Plant husbandry – Plant container with flats – filling – planting – or conveying
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-02
2001-11-13
Jordan, Charles T. (Department: 3644)
Plant husbandry
Plant container with flats, filling, planting, or conveying
C047S00101T, C047S00101T, C111S200000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06314679
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is a transfer device which deposits pre-sprouted small plants onto a final growing bed containing growing medium, such as soil. The novel transfer device is intended to deposit in a single operation a plurality of sproutlings onto prepared ground of, for example, a garden, in numbers far greater than could be feasibly accomplished by hand. The invention finds application in gardening or planting operations wherein more than a handful of sproutlings are to be deposited in a single bed. Illustratively, individual consumers who plant more than a handful of sproutlings at one time, small commercial nurseries, research facilities, and institutions could profitably employ the present invention.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Planting large quantities of small, newly sprouted plants usually requires apparatus for handling the sproutlings in a manner appropriate for planting. Plants typically require that they be properly oriented with roots facing downwardly to assure successful establishment in the new planting bed. Also, there is usually a requirement for appropriate spacing from one sproutling to the next to promote vigorous growth.
Considerable care must be exerted in handling young plants to assure health and survival. Notably, root balls must be maintained intact to afford the opportunity for the young plant to establish itself in its new growing location. To answer this requirement, plants are usually sprouted in inexpensive, plastic trays incorporating a plurality of individual receptacles formed therein. Each receptacle accommodates one plant. When the plant is to be transplanted, it is usually removed from the receptacle and replanted by hand. This is a cumbersome, inefficient process when applied to large numbers of plants. Accordingly, the commercial nursery establishment has attempted to automate or otherwise improve efficiency of the process of growing and transplanting young plants.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,218,783, issued to Lucas E. Langezaal et al. on Jun. 15, 1993, describes a plug strip for holding agroplugs during planting. The strip is intended to release each agroplug as the latter is pressed therefrom. However, planting requires that each agroplug be pressed from engagement with the strip. In the present invention, the base or floor of a device corresponding to the plug strip is slid out from under sproutlings. There is no need in the present invention to press sproutlings downwardly, nor to handle agroplugs or plants individually, as is performed by Langezaal et al. Rather, in the present invention, a large number of sproutlings are deposited en masse by sliding the floor out from the remaining carrier structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,418, issued to Gerald S. Pullman et al. on Oct. 29, 1991, describes a method of transplanting young plants to a permanent growing bed. The method includes the step of treating the growing medium, such as soil, at an appropriate stage of growth such that it becomes lightly bonded. That is, the growing medium is caused to cake or otherwise harden or solidify to the point that the growing medium surrounding each plant can be extracted from a container originally containing many sproutlings and handled as a plug which resists immediate disintegration which would result if the growing medium were still in comminuted or particulate form. By contrast with the approach of Pullman et al., the present invention does not rely on binding the growing medium into one or more generally solid, cohesive masses. Instead, the novel apparatus has the ability to transfer young plants and surrounding growing medium to a new growing environment without requiring that the growing medium be rendered cohesive. Also, this transfer is accomplished en masse, rather than requiring that plants be handled as individual plugs, as performed by Pullman et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,755,964, issued to David Rack on Sep. 4, 1973,
illustrates a multi-plant tray formed from a material which is more permeable to air and water, and penetrable by plants, than are typical plant trays. However, this tray lacks apparatus enabling ready transfer of partially developed plants to a permanent growing bed, as occurs in the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,605,012, issued to Donald E. Weder et al. on Feb. 25, 1997, describes a container for holding one or more young plants. There is no apparatus associated therewith for readily transferring plants to a permanent growing bed, as seen in the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,315,786, issued to Thomas Smith et al. on May 31, 1994, describes a planting tray which is abandoned in place in a permanent growing bed. The tray is biodegradable and disintegrates over time after planting. By contrast, the present invention is not abandoned in place. Rather, it readily releases young plants to the new growing bed, and is removed from the site.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention sets forth a planting tray which deposits a great many sproutlings en masse onto a permanent growing bed. The planting tray carries the sproutlings on a retractable floor supported on a frame. The floor is drawn out from the tray from under the sproutlings when the planting tray is placed over the permanent growing bed. The sproutlings, now unsupported from below, fall onto the permanent bed. The planting tray is placed directly onto the growing bed, so that the distance the sproutlings fall is negligible.
In a preferred method of use, the sproutlings are first sprouted from seeds in a subdivided container such as of the type known as “nursery flats”. The bottoms of each receptacle of the nursery flat are cut from the nursery flat. The nursery flat is laid on the tray and pulled upwardly, leaving the sproutlings resting on the tray. The tray is then carried to the permanent growing bed. When the tray is positioned on the bed as desired, the floor is drawn out and the sproutlings are discharged to the growing bed.
Alternatively, the nursery flat can be left in place on the tray and removed after the sproutlings have been discharged to the growing bed. In a further alternative, the nursery flat can be placed on the tray above a web which is used to operate the invention. The flat and its sproutlings, carried on the tray, can then be transferred to a frame associated with the novel planting tray, and transferred to the permanent growing bed as summarized above. In a still further alternative, plants can be sprouted directly on the web and tray without a nursery flat. After germination, the young plants can be transferred to the growing bed using the frame.
These procedures utilizing the invention enable a great many individual plants to be sprouted from seeds and deposited on the permanent bed with minimal handling of individual plants. The invention renders unnecessary handling of plants individually.
Accordingly, one object of the invention is to enable many young plants to be transferred expeditiously onto on a permanent growing bed from a nursery flat.
Another object of the invention is to minimize direct handling of young plants being transferred to a permanent growing bed.
It is an object of the invention to provide improved elements and arrangements thereof in an apparatus for the purposes described which is inexpensive, dependable and fully effective in accomplishing its intended purposes.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3755964 (1973-09-01), Rack
patent: 4221175 (1980-09-01), Van Wingerden et al.
patent: 5060418 (1991-10-01), Pullman et al.
patent: 5218783 (1993-06-01), Langezaal et al.
patent: 5315786 (1994-05-01), Smith et al.
patent: 5400544 (1995-03-01), Wien
patent: 5605012 (1997-02-01), Weder et al.
patent: 5680727 (1997-10-01), Sakaue et al.
patent: 06007005A (1994-01-01), None
patent: 06113680A (1994-04-01), None
patent: 06225641A (1994-08-01), None
Jordan Charles T.
Nelson Judith A.
Siemens Patent Services LC
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