Hydraulic and earth engineering – Fluid control – treatment – or containment – Fluid storage in earthen cavity
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-28
2001-08-07
Bagnell, David (Department: 3673)
Hydraulic and earth engineering
Fluid control, treatment, or containment
Fluid storage in earthen cavity
C405S116000, C052S169700, C004S506000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06270286
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatus for and methods of bracing soil, retaining water, and blocking roots. In another aspect, the present invention relates to flexible reinforcement member apparatus for and methods of bracing soil, retaining water, and blocking roots. In even another aspect, the present invention relates to flexible reinforced water pervious reinforcement member for and methods of bracing soil, retaining water, and blocking roots. In still another aspect, the present invention relates to a flexible woven water permeable material having reinforcement structure on each side for and methods of bracing soil, retaining water, and blocking roots.
2. Description of the Related Art
Ornamental gardening, as opposed to produce gardening, around a residence has been a popular activity for hundreds of years. Traditional English gardening has its roots in the aristocratic gardens of royal home owners and slowly became practiced on a smaller scale around typical residences.
Perusal of the volume of gardening books and magazines in any bookstore reveals that gardening is indeed very popular in the United States.
Many garden purists believe that a garden is not complete without water. However, providing water in a garden, whether as a pond or running stream, is a complicated task which presents many problems.
Other inherent gardening problems include maintaining plants and/or their roots in a desired section of the garden, and bracing soil around the edges of beds.
There are many prior art patents and articles directed to providing water in a garden, maintaining plants and/or their roots in a desired section of the garden, or bracing soil around the edges of beds.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,436,770, issued Feb. 24, 1948 to Hill, et al, discloses a garden layout and apparatus for separating the soils and plants in the garden. The garden includes various beds containing cultivated plants, walkways, and grass borders, all of which are separated by separators. The separators are described as being preferably formed of paper or fiber board of laminated or corrugated construction, saturated, impregnated or coded, with a material such as asphalt that is resistant to water, to acid, to alkalines, plant food, corrosion and the like. The separator is described by being prepared by dipping or otherwise coating or impregnating a laminated or corrugated fiber paper or board of conventional structure with the asphalt or like material, with the treated board preferably being of such ductility that it can be formed in strips and rolled for ease in handling, shipping or storage. As a method of insertion, the separator is inserted in a ditch or other depression formed around a garden bed of any desirable shape or size, with the fiber paper or board separator readily being conformed by bending to the desired shape as it is inserted. Alternatively, it is disclosed that the garden bed may be excavated and the interior of the wall of the bed lined with one or more strips of the separator material and the bed refilled with a suitable treated earth for the plants to grow therein. It is also disclosed that the separator may be utilized to prevent growing tree roots from encroaching upon the cultivated bed. Finally, it is disclosed that the separator may be adapted for use in nurseries and breeders gardens where the roots of each variety of plant may be separated as to assure that the roots are as true as to variety. Specifically, the roots of a plant or shrubbery enclosed in a ball of earth and the earth provided with a peripheral covering of the separator.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,315,408, issued Apr. 25, 1967 to Fisher, discloses an article which will prevent or eliminate soil erosion by providing a disintegratable covering over areas subject to soil erosion which have been seated and which will provide a protection against erosion for these areas until erosion preventing vegetation has germinated beneath the protective covering. The covering is broadly disclosed as including all types of inter-engaged or inter-connected filaments, yarns, fibers and the like which will sufficiently cohere as to form a substantially continuous blanket or covering. The material utilized has a controllable or predetermined rate or time for disintegration under various agents including in particular a biochemical reaction caused by enzymatic action of microorganisms such as soil bacteria, when the covering is placed on the ground in contact with the soil. Disclosed as a further essential feature of the covering is that the protective covering blanket provided shall include hollow core soluble or disintegratable filaments, yarns or fibers formed from soluble cellulosic derivative material in which are filled with a fluid material selected from the group consisting of fertilizers, pesticides and weed killers in which have walls rupturable and disintegratable by the biochemical reaction caused by the micro organisms in the ground when the yarns are placed on the ground in contact with the soil so as to release at a predetermined time the fluids in the yarns with contact of the fluids with the ground.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,421,439, issued Dec. 20, 1983 to ter Burg, et al, discloses a sporting fabric for bearing bulk material such as sand, gravel, stones, clay, loam, or other bulk material, and a method of building a road, embankment, a dike, a dam or some other structure form from bulk material. The supporting fabric is characterized in that the yarns extending the warp direction of the fabric are formed by straight warp yarns and binder warp yarns, the straight warp yarns each having a higher strength than the binder warps yarns, with construction being such that when the fabric is subjected to a tensile load in the warp direction, the straight warp yarns bear a higher proportion of the tensile load than the binder warp yarns, preferably at least 80% of the tensile load. For the method of stabilizing soil and/or building a road embankment, a dike, a dam or some other structure formed of bulk or other material, the supporting fabrics are provided with transverse portions. The supporting fabrics are placed horizontally with one or more layers of the bulk material formed on top of the horizontally lined supporting fabric. The supporting fabrics may also be placed horizontally between various horizontal layers of the bulk material. The transverse partitions extend perpendicularly away from the supporting fabric and help support the bulk material.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,356, issued Oct. 25, 1994 to Romanek, et, al, discloses an erosion control mat formed of a scrim having a light weight web secured thereto and a method of applying said erosion control mat to a soil surface to control erosion. The grid sides of the scrim should be selected to provide a uniform reinforcing and be large enough to allow easy plant penetration through the grid, with the maximum grid opening in the range of about {fraction (1/16)} of an inch, with a preferred size in the range of about ¾ of an inch to about ⅝ of an inch. The composite fabric selected will allow for ready penetration of plants, light, and water through the erosion control mat. Although the scrim and the lightweight web may be assembled and bonded together by any suitable technique known to those of skill in the art, including, but not limited to chemical, thermal, or mechanical bonding methods, it is presently preferred to bond the scrim to the lightweight web by needle punching the lightweight web to the scrim. The erosion control mat is suitable for installation in a great variety of situations where the ground has been disturbed and the soil is subject to erosion including, but not limited to the replanting of highway road embankments, construction sites, mining and mining reclamation sites, park areas, and landfills. It is generally preferred to install the erosion control mat on a soil surface that has been smoothed with readily available equipment such as graters, tractors with box blades, or other suitable implements. The soil surf
Bagnell David
Gilbreth J. M. (Mark)
Gilbreth Mary A.
Gilbreth & Associates P.C.
Lagman Frederick L.
LandOfFree
Soil brace and root blocker does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Soil brace and root blocker, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Soil brace and root blocker will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2465202