Card – picture – or sign exhibiting – Check – label – or tag – Holder
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-15
2004-11-16
Davis, Cassandra (Department: 3611)
Card, picture, or sign exhibiting
Check, label, or tag
Holder
C040S607060
Reexamination Certificate
active
06817126
ABSTRACT:
SUBJECT OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to an assembly of a plant information label and a plant stake for holding the plant information label.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Such an assembly of a plant stake and information label is inserted into the ground at the edge of the pot of a plant in order to provide the consumer with information about the plant. In actual practice many embodiments of such assemblies of information label and plant stake are known. For instance, a plant stake is known having a substantial rectangular cross-section, in which a little button is arranged on the widest side. The accompanying information label has a circular recess which snaps over the little button. A drawback of said assembly is amongst others that it is difficult to read the back of the information label unless the information label is bent or taken from the plant stake or the plant stake including the plant information label is taken out of the ground. When bending the plant stake will moreover move very much, as a result of which the roots of the plant may be damaged. Additionally the label is difficult to place directly. Moreover, in order to be abe to read the information label, the plant stake has to be inserted transverse to the radius of the pot. The drawback of all this is that this again may also quickly lead to damage of the roots because the roots of the plant generally run radially. Moreover the information label sits vertical to the pot, as a result of which it is difficult if not impossible to read the information label from above.
Another embodiment of the known assembly, described above, is an embodiment in which the little button is arranged at the top of the plant stake. A drawback of this is that the label is able to rotate, as a result of which it can no longer be read. Moreover the label often projects far beyond the pot.
A third known embodiment is an assembly in which the plant stick has a circular cross-section, having a transverse plane as a stop when inserting the plant stake into the ground. At its top the plant stake is provided with a curl over which the label can be pulled. A drawback of this structure is that the label is rather difficult to arrange. Moreover the label is able to swing. Additionally, the plant stake is not easy to produce compared to the other plant stakes.
Another known possibility to provide a plant with an information label is by means of an information label that can be inserted into the ground without a plant stake. Such an information label has the drawback of being very broad as a result of which the roots can easily get damaged, and the information being difficult to read from above. The back of such an information label moreover is very hard to read.
Swiss patent specification 651,411 regards an assembly of a pin to be inserted into the ground and card to be snapped onto the pin. The card then remains standing straight up.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,863,608 regards an assembly of a pin and an information label having the text in longitudinal direction of the label. The label is difficult to arrange onto the pin, cannot be removed and moreover, the assembly can rotate into a position in which the label may be difficult to read.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,537,768 regards a plant stake for holding an information label in a clamping manner.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the invention is to provide a simple assembly of plant stake and plant information label, which does not have the drawbacks mentioned or has them to a lesser extent.
A further object of the invention is to provide a simple assembly of a plant stake which can be manufactured easily and cheaply and an information label which can easily be arranged on it.
An additional object of the invention is to provide an assembly which unites several advantageous properties. The roots, for instance, should be damaged as little as possible when inserting and the plant stake should hold the information label such that it is well-legible and in a rather fixed position and is well-legible to the consumer. Moreover the plant label preferably should not easily get detached from the plant stake.
Additionally the invention has the object of holding the information label such that the back can easily be read, the card remains fixed to a certain extent in a wanted position and the information label can be arranged on the plant stake in a rather simple way.
At least a part of said drawbacks are overcome and a part of the goals are achieved by an assembly of a plant information label provided with an uncircular hole having a largest diameter d, and a plant stake for holding the plant information label, in which the plant stake is provided with abutment surfaces situated on either side, in which at least one abutment surface is formed in a notch, which notch also offers room for rotation for the plant information label.
At least a part of the drawbacks are overcome this way and a part of the goals is achieved. Because of the notch which offers room for rotation to the plant information label it is easy to read the back of the plant information label without having to remove the plant stake out of the pot of a plant or to move the stake in the pot. Additionally such a plant stake is easy to produce and the plant information label can hardly rotate around the plant stake. The room for rotation offers the possibility to revolve the plant information label, about an axis of rotation perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the plant stick and substantially in the plane of the plant information label, or to tilt, so that the back of the plant information label becomes visible.
Preferably the abutment surface in the notch is situated above the abutment surface on the other side of the plant stake. As a result the information label will hang in an inclined position in the view direction of the consumer. In order to prevent that the information label becomes detached from the plant stake when reading the information at the back of the information label, the plant stake is provided with at least one stop surface on either side for limiting the rotation of the plant information label. In order to rotate the information label almost completely vertically, two stop surfaces are substantially vertically situated above each other. In order to arrange the information label on the plant stake without too much trouble, the ratio between the dimensions of the hole and the length and width of the plant stake is such that the plant information label can be arranged on the stake. Preferably the plant stake comprises a passage portion of which the largest diameter is smaller than the largest diameter of the hole of the plant information label, as a result of which arranging it is facilitated even more, to such an extent even that arranging without deforming the plant information label can become possible. The passage portion of the plant stake then is the portion of the plant stake that the information label has to pass in order to be arranged on the plant stake.
In order to further prevent that the information label can get detached from the plant stake when reading the back of the information label, the downward opening angle between the top of the notch and the longitudinal axis of the plant stake is 90 degrees at a maximum.
For a stable positioning of the information label it is desirable that the upper abutment surface has a vertical component, and in order to prevent that the information label will slip down from the plant stake for instance because of draught from below, the lower abutment surface preferably has a horizontal component. Preferably the plant stake is provided with a shoulder either from or below the upper abutment surface, more preferably the horizontal component of the lower abutment surface forms a shoulder, or it merges into a shoulder.
Additionally, in order to further prevent that the information label can get detached from the top of the plant stake, it is preferred that the shortest distance be-tween the top of the notch and the top of the upper stop surface is longer than the largest diameter of
Davis Cassandra
Koehler Steven M.
Westman Champlin & Kelly P.A.
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