A NEW SPRAY NOZZLE 
By C. W. Woodworth, 
Entomologist , Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of California 
INTRODUCTION 
A new principle has been discovered in nozzle construction whereby a 
flat spray can be produced with a uniform distribution of the water com¬ 
parable to that of the hollow cone of spray from a cyclone nozzle. 
Hitherto all flat sprays have been of lenticular section, breaking up into 
fine mist on the sides and into relatively coarse drops in the center. It 
was observed that the flat spray produced by two impinging streams 
was at right angles to the original plane of motion of the two streams, 
but when the streams failed to meet squarely the plane was shifted and 
could, in fact, be moved through an arc of i8o° with a very great change 
in the distribution of the water currents. It requires only a slight 
angular deviation to decrease very perceptibly the coarseness of the 
central drops, producing greater uniformity, and a position can be 
reached in which the coarsest drops are on the edge, those in the center 
therefore being the finest. 
The principle finally discovered was that when two streams meet 
across half fheir section the resulting sheet of spray will be of practically 
uniform thickness throughout, occupying a plane 45 0 from the plane of 
the streams and finally breaking up into drops of great fineness and 
uniformity. 
PRODUCTION OF SPRAY 
There are two causes that may act in the production of spray par¬ 
ticles: (1) Friction, which may cause an eddy along the edge of the 
stream sufficient to break the surface tension and allow" the small eddying 
masses to fly off from the column of water; and (2) divergence of the 
direction of motion of the particles, resulting in the thinning out of the 
water mass in the form of irregular sheets until the surface film finally 
gives way and the sheet of water is suddenly converted into drops. 
Both methods may be seen in the breaking up of the stream from a 
simple nozzle where, from the sides of the solid column of water, very 
minute particles of mist are given off, while the velocity and friction are 
great. With decreasing velocity farther on the eddies become larger, 
the mist gradually becomes coarser, and, finally, as the spread of the 
stream makes it break up into irregular sheets of water, the size of the 
drops produced by the second process results in an intermingling of 
drops of all sizes. At first the drops are very accurately graduated, 
Journal of Agricultural Research, Vol. V, No. 25 
Dept, of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. Mar. 20, 1916 
cp Cal.—4 
O177) 
