Planting – Broadcasting
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-29
2002-08-06
Novosad, Christopher J. (Department: 3671)
Planting
Broadcasting
C111S092000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06427613
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to a lawn shaker that can be used for aerating the lawn and distributing lawn improvement substances such as grass seed, weed killer, fertilizer and dry pesticides.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The spot aerating and seeding of a lawn has always been a cumbersome labor intensive and back-straining process. It would be necessary to use one tool, such as a rake or pitchfork, trough or shoes with nails protruding, to aerate a small portion of the lawn. Then one would have to get a bag of grass seed, bend over and carefully and evenly spread the seed over the area and then press the seeds into the soil.
The process of spreading weed killer has also been labor intensive, cumbersome and wasteful. In the past, a spreader would have to be used to spread weed killer indiscriminately over a large section of the lawn covering much more ground than necessary. Formerly, another method would be to selectively spray liquid weed killer, which would permit the inhaling of the spray and a wider contamination of the area than necessary. These previous methods incorporate greater handling of the harmful chemicals.
Combination garden tools have been disclosed. Specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 4,336,845 discloses a combination garden tool containing a first tool which has a handle and a second tool which are detachably coupled to each other. The second tool is secured to a coupling mechanism, preferably a clamping bolt. In this patent, the first tool is an oscillatory weeder and the second tool is a finger wheel roller. U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,342, discloses a lawn spreader which consists of a cylindrical drum which contains a plurality of spaced-apart spike arrays along its surface. A door at one end of the drum allows for deposit of, for example, grass seed. U.S. Pat. No. 5,787,990 discloses a lawn too which contains a tubular shaft for seed or fertilizer feeding and a soil breaking element attached to the bottom portion. In contrast to the lawn shaker, the tubular shaft does not appear to be detachable. Although these tools can be used for a combination of tasks, they are relatively complex and difficult to operate.
There is a need for a tool that simplifies the process of aerating, seeding, and weeding, greatly reduces the amount of physical strain, is easy to operate and is lightweight. Therefore, it is an object of the invention to provide a tool that can both aerate the soil and distribute lawn improvement substances such as weed killer, fertilizer, grass seed, and/or dry pesticide onto the lawn.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention is directed to a lawn shaker comprising
(a) a shaft having a linear portion and a base portion;
(b) a canister detachably mounted to said shaft; where said canister comprises a base portion and said base portion of said canister comprises a means for distributing a dry lawn improvement substance onto soil of said lawn and
(c) at least five prongs attached to the bottom of the base portion of said shaft.
The invention is also directed to methods for using the lawn shaker of the present invention to distribute dry lawn improvement substance. If the dry lawn improvement substance is grass seed, the method comprises the following steps:
(a) aerating the soil with prongs of the lawn shaker;
(b) distributing said grass seed from the canister of the lawn shaker onto the aerated soil and
(c) pressing the grass seed into the soil with the prongs of said lawn shaker.
If the dry lawn improvement substance is weed killer, fertilizer, or dry pesticide the method comprises:
(a) placing the prongs of the lawn shaker onto the lawn and
(b) distributing said lawn improvement substance from the canister of the lawn shaker onto the soil where the prongs are placed.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2123450 (1938-07-01), Brandt et al.
patent: 2140266 (1938-12-01), Leeberg
patent: 2171037 (1939-08-01), Mahurin
patent: 2747528 (1956-05-01), Hunkins
patent: 4290374 (1981-09-01), Maples
patent: 4336845 (1982-06-01), Kolb
patent: 4934289 (1990-06-01), Robinson
patent: 5632342 (1997-05-01), Knoblich et al.
patent: 5787990 (1998-08-01), Miller
patent: 5924369 (1999-07-01), Hatcher
patent: 6279496 (2001-08-01), Mitchell et al.
Mills, K., “A Business No One Else Wants to Touch”, The Journal News, Gannett (pub.), May 12, 1999, p. 3D.
Agris Cheryl H.
Novosad Christopher J.
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