Plant husbandry – Water culture – apparatus or method – Cultivating chamber
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-23
2001-07-10
Jordan, Charles T. (Department: 3644)
Plant husbandry
Water culture, apparatus or method
Cultivating chamber
Reexamination Certificate
active
06256926
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of germinating seeds of bean sprouts in a cultivating container, thereby cultivating bean sprouts, and further to the cultivating container.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 6
shows one of conventional methods of cultivating bean sprouts. The shown method uses a cultivating container
11
formed into the shape of a truncated pyramid and measured 1 meter by 2 by 1.5 high. A multitude of seeds are put into the cultivating container
11
, and water is sprinkled over the seeds so that the seeds are germinated to be grown into bean sprouts. In this method, the bean sprouts grow, lying one upon another into many layers. Thus, the bean sprouts of upper layers are gradually raised upward with growth of the bean sprouts of lower layers. Accordingly, a location of the bean sprouts of the uppermost layer in the cultivating container
11
depends upon an amount of seeds put into the container or the height of the heaped seeds. Generally, bean sprouts grow into a length suitable for food (6 to 8 cm) in five to eight days after germination. The bean sprouts are taken out of the cultivating container
11
at this stage of growth to be packaged by a predetermined amount for shipment.
Consumers generally have a fondness for thick, straightforward, whitish bean sprouts. The thick bean sprouts are hard to masticate, crisping. The straightforward, whitish bean sprouts give a tasty impression. In view of these tastes of the consumers, producers of bean sprouts aim at cultivating the thick, straightforward, whitish bean sprouts.
In the above-described conventional method, bean sprouts grow slender or thin. Further, the cultivating container
11
has an upper opening so that water is sprinkled therethrough. Accordingly, the bean sprouts of the uppermost layer in the cultivating container
11
grow in the light such that the bean sprouts turn green or yellow. The bean sprouts of the uppermost layer thus loose the commercial value and need to be dumped away. This reduces the yield of the bean sprouts.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a method of cultivating the thick, straightforward, whitish bean sprouts with an increased yield and a cultivating container therefor.
To accomplish the object, the present invention provides a method of cultivating bean sprouts in which a cultivating container is turned upside down together with the bean sprouts in the middle of cultivation so that the bean sprouts grow in an upside-down state. When the bean sprouts grow in the upside-down state, stress is exerted on the bean sprouts such that the bean sprouts become thicker. Further, since the bean sprouts grow in a crowded state in the container, the bean sprouts grow straightforward without bending. When the bean sprouts thicken, the crowded state becomes tighter. The tightness further increases the stress on the bean sprouts so that the bean sprouts become further thicker. Further, the bean sprouts located in the uppermost layer in the container turned upside down, which is originally located in a lowermost layer, exposes only their roots to the sun light. Sprouts of the bean sprouts, which portion are marketable, are covered with the roots such that the bean sprouts of the uppermost layer become whitish as well as the bean sprouts of the lower layers. Thus, since the bean sprouts of the uppermost layer can be shipped, the yield is improved.
The cultivating method of the present invention can be applied to every shape of the cultivating container. However, when a square cultivating container is used, for example, the degree of crowdedness of the bean sprouts in a corner of the container differs from that of the bean sprouts in other portions of the container. This results in non-uniformity in the crowdedness of the bean sprouts in the cultivating container. Accordingly, when water is sprinkled into the cultivating container, a uniform degree of penetration of the water cannot be obtained over the interior of the container. As a result, the growth of the bean sprouts becomes non-uniform, and the bean sprouts in an ill-drained part in the container get rotten. Further, the bean sprouts bend where the degree of crowdedness of the bean sprouts is low.
In view of the above-described problem, the cultivating container preferably has a cylindrical or conical shape, or an elliptical section such that the container has an inner circumference with a gentle curvature. When the container has an inner circumference with a gentle curvature, the bean sprouts become movable in the container gradually with the growth, whereupon the degree of crowdedness of the bean sprouts can be uniformed. Since this uniforms the degree of penetration of the water in the container, the bean sprouts grow uniformly in the container and can be prevented from getting rotten and bending.
The cultivating container is preferably divided into a lower container and an upper container. The above-described turning step further comprises the steps of detachably attaching a water-penetrating plate to a bottom of the lower container, covering, by the water-penetrating plate, an open top of the lower container when the seeds are germinated in the lower container and the lower container is substantially filled up with the growing bean sprouts, turning the lower container upside down together with the bean sprouts so that the water-penetrating plate located at the upper side of the lower container is detached, and connecting the upper container to the lower container so that the bean sprouts grow in the upper container in the upside-down state.
In a case where the lower container is turned upside down when being substantially filled up with the growing bean sprouts, distal or lower ends of the bean sprouts of the lowermost layer (originally, the uppermost layer) in the lower container substantially abut the bottom plate. In this state, the bean sprouts in the lower container tend to grow downward. However, since the movement of the distal end of the bean sprouts of the lowermost layer is blocked by the bottom plate, the root portions of the bean sprouts are raised with the growth thereof. As a result, the bean sprouts in the lower container are pushed up into the upper container in the upside-down state with the growth thereof. The bean sprouts grow in the upside-down state in the upper container. Stress due to the growth in the upside-down state thickens the bean sprouts, whereupon the crowded state of the bean sprouts in the upper container becomes tighter. The tightness further increases the stress on the bean sprouts so that the bean sprouts become further thicker.
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Jordan Charles T.
Kreten Bernhard
Palo Francis T.
Salad Cosmo U.S.A. Corp.
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