A nozzle structure for mixing high pressure water with compressed air has an adjustable size conically shaped water opening that permits a conical sheet of water to form the air nozzle adjacent the nozzle's exit end.

A spray nozzle in which a plurality of streams of water under pressure are initially broken up mechanically within a chamber by impingement against a deflector therein and by the shearing action of its knife edge, and are then atomized and initially cooled within the chamber by jets of expanding compressed air, the cooled air and atomized water mixture then being discharged from an annular orifice in the form of a hollow cone spray in which the atomized water is further cooled by reason of the temperature drop in the discharged air because of its expansion upon discharge. This results in the formation of snow flakes where the ambient atmospheric temperature is sufficiently low to effect freezing of the discharged atomized water.

A snow gun for making artificial snow by atomizing a mixture of air and water is disclosed. The snow gun comprises a hollow body, a compressed air supply conduit terminated by an injection nozzle accommodated inside the hollow body and opening at an end into the hollow body. A pressurized water supply conduit opens into a space between the hollow body and the air supply conduit. A mixing chamber for mixing air and water communicates through an inlet port with the interior of the hollow body, the inlet port facing the discharge nozzle of the injection nozzle. The injection nozzle is displaceable longitudinally relative to the inlet port of the mixing chamber for adjusting the water flow passage to the mixing chamber. A needle valve adjusts the cross-sectional area of discharge orifice of the air injection nozzle. The mixing chamber comprises the bore of a main nozzle extending in the continuation of the injection nozzle. A divergent nozzle extends from the discharge end of the bore and opens to the surrounding air.

An atomizer wherein a housing is threadedly connected with an air-supplying first nozzle which surrounds and centers a water-supplying second nozzle. The second nozzle extends beyond an annular orifice of a channel which discharges two streams of air, one in the form of a swirling annulus and the other in the form of a substantially straight stream with the annulus. The two air streams atomize the flow of water which issues from the second nozzle in such a way that the resulting atomized flow contains minute droplets of water all the way across its cross-sectional area. An annular swirling member is installed between the two nozzles to form the first air stream. The two nozzles have abutting surfaces provided on two sections one of which surrounds the other to center the second nozzle in the first nozzle and vice versa.

A snow-making nozzle assembly which is very effective in producing uniform, small, highly atomized droplets of liquid that freeze to form snow is disclosed. The nozzle assembly in accordance with the present invention is comprised generally of opposed pairs of water outlets spaced at the periphery of a generally fan-shaped convergent-divergent compressed air nozzle. The water streams emitted from the water outputs impinge on each other and atomize substantially without contacting the walls of the nozzle. These liquid particles are entrained in the compressed air stream for further atomization and for distribution into the ambient air. The use of the nozzle in accordance with the present invention results in greatly improved snow-making capabilities when compared with prior art devices.