Patent Application
20230048965
The present invention, in general, is directed to a plant container attachable to a window and, more particularly, is directed to a plant container that is made of a magnetically attracted material, enabling the container to be attached to and removed from a window by a magnet or magnetic material secured to the window.
Before disclosing the present subject matter, I wish to not only clarify terms but also introduce certain terms I will be using throughout this patent specification.
A “magnet” (such as loadstone, a strongly magnetic variety of the mineral magnetite) or a “magnetic material” (in particular, the rare earth neodymium) is a material having the property of being capable of attracting iron and certain steels.
A “magnetically attracted material,” to which I shall refer by the acronym [“MAM”], shall be understood to mean a material—such as iron, certain steels, and certain stainless steels—that is attracted to a magnet or a magnetic material.
Most plant enthusiasts know which of their potted plants (which includes succulents) require maximum sunshine for a region of the country where the plant enthusiast resides. Certain plant enthusiasts, to maximize sunshine received, will move their potted plants, relative to a source of sunshine, as the seasons change.
Most potted plant enthusiasts would like to be able to attach a potted plant, such as a potted succulent, directly to a windowpane for maximum sunshine, and also would like to be able to move it along a window surface as the seasons change.
Investigating prior art, I found U.S. Pat. No. 8,393,113 (to Rex) for a suction cup surface mounted shelf and planter assembly; U.S. Pat. No. 9,980,439 (to Aller et al.) for a modular magnetic container system; US published application 2005/0268548 (to Lovette et al.) for a hanging device and method; and US published application 2015/0128491 (to Aller et al.) for a mountable modular magnetic container system.
Prior art US patents and published US applications that I reviewed did not solve—individually or collectively—problems solved by the present subject matter.
The present subject matter is directed to an assembly for attaching a potted plant such as a succulent to a windowpane. The assembly includes an adhesive layer attached to the windowpane, a magnetic material attached to the adhesive layer, and a container that is manufactured from a magnetically attracted material. The container is configured to contain a potted plant. The adhesive layer and magnetic material together have sufficient strength to securely attach the container to windowpanes when the container contains a plant such as a succulent.
Throughout the drawing figures and detailed description, I shall use similar reference numerals to refer to similar components of my window-mount assembly.
For those potted plant enthusiasts who believe a single picture is capable of providing volumes of information, please refer to my
The adhesive layer 130 is formulated from commercially available materials having properties that enable the adhesive layer 130 to remain securely attached to windowpane 100 until a person wants to remove the adhesive layer 130 from the windowpane 100. Commercial examples of adhesive materials suitable for formulating adhesive layer 130 of the present subject matter include wood glues, elastomers, silicone sealants, pressure sensitive tapes, and pressure sensitive films. Further, as those of ordinary skill in the field of adhesives and adhesive materials know, some of these commercially available adhesive materials are detachable from a substrate such as windowpane 100 and also re-attachable to the substrate.
The container 120 comprises a magnetically attracted material such as iron, magnetic steel, and/or magnetic stainless steel. Examples of suitable commercially available magnetic stainless steels include but are not limited to ferritic stainless steels such as grades 409, 430, 439; martensitic stainless steels such as grades 410, 420, 440; and duplex stainless steel such as grade 2205. Also, the adhesive layer 130 has sufficient adhesive strength while the magnetic material 140 has sufficient magnetic strength, so that the container 120 is securely retained by the adhesive layer 130 to the windowpane 100 when the container 120 contains a potted plant.
A number of physical properties are used to describe the magnetic materials of the present subject matter. Remanence (Br) measures the strength of the magnetic field. Coercivity (Hci) measures the resistance of the magnetic material to becoming demagnetized. Maximum energy product (BH max) measures the density of the magnetic field, characterized by the maximum value of magnetic flux density (B) multiplied by the magnetic field strength (H). And Curie Temperature (Tc) measures the temperature at which the magnetic material loses its magnetism.
The following Table presents physical properties of commercially available magnetic materials which are suitable for purposes of the present subject matter.
N48, N50, and N52 are magnetic-strength grades of rare earth neodymium magnets that are suitable for purposes of the present subject matter. A neodymium magnet (also known as NdFeB or NIB) is made, via a known sintering process and/or by a known bonded process, from an alloy of neodymium, iron, and boron to form a tetragonal crystalline structure characterized by the chemical formula Nd2Fe14B.
The windowpane 100 shown in
The shape of the container 120 shown in
Container 120 shown in
What has been illustrated and described is an assembly for attachment to a windowpane, in which the assembly includes an adhesive layer attached to the windowpane and a magnetic material attached to the adhesive layer. While the present subject matter has been illustrated and described with reference to certain exemplary embodiments, the present subject matter is not to be limited to these embodiments. Quite the contrary, many alternatives, changes and modifications will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the field of the present subject matter upon reading my present patent specification. For instance, a container for plants, according to the present subject matter, can have a closed bottom as shown in
