Plant husbandry – Receptacle for growing medium – Sectional construction
Reexamination Certificate
1997-08-21
2001-04-03
Poon, Peter M. (Department: 3644)
Plant husbandry
Receptacle for growing medium
Sectional construction
Reexamination Certificate
active
06209261
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Wood, metal and cement are well-known materials used for fabricating flower pots. Wood is particularly desirable because of its beauty and the fact that it is easily cut and shaped with hand tools into flower pots of any shape or size and when exposed to the sun, wooden containers will gradually fade in color to a uniform grey. Wood, however, has two main disadvantages. It is expensive and it will decay over time. Even the exotic and expensive woods like cedar and redwood will decay eventually so it is desirable, if possible, to find some way to use less expensive wood or to extend the life of the more exotic wood containers.
In the past people have sought to extend the life of wooden containers with metal liners, but metal has several disadvantages of it's own. First it does not breathe. Plant roots need oxygen, and though this can be compensated for by providing non-compacted growing medium and plenty of drainage some plants will not thrive in metal containers. Also, metal containers will release metal ions into the soil. This is particularly detrimental with copper liners but zinc and iron can also be detrimental to some plants. It has also been substantiated that protective metal liners may trap water against the wood, promoting decay and sometimes discoloring the wood.
Containers formed of cast cement have the disadvantage of being heavy and, because of their thickness, often they do not breathe any better than metal containers.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of this invention to extend the life of wooden containers, to minimize the use of wood in plant containers, to provide a container which will breathe and to provide a plant container which has uniform color. It is further an object of this invention to produce plant containers which will provide a healthy environment for plants which require well drained and oxygen rich soil. Another object is to provide lined wooden containers which will not leach metal ions into the soil of a plant container.
SUMMARY
This invention relates to a unique combination of materials. Very thin, easily-cut sheets of cement can be used to line the wooden portions of flower pots to produce a new and unique relationship of materials. The resulting plant containers are beautiful and long lasting. Cement does not condense water or trap water like metal does, due to its porosity, so it does not promote decay. Also cement liners do not discolor the wood as a metal liner might. Further, wood when exposed to light for a long period of time will fade to a uniform grey color to match the color of the cement so that if exposed cement panels are provided with a raised grain the resulting container may with time look like one that is made of solid wood instead of a wood-cement composite.
Using these thin sheets of cement material as liners for wooden benefits the plants growing in the containers. Cement has a slightly alkaline composition which is required by many plants and it does not leach harmful metal ions into the soil. Furthermore the somewhat porous, thin sheets of cement will breathe slightly allowing transfer of oxygen and carbon dioxide through the walls of the container.
REFERENCES:
patent: 1407664 (1922-02-01), Kuebler
patent: 1420191 (1922-06-01), Hassig
patent: 2089353 (1937-08-01), Fischer
patent: 3955320 (1976-05-01), Serovy
patent: 4115501 (1978-09-01), Yano
patent: 2399795 (1979-04-01), None
patent: 4099417 (1992-03-01), None
patent: 4316429 (1992-11-01), None
Poon Peter M.
Shaw Elizabeth
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