Abstract: A porous, or semi-permeable, pipe is placed below the surface of the soil in the area to be irrigated and a flow of water maintained therein. This avoids such practices as sprinkling, furrowing or ditching, and subsequent cultivation, and thereby permits the surface of the land being irrigated to be continuously maintained in the condition most conducive to vegetation growing thereon. It also greatly avoids excessive loss of water by evaporation, puts the water in that position in the soil where it is most useful, and obviates the necessity of having the land level, or nearly so, as required by the more usual methods of gravity-flow irrigation. A steeply sloping hillside can be irrigated quite as easily as a flat plain. Mathematical relations are developed to optimize physical dimensions and flow properties as a function of applied pressure.

Abstract: A distributor unit for use in leaching fields comprises a hollow open-bottomed concrete structure having a top wall and side and end walls defining a central cavity and which, in use, protects a sand bed into which effluent material from a septic tank can flow. The top of the structure is provided with a longitudinal channel which receives a perforated supply pipe for the effluent, and the base of the channel has apertures through which the effluent material can flow from the channel down onto the sand bed. The side walls have openings to allow evaporation of liquid from the central cavity. The whole structure is designed to be surrounded by crushed stone and to be covered with earth.

Abstract: A method of producing porous tubes and hollow profile structures is characterized by coextruding different materials each through a separate section of a tube-forming extrusion die, one material being pore-forming and producing a porous wall section extending lengthwise of the extruded tube for providing a means of dispersing therethrough a fluid flowing internally of the tube, the other material being non-pore-forming or less pore-forming and producing a non-porous or less porous wall section extending lengthwise of the tube for providing mechanical strength to the tube.Also disclosed are a number of porous tube and hollow profile structures including various arrangements of porous and non-porous wall sections.

Abstract: A porous flexible hose primarily of crumbed rubber and synthetic rubber reclaimed from rubber tires, ground to a relatively small granular size, with metal removed; such as, for example, would pass through a 30-mesh screen, process-mixed through an extruder, with a much smaller binder mix of primarily polyethylene, in the order of 25% by weight, and with approximately 0.5% of the mixture added sulphur and 0.5% oil that can be random mixed grades of automobile engine oil. The resulting product is useful as a soil watering soaker hose that has a high degree of flexibility along its length. It is a water leaking soaker hose formed in the process through the extruder with limited foaming from steam originating from absorbed moisture in the crumbed, reclaimed rubber tire material, and from residual gases venting from the material mix, with product mix heating in the extruder, forming some open cell fluid flow paths.

Abstract: An irrigating device formed from an absorbent product, such as a polymeric pulp or hydrophilic textile contained within a filtering envelope, such as a woven, knitted or non-woven fabric. The device is placed in the ground in communication with a source of water which may be above or below ground. The irrigation device provides for a uniform rate of irrigation of the soil in which it is placed, requires less water than conventional irrigation devices providing the same overall coverage, and is not subject to dogging or blockage, as with conventional irrigation devices.In one embodiment for preparing the irrigation device, the absorbent product is in the form of a tow of hydrophilic continuous filament and the textile filter envelope is produced in a continuous in-line operation in conjunction with the production of the tow.The irrigation device can be applied to the irrigation of soils to facilitate the growth of plants, trees, crops and the germination of seeds.

Abstract: A channel culture device for agricultural is disclosed. A plurality of elongated reservoir channels are provided adjacent growing channels. The reservoir channels which may be above or within the soil, provide metered amounts of water and nutrients to the growing channels through their walls. An exterior channel is provided which forms the perimeter of a soil bed. The exterior channel includes an inner flexible wall which absorbs the lateral pressure of the soil bed acting on it to prevent buckling of the exterior channel.

Abstract: A porous pipe primarily of rubber and synthetic rubber reclaimed from rubber tires, ground to a relatively small granular size, with metal removed; such as, for example, would pass through a 30-mesh screen, process-mixed through a pipe extruder, with a much smaller binder mix of primarily polyethylene, along with vinyl, ABS binder, and a trace of attaclay. The resulting product is useful as a subsurface irrigation buried pipe, having high structural integrity effectively resisting soil-loading pipe collapse, and it even resists collapse from moderately large rocks in the soil, and yet has a high degree of flexibility along its length. A pipe is provided with cross sectional area of pipe wall more than twice the cross sectional area of the pipe opening.