Sprayer-Duster

a machine for treating plants with solutions, suspensions, emulsions, and dry, powdery toxic chemicals. In the USSR the OTN-8–16 machine is used to control pests and diseases and to defoliate cotton plants before harvesting. Plants may be sprayed with the boom sprayer or with the hose or be dusted with the atomizing nozzles. Spraying and dusting may be done simultaneously.

During spraying, the liquid is drawn from the tanks by a pump and forced to the atomizing nozzles of the boom sprayer. The atomized liquid is sprayed through the nozzles onto the plants. A hose may be connected to the pressure valve. In dusting, the powdery toxic chemical is fed by a scraping rotary table feeder from the bin to the fan, which discharges the powder through the nozzles onto the plants. To dust with moist particles, water is fed from the hydraulic system to the atomizing nozzles through a centrifugal atomizer.

The OTN-8–16 machine covers 4.2 hectares per hr, and its operating width is 4.8–9.6 m. The capacity of the sprayer tanks is 640 l, and the capacity of the duster bin is 125 l. The machine’s speed is 5.4–6.3 km/hr.