Plant husbandry – Receptacle for growing medium
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-25
2001-02-06
Poon, Peter M. (Department: 3644)
Plant husbandry
Receptacle for growing medium
C047S079000, C047S075000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06182394
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plant watering device. More specifically, it relates to a watering device having a planter tray manually movable between an upper drainage position and a lower watering position.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A variety of watering devices are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,335 discloses a complex automatic self watering dish garden for plants which includes many separate interlocking pieces. The device relies upon a water absorbing member which extends from the growing medium through the bottom of the tray into the liquid holding reservoir to effectuate watering. U.S. Pat. No. 4,226,048 also utilizes a water transfer element to facilitate watering. U.S. Pat. No. 4,336,666 utilizes tubular metering nozzles for this purpose. U.S. Pat. No. 4,198,784 discloses an automatic plant watering device which has upper and lower containers. A flow regulator is provided for watering and the upper container preferably includes drain holes to allow drainage of excess liquid.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,352 discloses a plant container for draining moisture from the soil which includes a main container and a rotatable reservoir. Fluid is allowed to pass from the main container to the reservoir when conduits of the reservoir are aligned with orifices in the main container. By rotating the reservoir tray, fluid can be either drained from the soil or stored in the reservoir tray.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,167,080 discloses a planter having a self-indexing removable drain dish which catches water which drains from a bottom drain hole of a potted plant. This patent does not provide a means of watering the potter plant from the bottom of the pot. U.S. Pat. No. 5,444,940 discloses a terraced planter which provides separate plant beds in individual compartments. The compartments have bottom holes to allow drainage and the planter preferably provides a drip pan to catch excess water.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,179,800 discloses a growing tray which allows for air-pruning of plant roots. The plant tray has a surrounding edge to hold water above the top of the tray cell or microfeeding holes for self watering.
U.S. design Pat. Nos. D278,076; D278,075; and D259,777 disclose other plant watering and root irrigating systems.
There remains a need for a simple, inexpensive plant watering device which allows for the easy and convenient manual watering of potted plants.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a plant watering device which includes a planter tray having an upper surface for supporting potted plants and having a plurality of legs depending downwardly from said upper surface, said planter tray sized and configured to be received and supported by said legs in a manner whereby said upper surface is located above a bottom wall of a water container. A water container is provided having an open top and closed side walls and a closed bottom wall which define a reservoir to receive a liquid, said water container is sized to receive said planter tray. A lower supporting means is provided which is located in the bottom wall of said water container and located at a first lower elevational position, said lower supporting means is adapted to receive and support the legs of said planter tray such that the planter tray is positioned in a lower watering position. An upper supporting means is also provided and is located in the bottom wall of said water container located at a second upper elevational position, said upper supporting means is adapted to receive and support the legs of said planter tray such that the planter tray is positioned in an upper position, whereby when said planter tray is manually moved to said lower position, potted plants supported on said planter tray will be partially submersed in said liquid to allow watering thereof and when said planter tray is manually moved to said upper drainage position, potted plants supported on said planter tray will be located completely above said liquid.
Preferably, the planter tray has a plurality of holes provided in the upper surface thereof. Such holes are sized to provide access to human fingers to allow positioning and moving of the planter tray. The holes also allow the passage of water vapor from water or liquid contained in said water container to reach potted plants supported on said upper surface.
Preferably, the planter tray is generally square in shape and has at least four legs, with one leg located at each corner of said planter tray. The planter tray also preferably has at least one center leg located near the center of said planter tray. The center leg has a drain opening therein to allow liquid on said upper surface to drain into said water container.
The upper surface of said planter tray is preferably formed to provide a plurality of channels therein to provide additional structural strength to said upper surface. The planter tray also preferably is formed to provide a plurality of drainage channels therein with at least one drain opening in at least one of said drainage channels to allow liquid on said upper surface to drain into said water container. Preferably, at least some of said drainage channels extend radially outwardly from the center of said upper surface of said planter tray and wherein a drain opening is provided at the center of said upper surface in a drainage channel. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, at least some of said drainage channels are also provided at locations parallel to outside perimeter edges of said upper surface of the planter tray. Preferably, both small drainage channels and large drainage channels (
40
) are provided wherein the small drainage channels empty into the large drainage channels and wherein said at least one drain opening (
42
) is provided in at least one of said large channels.
The planter tray is preferably formed of an injection molded material comprising at least one of polypropylene, polyethylene, and polystyrene. The water container is preferably formed of a blow molded material comprising at least one of polypropylene, polyethylene, and polystyrene.
The water container is integrally formed to include said lower supporting means and said upper supporting means. Preferably, the upper supporting means comprises shallow recessed pockets in the bottom wall of said water container, said shallow recessed pockets are positioned to receive and support the legs of said planter tray when said planter tray is in an upper drainage position. The lower supporting means preferably comprises deep recessed pockets in the bottom wall of said water container, said deep recessed pockets are positioned to receive and support the legs of said planter tray when said planter tray is in a lower watering position. The shallow and deep recessed pockets are preferably located adjacent to one another.
In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the lower supporting means comprises first leg retainers on the bottom wall of said water container, said first leg retainers positioned to receive and support the legs of said planter tray when said planter tray is in a lower watering position, and said upper supporting means comprises elevated second leg retainers extending above the bottom wall of said water container positioned to receive and support the legs of said planter tray when said planter tray is in an upper drainage position.
In the preferred embodiment of the invention, a plant watering device includes:
a generally square planter tray having an upper surface for supporting potted plants and having five legs depending downwardly from said upper surface, said legs positioned on the four corners and in the center of said planter tray, said planter tray is sized and configured to be received and supported by said legs in a manner whereby said upper surface is located above a bottom wall of a water container, said upper surface of said planter tray having a plurality of drainage channels therein with at least one drain opening in at least one of the said drainage channels to allow liquid on said upper
Nelson Judith A.
Poon Peter M.
Shaffer, Esq. Thomas R.
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