Plant husbandry – Cover – shade – or screen – Open top
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-13
2001-05-22
Jordan, Charles T. (Department: 3644)
Plant husbandry
Cover, shade, or screen
Open top
Reexamination Certificate
active
06233868
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of protective shields for growing plants in general, and in particular to a slope walled plant guard apparatus that allows the anchors of the plant guard to be angled away from the plant's root system.
2. Description of Related Art
As can be seen by reference to the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,214,865; 3,384,992; 4,903,431; 4,829,707; and 5,179,798, the prior art is replete with myriad and diverse constructions designed to protect plants from varmints or the like.
While all of the aforementioned prior art constructions are more than adequate for the basic purpose and function for which they have been specifically designed, they are uniformly deficient with respect to their failure to provide a simple, efficient, and practical way to protect both the roots and above ground portions of a growing plant by use of an angled housing that will accept outwardly angled housing anchors.
While most of the above cited patents share many of the structural features found in the present invention, they do not have any provision for the selective placement of the plant protector anchors at a pronounced angle away from the plant root system.
As a consequence of the foregoing situation, there has existed a longstanding need for a new and improved plant guard apparatus that will allow not only the above ground portion of the plant to be protected, but will also insure that the protector anchor members are sharply angled away from the plant root system, and the provision of such an apparatus is a stated objective of the present invention.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Briefly stated, the plant guard apparatus that forms the basis of the present invention comprises in general, a housing unit, a cap unit and an anchor unit.
As will be explained in greater detail further on in the specification, the housing unit comprises a generally frustro-conical shaped housing member having an enlarged lower opening and a reduced diameter lower opening wherein the lower end of the housing member is provided with a plurality of outwardly projecting apertured tabs that are designed to accommodate the anchor unit in a unique fashion.
In addition, the anchor unit includes a plurality of anchor members each having an elongated shaft and a curved head. The elongated shafts are designed to be aligned with the tapered walls of the housing member such that a downwardly directed force applied to the curved head of the anchor member will cause shafts of the anchor members to penetrate the ground at an acute angle directed away from the root system of the plant.
Furthermore, the cap unit includes an apertured cover member dimensioned to fit over the top of the housing member to provide a measure of overhead cover for the plants during their initial growth stages.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3214865 (1965-11-01), Rosenvold et al.
patent: 3226881 (1966-01-01), Garrett
patent: 3384992 (1968-05-01), Heffron
patent: 4711051 (1987-12-01), Fujimoto
patent: 4829707 (1989-05-01), Koffler et al.
patent: 4903431 (1990-02-01), Stoll
patent: 5179798 (1993-01-01), Sonagere
patent: 5394645 (1995-03-01), Wilson
patent: 5398443 (1995-03-01), Johnson et al.
Hahn Gerhard
Hahn Rhonaldia
Henderson & Sturm LLP
Jordan Charles T.
Palo Francis T.
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