The present invention is in the technical field of landscaping. More particularly, the present invention is in the technical field of lawn edging devices.
It is often desirable to provide neat, uniform edges to various beds, walkways, foundations, water features and other such landscaping elements of manicured lawns, gardens and the like. In the past, various apparatuses have been used to assist in defining such edges, to prevent soil and groundcover creep, erosion, and loss of edge definition, and to make it easier to maintain a groomed outdoor space.
Several common designs exist in the prior art offering a robust barrier to soil and groundcover movement by way of rigid strips of various configurations. While these devices provide sufficient strength, they often lack the ability to easily create smooth, curved edging, or require curved sections to be preformed to the specifications of the landscape design prior to installation. These types of edging devices are often constructed of rigid metals, alloys or plastics.
Yet other proposed prior art solutions have attempted to solve these problems by teaching the application of edging devices made of extruded, pliable material so that desired curved edges may be formed, and in order to allow the devices to be packaged in coiled, space-saving configurations. These types of edging device are commonly constructed as elongated, generally rectangular shaped extrusions. These devices, however, often lack the strength necessary to maintain edge lines for extended periods of time.
The aforementioned edging devices also lack the ability to provide space between groundcover and the landscaping element being edged. Such functionality is desired, for instance, when edging is installed against foundations in order to cover the soil in the area of curtilage immediately surrounding the structure which may be inaccessible to lawn mowers. Attempts in the prior art to overcome such deficiencies have included the addition of a horizontal base portion to cover such widths of soil, but do not provide users with the ability to easily form any desired sharp angle or curve without resorting to the purchase or creation of multiple sections of various geometries in order to achieve a desired edging line. Some devices—such as those intended for use as paver restraint edging or foundational edging—may be usable for straight sections and gradual curves, but cannot also provide sharp angles or curves that may be desired by a user.
Furthermore, no devices available today enable a user to apply pre-manufactured edging that provides aesthetically pleasing visual elements while maintaining a user's ability to create fully customized edge lines without the need to purchase and integrate various preformed edge elements, such as curves of various radii, straight sections, sharp angles and the like.
It is therefore an unmet need in the prior art for a lawn edging device that provides, in a single embodiment, the ability to form any geometric edging shape/line while providing strength, horizontal soil covering, aesthetic elements, adjustable height and length, and that may be used against permanent or semi-permanent structures such as buildings, walkways or other masonry, or around beds, gardens or other non-structural features alike.
The present invention is a lawn edging device capable of a wide spectrum of curve radiuses and hard angles for users to use as edging and to prevent grass, weed and other groundcover growth thereby creating a lasting non-trimming situation.
Exemplary embodiments of the lawn edging device are provided with resilient, elongate, vertical backing strips having a length, a back surface and a front surface. The front surface has an upper portion and a lower portion. The device has further a horizontal base portion having an upper toe plate row and a lower toe plate row. The upper and lower toe plates rows have, respectively, pluralities of upper and lower toe plates spaced apart by a plurality of upper and lower spaces along the length of the backing strip. Each of the upper and lower toe plates extend outwardly from its proximal edge from a portion of the front surface of the backing strip occupied by the row corresponding to that plate. The device is further provided with a plurality of ground insertion spikes depending downwardly from the backing strip.
An object of the present invention is provide staggered upper and lower rows whereby the spaces of each row are horizontally aligned with the toe plates of the remaining row.
The invention is further provided wherein each upper and lower toe plate comprises a flat bottom and flat top surface, respectively. Each pair of adjacent upper and lower toe plates may overlap to form a plain bearing between the bottom surface of the upper toe plate and the top surface of the lower toe plate.
A further object of the invention is to provide complete soil cover beneath the base portion wherein each pair of adjacent toe plates are provided with abutting proximal edge ends that are coterminous at a vertical line.
Another aspect of the invention is to provide a vertical edge-defining portion extending upwardly from the backing strip.
Another aspect of the invention is a vertical flexing notch spanning the back surface of the backing strip or edge-defining portion at a lengthwise position corresponding to each coterminous pair of proximal edge ends.
Additional features of the invention include the use of upper and lower toe plates in the shape of an isosceles trapezoid each having its short base side correspond to the proximal edge of the toe plate.
The invented device is preferably constructed of a single molded plastic unit.
These and other advantages are provided by the invention described and shown in more detail below.
Novel features and advantages of the present invention, in addition to those mentioned above, will become apparent to those skilled in the art from a reading of the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein identical reference characters refer to identical parts and in which:
Referring now to the invention in more detail,
The backing strip 18 is preferably formed of an elongate, generally rectangular section of resilient material. Resilient plastics are preferred—particularly those having a higher resistance to bending than those commonly used in the prior art. It is considered preferable for embodiments of the invention to be manufactured from high-density polyethylene (HDPE) or a similar material with the properties and characteristics of moisture resistance and chemical resistance, is flame retardant and machinable, and has a high impact strength. As will be explained in further detail below, the invention permits the use of stronger materials in its construction relative to the prior art due to the increased flexibility of the device that results from the configuration of the structural elements. This provides a device that maintains the integrity of edge lines as originally created for longer periods of time, and resists the potential for damage to the device itself caused by inadvertent contact from people, animals, lawn care machines and the like.
Referring again to
The backing strip 18 is, when the device 2 is in a generally upright or level position, vertically oriented, having front (see, e.g., 112 at
While the device may be manufactured with horizontal space between any two adjacent upper and lower toe plate proximal edges (e.g., 12 and 14), it is preferable—for the purposes of increased structural strength and to provide complete soil coverage by the base portion 6—for the upper toe plates to be spaced apart at a width equal to the length of the lower toe plate proximal edge. Likewise, it is preferable for the lower toe plates to be spaced apart at a width equal to the length of the lower toe plate proximal edge. Importantly, while toe plates in either row may vary in the length of their proximal edge, for example in a linearly repeating pattern, it is preferable for the space between any two consecutive upper toe plates (e.g., 10 and 14) to be equal or approximately equal to the length of the proximal edge of the lower toe plate adjacent to both upper toe plates (e.g., 12). Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention provides such repeating patterns that—when combined with aesthetic elements described below—will allow those manufacturing the device to produce natural-looking devices providing the features of the present invention at a lower cost than prior art natural edging devices.
Also depicted in the embodiment shown in
Another aspect of the invention is provided in an optional edge-defining portion 38 extending upwardly from the backing strip 18. The edge-defining portion 38 is substantially vertical and may be manufactured at various heights as desired. In the preferred embodiment, one height of four inches is manufactured, with the notches allowing flexing or trimming to two inches or zero inches or flush. The back surface 40 of the edge-defining portion is preferably substantially flat in order to be seated flush against foundations, walls, walkways and other such flat surfaces. As the base portion 6 generally rests at or near ground level when installed, the height of the edge-defining portion will be the height above ground level desired for a particular application. Further, one or more optional horizontal trimming notches 42 spanning the back surface 40 of the edge-defining portion 38 are provided wherein the notches permit easy trimming of the edge-defining portion to achieve a smaller height where needed via a thinner material thickness along the notch. The edge-defining portion 38 and the backing strip 18 perform the functions described herein, and may by separate elements, or structurally combined, via molding for instance.
Yet another aspect of the invention includes increased flexion at the ends of toe plate proximal edges. Higher strength materials may be used to construct the present invention to prolong the life of the device and increase its effectiveness at preventing soil erosion and groundcover encroachment and maintaining desired edging lines, while presenting the disadvantage of decreasing the amount of flexion beyond what is necessary to create some short radius curves or sharp angles. To provide for a stronger device without unnecessarily limiting the ability of the device to be bend, optional flexing notches 8 are used. The flexing notches 8 are vertical material voids that occur on the surface of the backing strip 18 and if applicable the edge-defining portion 38, and preferably the back surfaces 20 and 40, resulting in thinner material at those points. Providing flexing notches at each lateral end of the proximal edge of a toe plate will increase the flexion of the toe plate section with respect to adjacent sections. Preferably, the abutting lateral ends of the proximal edges of adjacent toe plates—being coterminous at a vertical line—coincide with a flexing notch, as at 8 in
Turning specifically to
To further achieve the objective of providing complete soil coverage by the base portion 6 while simultaneously providing the ability to install the invented device to achieve desired custom curves, angles and edges, it is also preferable for the device to be provided with overlapping adjacent toe plates. For example, each upper toe plate is optionally constructed with at least a flat bottom surface (e.g., 54 in
The embodiment shown in connection with
Referring now to
Note also that the embodiment shown in
The advantages of the present invention include, without limitation, the ability to flex an edging device to suit the user's needs. The present invention also has the ability to create a non-trimming situation for the user, or conversely the ability to be various heights being trimmed at the notches to suit the user or manufactured to predetermined dimensions. The present invention may be offered in multiple different lengths with the ability to be cut to any desired length at or not at the notches to suit the user. In broad embodiment, the present invention is a plastic device that is flexible used for edging.
Furthermore, any of the exemplary embodiments or other applications of the invention may be additionally provided with aesthetic features to create a highly customizable edging device that appears “natural” while including all of the features of the invention. For example, three-dimensional artificial rocks of varying sizes and shapes may be integrated or attached to the top surfaces of the upper toe plates. Repeating patterns of “random” rocks or other such features may be used to increase the manufacturability of the device as needed. An additional exemplary embodiment of the invention 120 is shown in front perspective view in
Any embodiment of the present invention may include any of the optional or preferred features of the other embodiments of the present invention. The exemplary embodiments herein disclosed are not intended to be exhaustive or to unnecessarily limit the scope of the invention. The exemplary embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain some of the principles of the present invention so that others skilled in the art may practice the invention. Having shown and described exemplary embodiments of the present invention, those skilled in the art will realize that many variations and modifications may be made to the described invention. Many of those variations and modifications will provide the same result and fall within the spirit of the claimed invention. It is the intention, therefore, to limit the invention only as indicated by the scope of the claims.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/889,904 filed 11 Oct. 2013, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully recited herein.
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