|
|
|
New Implements
I'm still looking for a 3ph pump that has fire-fighting capabilities. Something with the specs of a Wojak Mark 4, or greater flow depending on pto hp would be desirable. It would need a 1 1/2" quick-connect discharge or adapters to go along with forestry standard hose. It also would be desirable if the pressure could be lowerd to around 80 lbs. while maintaining volume to accommodate foam equipment.
I know this isn't an invention idea exactly, it's just that it's what I'm looking for right now and can't find it. I also know that I wouldn't be putting out house fires with it since it would take too long to drive the tractor to the river and lay the hose, and I'd just get the Township's equipment anyway. It is an emergency idea though since I don't irrigate, and I can't see buying a pto pump for emergencies if it's really not adequate for fire fighting. I can't very well use Township equipment for de-silting dug well or pumping out a basement.
|
|
 Add Photo
Bookmarks: |
|
|
|
|
New Implements
Murf: Yep, finding a pump that has enough flow and also produces high enough pressure to pump up hills and still fight fires is the problem. For brush fires there has to be enough pressure so the spray can really tear up the ground. Our forestry pumps use four-stage impeller designs. I did find some fire pump manufacturers of fairly small pumps that say they'll do custom building. I imagine gearing from 540 rpm to the pump's input requirement would be the main problem. Well, maybe it's a project.
There may be some room for inventiveness around this and similar ideas. Our forestry pumps may be run unattended and they have over-speed protection that cuts off the engines if pumps loose their primes. I don't think these high-pressure pumps take kindly to running dry for very long. The protection on our pumps depends that the pump load will lug down the engine rpm, but that wouldn't work on a tractor. There may be room for interfaces between this sort of implement and tractor engines (maybe a fuel shut-off solenoid or something smarter) that would improve unattended operation. Load sensing circuitry for generators would be a similar idea.
|
|
Add Photo
Bookmarks: |
|
|
|
|
New Implements
Sound pretty clever Murf! I started out with the idea of something like an inch worm where the tongue had a hydraulically controlled pivot point but now I think that a solid tongue is raised or lowered from the axle. Without a blade tilt, I guess it would maintain but not build crowns, but then it is a maintenance tool as you said.
I'm also guessing that the steering on the axle could be locked for highway driving. Last summer a guy down the highway sold an old sickle mower that had been converted from horses to tractors. Seems like he couldn't live without a sickle mower because he bought another one about 30 miles away. I saw him towing it back behind his truck. He was driving slowly along the shoulder. I later found out he drove the whole distance that way because every time he'd go any faster the mower wheel would start swiveling around and throwing the mower every which way on his truck ball hitch. I don't know how he hooked the mower to the truck hitch.
|
|
Add Photo
Bookmarks: |
|
|
|
|
New Implements
Just to throw a couple of hydraulics wrinkles into the man-lift idea: The idea is a typical application for lockout valves that have been mentioned recently. It also may be an application for indexing cylinders, which are used to keep equal cylinder heights in applications where the shafts are not connected by a strong mechanical link (like the pipe between loader arms). There are some serious safety issues, and cherry pickers have some specialized.
If somebody knows exactly how indexing cylinders work I'd be happy to hear. My impression is that they have interconnecting ports that are uncovered near to end of travel to equalize cylinder pressures.
|
|
Add Photo
Bookmarks: |
|
|
|
|
New Implements
Yikes! I accused myself of not thinking things through so I'll bash myself before anybody else does. I'm not certain if indexing cylinders are used where cylinders are connected in parallel and the lightest load moves first rule prevails. I heard of them once in passing but it was a platform idea. I'm mostly interested in figuring out what they are.
|
|
Add Photo
Bookmarks: |
|
|
|
|
New Implements
I may have straightened out the indexing cylinder buz. I found cylinders described as re-phasing cylinders on the Cross Site. The site describes them as 'volumetrically matched for series use and automatically re-phasing when the pistons reach full extension.' That's sounds in the ball park of a discussion about 5 years ago on the antique tractor site but I'm pretty sure the term indexing was used. If that's true no wonder I haven't been able to find the term since then.
|
|
Add Photo
Bookmarks: |
|
|
|
|
New Implements
I know it's a sideline issue but I think plugging wells here is more complicated than just filling them with concrete. I've heard what has to be used and how but the details didn't stick. If anybody is thinking about filling a well I'd sure check what is required. I suspect that doing it wrong would make for a much worse problem. As Murf said, if the enviro folks here find an unused well (drilled or dug) on your property you end up with quite a bill.
|
|
Add Photo
Bookmarks: |
|
|
|
|
New Implements
Dang, the guy with the broken arm should have known that you've got to wear water wings to keep from falling out of a well.
|
|
Add Photo
Bookmarks: |
|
|
|
Gas Generator Weather Protecti
09-27-2003, 07:41 
Digg It 
Del.icio.us