Chemistry: fertilizers – Processes and products – Organic material-containing
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-07
2003-01-07
Sayala, Chhaya D. (Department: 1761)
Chemistry: fertilizers
Processes and products
Organic material-containing
C071S012000, C071S013000, C071S015000, C071S017000, C071S018000, C071S020000, C071S021000, C071S022000, C071S024000, C071S029000, C071S030000, C071S033000, C071S063000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06503287
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to soil mixtures and a soil distribution system, and more particularly, to an organic soil mixture and a soil distribution system that blows the soil mixture onto selected places on flat or sloped surfaces.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Healthy topsoil and vegetation that grows in the topsoil are natural and effective stabilizers of soil layers on flat or sloped surfaces. If topsoil is removed from an area on a surface due to a landslide, development, or erosion, the topsoil should be replaced to ensure continued stability of the remaining soil and vegetation on the surface. The topsoil can be replaced naturally over a long, long time, or the topsoil can be manually replaced in a much shorter time period. Manually, replacing the topsoil on sloped areas has proven to be a dual challenge. The first challenge is in creating a soil mix with balanced permeability and stability characteristics for the particular geographic location. The second challenge is to physically access the slope and deposit enough of the soil mix to replace the topsoil in an efficient and economically justifiable manner.
Nature's process of death and rebirth creates the fertile topsoils, but nature's process is very slow. In the fall season, when deciduous trees, shrubs, vegetables and perennials die back and leaves fall to the ground, decomposition begins. Decomposition cycles create layers of topsoil, so the topsoil builds up layer by layer over time with each decomposition cycle. The variety of plant materials supported in these soils differs as the soil changes. Plants that need a less nutrient-rich soil will grow and die back, continuing the decomposition cycle and as the soil richens in nutrients, the plant varieties will change accordingly, continuing to add to the decomposition and buildup of topsoil. Micro-organisms are a key ingredient in the decomposition process as they break down the particles into the necessary elements for fertile soil. It takes nature an incredibly long time to create just one foot of topsoil. Yet this process that takes nature so very long can be wiped away in one pass of a bulldozer, or by a landslide on a slope, or by the effects of erosion over a relatively short period of time.
Fertile topsoil is soil teaming with life. It contains beneficial micro-organisms, including bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, micro arthropods, earthworms and other insects vital to soil structure and nutrient distribution. The fertile topsoil has a natural balance of nutrient and mineral ingredients, it has the natural ingredients of the food chain, that supplies us with minerals through the plant materials and fruits that grow in the topsoil. Live, healthy topsoil also has a natural permeability and stability that facilitates healthy growth of vegetation. Healthy, living topsoil filters and/or binds pollutants before they can reach waterways or aquifers.
Many areas, such as agricultural land or areas where there is little or no crop rotation, such as vineyards or orchards, have been negatively impacted by the inability to get topsoil to replace soil deficient in nutrients, microbes, or organic matter in a cost-efficient manner. Traditional transportation of topsoil to these locations included hauling the topsoil from trucks or large topsoil deposits to the selected areas by wheelbarrows, buckets, bags or conveyors.
In other areas, erosion and the development of land often stunt nature's progress with respect to topsoil. Hillsides are acutely vulnerable to topsoil erosion and, particularly in the Northwest region of the United States, are at risk for having a landslide activity. The same land characteristics that make hillsides vulnerable to erosion and landslides also make the hillsides difficult to repair. The steeper the slope, the more difficult it is to get people and equipment on the hillside itself in order to replace topsoil. It is also more difficult for standard topsoil to remain stable on the slope. Further, access to the slope is often very difficult because of existing site conditions, such as heavy vegetation, houses or other landscaping that prevents site access. Other hard to reach areas include landslide areas, waterfront hillsides where floating barges cannot land to off-load equipment and where slope severity does not allow equipment to descend, backyards with substantially no access, vineyards and orchards, and rooftop planters and container gardens.
Traditionally, repairing hillsides that were clear of obstacles included placing netting or other geo-tech fabrics over the repair area. However, both netting and geo-tech fabrics are cumbersome and expensive, and are not a realistic option when there are obstacles, such as existing partial vegetation cover, on the hillside. Geo-tech fabrics have the potential to damage roots by cutting or girdling.
Replacing the topsoil on a hillside encountered other difficulties including hillsides that were too steep to maneuver equipment on. Track equipment, such as excavators, bulldozers, track loaders, track hoes, motor graders, etc., can safely maneuver on up to a 3 to 1 slope. Manual work can continue on slopes steeper than 3 to 1, however, a 2 to 1 slope becomes difficult for manual work and virtually impossible for wheelbarrows.
Conventional techniques for replacing topsoil on steep slopes include using a chute system, in which one or more chutes are positioned over the hillside from the top of the hillside, and buckets full of topsoil are slid down the chutes as a means to manually bring the topsoil down to workers standing on the steep slopes. Conventional topsoil does not slide well on any surface due to its consistency, so the topsoil must be transported in the buckets down the chutes. This process is very labor intensive, and only works when access is available to the slope from the top of the slope, and the hillside is such that the chutes can be placed on the slopes and maneuvered as needed into particular areas for soil application across the hillside. Buildings, roads, or inaccessible areas on the top of the slope hamper the laying of the chutes, so the buckets are manually transported down the hillside without the benefit of a chute.
Bark, compost mulch, hydroseeding and pea gravel are all items that in the past have been used to cover existing topsoil or as a substitute for topsoil in inaccessible places. Each of these items do not provide the benefits of topsoil for stability and vegetation growth, and they retain many of the same disadvantages with respect to access to and application on hillsides, as discussed above. Importantly, these materials do not provide stabilization of the slope in the way that topsoil does. Bark and compost mulch are used as a cover mulch over an existing planted area. Hydroseeding is a process of spraying a liquid (e.g., water) and seed mixture over the top of existing soil. The hydroseed mixture is a binding mix to hold the seeds in position on the existing topsoil until they germinate. Pea gravel is used on slopes and in other areas to address drainage concerns.
A conveyor belt system has also been used to place soil in difficult places. The conveyor belt system, however, provides relatively imprecise placement of soil, and the system is not practicably useable in areas containing trees and densely planted shrubs without causing damage to these plants. Further, relocating the conveyor belt system to dispense the soil from the top, bottom or sides is time consuming and labor intensive.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention overcomes the limitations of the prior art and provides additional benefits. Under one aspect of the invention, an improved soil mixture capable of being placed on a surface, including sloped surfaces either via traditional or selected placement means including placement by blowing the mixture into place. Under another aspect of the invention, this soil mixture is blown through a manipulatable distribution line onto the surface, including areas which may be substantially inaccessible.
Additional aspects of the
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