Patent Application
20160165806
1. Technical Field The present disclosure relates to containers for plants, and in particular, retaining members for informational tags on planting pots.
2. Description of Related Art
Planting pots are often provided with apertures, such as, for example, slots, formed on a portion of the pots, for use in retaining informational tags or labels. The informational tags or labels can be constructed of plastic, or other flexible material with at least some elastic deformation characteristics, to exert tension against a perimeter of the apertures within which the tag has been compressed. As such, the apertures can be designed to require that a portion of the tag is crimped or otherwise bent, to be placed into the aperture, after which, the elastic tendency of the tag places it under tension to bias the tag against the perimeter of the aperture, to retain the tag. In this manner, information on the tag can be easily affixed to a planting pot, and/or, removed from the planting pot. Many such conventional tags and aperture assemblies are inconvenient, and unreliable. Among other things, the tags may be difficult to insert, and may only loosely retain the tags.
Some embodiments of the present disclosure comprise a container having a retaining member for retaining an informational tag to the container. The retaining member can include an aperture and an inlet channel having an inlet opening opposite the aperture. The inlet channel can have an inwardly tapering sidewall that tapers inward from the inlet opening to join and terminate at a perimeter of the aperture. In some embodiments, the aperture is a non-linear elongated slot, and can be formed in a zigzagging configuration.
Some embodiments of the present disclosure comprise a method of retaining a tag on a container. The method can include inserting a tag into an inlet opening of a retaining member and pushing the tag through an inlet channel having an inwardly tapering sidewall, until the tag extends through an outlet aperture. The tag can be compressed by compressing lateral edges of the tag toward one another to extend the tag through the outlet aperture. Furthermore, the tag can be compressed by imparting two or more bends on the tag, with at least two of the bends being toward opposite directions relative to a planar surface of the tag.
In the following description, certain specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of various embodiments of this disclosure. However, upon reviewing this disclosure one skilled in the art will understand that the invention may be practiced without many of these details. In other instances, well-known or widely available structures associated with plant pots, or informational tags used on plant pots, have not been described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the descriptions of the embodiments of the present disclosure.
Various embodiments of the present disclosure are described herein for purposes of illustration, in the context of use with plant pots. However, as those skilled in the art will appreciate upon reviewing this disclosure, use with other types of containers may also be suitable.
In the present description, where used, the terms “about” and “consisting essentially of” mean ±20% of the indicated range, value, or structure, unless otherwise indicated. It should be understood that the terms “a” and “an” as used herein refer to “one or more” of the enumerated components. The use of the alternative (e.g., “or”) should be understood to mean either one, both, or any combination thereof of the alternatives, unless expressly stated otherwise. As used herein, the terms “include” and “comprise” are used synonymously, and those terms and variants thereof are intended to be construed in a non-limiting, open sense.
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As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art after reviewing the present disclosure, a user may insert a portion of a tag (e.g., a retainer strip 9) upward through the inlet opening 17 of the retaining member 14, to be guided by the inwardly tapering sidewall 19, through the aperture 16. As the tag is pushed upward, the inwardly tapering sidewall 19 can cause the edges of the tag to be compressed laterally toward one another, to crimp the tag gradually to conform to a contour that can pass through the aperture 16, before being pushed through the aperture 16, as best seen in
The aperture 16 itself can be defined by a perimeter 16′ formed at the top wall of the rim 4, with the aperture 16 zigzagging (or otherwise alternating in direction) across a face thereof, as best seen in
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Length “L” is defined to represent the furthest distance between two perimeter points of the elongated aperture 16. In some embodiments, the width W1, between two perimeter points of the elongated aperture is about 0.11 inches. In other embodiments, W1 is greater than, or less than 0.11 inches. In some embodiments, the width W2, between two perimeter points of the elongated aperture is about 0.03 inches. In other embodiments, W2 is greater than, or less than 0.03 inches. In other embodiments, the dimensions indicated above as inches, are instead, centimeters.
In some embodiments, the inwardly tapering sidewall extends vertically a distance that is equal to about one third of a length “L” of the elongated aperture 16. In some embodiments, the inwardly tapering sidewall extends vertically a distance that is equal to about half of a length “L” of the elongated aperture 16. In some embodiments, the inwardly tapering sidewall extends vertically a distance that is equal to about ¾ of a length “L” of the elongated aperture 16. In other embodiments, the inwardly tapering sidewall extends vertically a distance that is greater than one third, one half, or ¾ of a length “L” of the elongated aperture. In other embodiments, the inwardly tapering sidewall extends vertically a distance that is less than one third, one half, or ¾ of a length “L” of the elongated aperture.
After reviewing the present disclosure, an individual of ordinary skill in the art will immediately appreciate that some details and features can be added, removed and/or changed without deviating from the spirit of the invention. Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” or “some embodiments,” means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment(s) is included in at least one or some embodiment(s), but not necessarily all embodiments, such that the references do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment (s). Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. These and other changes can be made to the embodiments in light of the above-detailed description. In general, in the following claims, the terms used should not be construed to limit the claims to the specific embodiments disclosed in the specification and the claims, but should be construed to include all possible embodiments along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. Accordingly, the claims are not limited by the disclosure.
