Plant husbandry – Flower holder
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-25
2001-09-18
Jordan, Charles T. (Department: 3643)
Plant husbandry
Flower holder
C047S048500
Reexamination Certificate
active
06289630
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a device for retaining the freshness of cut flowers, with the device adding nutrients to the keep-fresh liquid wherein a carrier is provided for the nutrients for directly delivering the nutrients to the keep-fresh liquid.
To date, cut flowers are usually kept fresh by regularly changing the keep-fresh liquid, normally water. While for certain types of flowers, there are fertilizers available that can be added to the keep-fresh liquid; whereby then only water may be refilled in order to realize a good nutrients efficacy. Such an addition of nutrients is unpleasant to handle, and oftentimes, the appropriate fertilizer is not available when fresh flowers are presented, for example by a visitor.
The configuration of the above-stated type and known from the DE-OS 38 09 121, includes small paper rolls that are soaked with preserving chemicals and integrated or placed in the bound bouquet. These small paper rolls may also have a color that matches the bouquet. The conventional configuration suffers the drawback that the small paper rolls may already release the chemicals when being placed into the bouquet, whereby the moist or wet stems, as typical in cut flowers, are directly exposed to the chemicals in relatively high concentration, which may even lead to damage of the plant tissue in the contact area. The extracted fertilizer substances are possibly also released into the surrounding paper which soaks up the liquid so that the fertilizer substances are no longer available for fertilization of the keep-fresh water.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,167,832 discloses a prepared banderole with bactericidal surface-active and/or nutrient-containing active substances. It is not possible to directly integrate this carrier into the bouquet, but is wrapped around the bouquet and releases, as already described above, the active substances prematurely in some cases directly onto the moist flower stem, thereby causing damage thereof. Furthermore, in many cases, banderoles wrapped around the flower bouquet are oftentimes removed when watering the plants, so that in this case the banderole for fertilization of the keep-fresh water would not be available.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,842,539 is directed to a container which is intended for placement onto the flower stems and contains an ion exchanger resin which is separated from the actual flower stem by a gauze layer. This ion exchange resin reduces the physical blocking of the water-conducting tissue and thereby assists to keep the flowers in fresh condition. In particular, the blocking of the lower end of the flower stem as a result of drying out or rotting is delayed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is now an object of the invention to provide a device of the above-stated type which, on the one hand, realizes a reliable release of fertilizer substances into the keep-fresh water, and, on the other hand, allows this fertilizer carrier to be easily integrated into the flower bouquet, without damage to moist flower stems even when present.
In accordance with the invention, this object is attained by providing the blade-shaped, stem-shaped, stalk-shaped or rod-shaped carrier with a container which receives and releases the nutrients and has walls that are permeable at least in certain areas. In this manner, the container keeps the stored substances away from the flower stems, thereby avoiding an unwanted and premature extraction of the substances. Such a device can be integrated directly with the flower bouquet, and after placement of the flower bouquet in water, the respective nutrients are released into the keep-fresh liquid since keep-fresh liquid seeps into the container from outside and extracts the nutrients contained in the container. Thus, a completely ready-made product is provided which does not require further manipulations.
A particularly simple manufacture can be realized when producing the nutrient container as a separate part which is attachable to the blade-shaped, stem-shaped, stalk-shaped or rod-shaped carrier. Thus, it is possible to provide different nutrient containers to uniform upper parts, depending on the type of flowers to be fertilized, since different flower types prefer also different fertilizers, as is generally known. In order to avoid, on the one hand, an inadvertent separation of nutrients, and, on the other hand, permit also use of liquid preparations, the container walls may be formed for permeability with perforations which are covered prior to placement into the keep-fresh liquid. In a particularly simple manner, a cylindrical or prismatic container with perforations disposed in the jacket, the covering may be realized by an axially shiftable sleeve or detachable film. This provides the option to only partially clear the perforations, either by displacing the shiftable sleeve only partially in axial direction, or by removing the detachable film only from certain areas of the perforated jacket. When the nutrient preparations are in solid form or of a type that is not water-soluble, the covering may be made of a water-soluble material or of a material which is decomposable in water, whereby the material for the covering is preferably a material with time-delayed solubility or decomposition. This has the advantage that after immersion of the container into the keep-fresh liquid, the perforations are automatically cleared, so that the fertilization of the flowers occurs automatically, without the need for further manipulations. The time delay has the additional advantage that during temporary placement of the flower bouquet in water, the nutrients will not yet be released, but only after a corresponding time in the vase in which the flower bouquet is ultimately retained. The nutrients provided in the container may also be imbedded in a structure from which they are released in a time-delayed manner so as to prevent an excessive initial concentration of nutrients in the nutritive solution and also to prevent a very rapid consumption of the nutrients. A particularly controlled release of the nutrients into the keep-fresh liquid can be realized when the nutrients are stored in a container having walls which are made semi-permeable, at least in certain areas, and have openings through which nutrient solution is dispensed into the keep-fresh liquid by the effect of osmosis. Depending on the concentration of the nutrient salts, liquid is aspirated through the semi-permeable wall by the effect of osmosis and a nutrient/liquid mixture is introduced in the keep-fresh liquid via the openings. This is necessarily controlled by the elevated inner pressure in the container as a consequence of osmosis.
Additionally, a physiologically inert propellant, for example, an agent which releases CO
2
, may be added to the nutrients in order to realize a reliable and uniform release of nutrients into the nutrient solution. Such a propellant can also serve to expel the nutrients quickly from the container and to evenly distribute them in the container. Moreover, the propellant may also provide an additional growth-promoting effect. In particularly simple fashion, the container may be formed from a flexible permeable material, e.g., paper, nonwoven, a perforated film or the like, which is attached to or wrapped around the carrier. This creates a simple configuration which is inexpensive to produce as it does not require particularly shaped carriers. To avoid a separation of the container from the carrier, the carrier may be provided in the area of the container with grooves, flattened areas or the like.
According to another embodiment, the container may be formed as a cylinder having an upper surface formed as a piston which is connected to the carrier, with the carrier preferably forming the piston rod. This enables dispensing of the nutrients as a whole or in partial amounts into the keep-fresh liquid, depending on the distance the piston is pushed into the cylinder, whereby the cylindrically or prismatically configured container may have formed at its lower end the discharge opening or openings, with the container
Hetze Peter
Janecka Robert
Day Ursula B.
Feiereisen Henry M.
Jakel Kevin
Jordan Charles T.
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