abstract of the Rain Bird drip irrigation emitter is included below.
An improved drip irrigation emitter is provided for low volume supply of water at a trickle or drip flow rate. The emitter comprises a housing adapted for connection to a water supply hose, and includes a water inlet and a water outlet with an elongated pressure reducing flow channel extending therebetween. The flow channel is lined on opposite sides by a plurality of flow diverting ribs which project laterally and partially into the flow channel in a staggered or alternating pattern, in combination with a plurality of flow diverting weirs which project upwardly and partially into the flow channel from a floor thereof. The flow diverting ribs and weirs define a three-dimensional tortuous flow path for repeated back-and-forth and up-and-down directional flow change as water travels therethrough, resulting in an improved pressure drop between the water inlet and outlet. [Abstract US5820029A]
Note
* The Rain Bird Manufacturing Corporation, founded in 1933, is a privately held company, currently a global leader in the domain of irrigation systems, serving 123 countries. The company holds hundreds of patents.
References
Rain Bird Corporation
Rain Bird – Five advantages of drip irrigation.
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