The prototype of the pressure regulator
Looking back L
Pressure regulators have changed a lot since they first came on the scene.
Editor’s note: This article was written by Diann Ilkenhons following an interview with Mark Healy, designer of the industry’s first in-line pressure regulator in 1966.
ike many great ideas, the concept of using pressure regulators in an irrigation system started as just a scribble on a paper napkin. Mark Healy remembers sitting with his uncle, Joe Senninger, as Joe sketched his earliest prototype. He then handed the concept to Healy, asking him if he could design it to be made of plastic.
In the mid-1960s, Joe Senninger was at the helm of Senninger Irriga- tion, a company in its infancy. Its main product was a plastic insect- proof sprinkler usually mounted above the orange trees on 21-foot riser pipes. Senninger noticed system flow issues in orange groves with undulating terrain where the lower areas received too much water while the higher areas received too little. He knew about using pressure regulation from other industries and thought it would make sense to bring the concept over to irrigation.
The average design pressure of most orange grove overhead irrigation systems at that time was 50 psi. “We first machined an aluminum model to determine the validity of the design and the relative size of the internal parts needed,” Healy explained.
“With that knowledge,” Healy added, “we made single-cavity molds for most of the parts to see if the concept would work in plastic as we hoped. With our initial success, we made only a 50-psi pressure regulator.”
Trial & error
Back in the ’60s and early ’70s, there were not nearly as many plastics and plas- tic alloys as there are today. Senninger and Healy molded several prototypes out of many of the different plastics available until they found a formula with the strength and chemical resistance needed. It was a tedious process. Each material change necessitated a mold change, but that offered an opportu- nity for product enhancement. The first models were produced using female ¾-inch NPT connections with 50 psi outlet pressure mainly for the overhead citrus irrigation.
The first pressure regulator mold for the lower housing was chromed for display in the Senninger museum.
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