Patent Application
20220174896
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. 37 CFR 1.71(d).
The following includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention(s). It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art, or material, to the presently described or claimed inventions, or that any publication or document that is specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
The present invention relates generally to the field of plant grow racks that include watering and support loops.
When a plant grows vertically they tend to become top heavy and fall over to the side and onto the ground which impedes growth and could result in the death of the plant. Furthermore, providing water to such plants can be a tedious and laborious task. Therefore, a need exists to develop a system that can provide proper support and water means throughout the life cycle of these plants.
Various attempts have been made to solve the above-mentioned problems such as those found in Australian Patent 2014208274 to Chang; U.S. Pat. No. 6,840,008 to Bullock et al; and U.S. Pat. No. 8,857,103 to Coon. These prior art references are representative of prior plant support and watering systems. However, none of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the invention as claimed.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known art, the present invention provides plant grow racks with watering and support loops. The general purpose of the present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a system that can provide proper support and watering means throughout the life cycle of growing plants.
The instant plant grow racks each include a watering loop and a plurality of support loops stackable thereupon in a vertical direction. A plurality of grow racks can be spaced from one another and connected in series via connectable water hoses to thereby form a watering “daisy chain”.
The main features of the instant plant grow racks that is an improvement over the prior art stackable plant grow racks is the way the instant plant grow racks can provide water to a plant while supporting its growth. Furthermore, the instant plant grow racks can provide water and growth support to a plurality of plants simultaneously.
The instant plant grow racks each include a watering loop and successive support loops stackable thereupon. Furthermore, water hoses are connected between each successive watering loop to form a “daisy chain” of stackable plant grow racks for use in any gardening scenario.
For purposes of summarizing the invention, certain aspects, advantages, and novel features of the invention have been described herein. It is to be understood that not necessarily all such advantages may be achieved in accordance with any one particular embodiment of the invention. Thus, the invention may be embodied or carried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving other advantages as may be taught or suggested herein. The features of the invention which are believed to be novel are particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification. These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following drawings and detailed description.
The figures which accompany the written portion of this specification illustrate embodiments and method(s) of use for the present invention constructed and operative according to the teachings of the present invention.
The various embodiments of the present invention will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the appended drawings.
The preferred embodiment of the present invention relates to stackable plant grow racks and watering system.
Referring now to
The system of supporting and watering plants further comprise a water source hose 200 adapted to be releasably connected to a water source at one end thereof and releasably connected to the adjustable water flow nozzle 116 of the circulation tube of the watering loop of a first of the plurality of stackable plant grow racks at an opposite end thereof; and a plurality of water hoses 210, wherein the plurality of water hoses are adapted to be releasably connected between adjustable water flow nozzles of each stackable plant grow rack, to thereby form an in-series (daisy-chain) watering system between the plurality of stackable plant grow racks 100, and thereby be capable of watering a plurality of plants at the same time.
The at least one support loop 130 may comprise a plurality of support loops 130, wherein the plurality of support loops are adapted to be stacked one on top of another, and wherein each successive support loop has a larger center section than a previous one of the plurality of support loops, such that as the plant grows taller and larger the plurality of support loops are able to support the plant throughout its growth process while the watering loop continues to provide water to the plant. In one embodiment, there are three support leg connectors 120 on the watering loop, three support leg connectors on the at least one support loop, three support legs on the watering loop, and three support legs on the at least one support loop. In another embodiment, there are four support leg connectors on the watering loop, four support leg connectors on the at least one support loop, four support legs on the watering loop, and four support legs on the at least one support loop. In following, there can be four support leg connectors 120 on the watering loop, four support leg connectors on the at least one support loop, four support legs on the watering loop, and four support legs on the at least one support loop.
The shape of the circulation tube of the watering loop may be formed as a circle or a polygon, and the shape of said support ring of the at least one support loop may be formed as a circle or a polygon.
The watering loop and the at least one support loop may be formed from copper, stainless steel, plastic, or polyvinyl chloride. The plurality of support legs of the watering loop is formed having a preferred length of approximately 16 inches, though other dimensions are obvious variations, and wherein the support legs are adapted to be inserted into the ground soil to a depth of approximately 8 inches, though other dimensions are obvious variations. The plurality of support legs of the at least one support loop may be formed having a length of between 6 inches and 8 inches, though other dimensions are obvious variations.
In another embodiment, there are five support loops 130, and wherein the respective support rings of the five support loops are adapted to be placed in concentric alignment with each other and the circulation tube. Furthermore, the plurality of support legs 134 can be formed having varying shapes and sizes, including curved, straight, bent, and S-shaped, depending on the type of plants being supported and watered or the size and shape of an existing garden. As such, each of the stackable plant grow racks can have unique shape, such as cone-shaped, or form a rectangular volume, or even odd shapes to properly support plants that take an unexpected growth shape. The number of base legs 122 and support legs 134 can also vary, i.e., 3, 4, or 5, or more, depending on the strength or size of the stackable plant grow racks needed. Furthermore, the plurality of support leg connectors can be formed as known slip joints, coupler joints, slide joints, stackable joints, and sleeve joints. Referring now to
In the preferred embodiment shown in
The plant grow rack 300 may further comprise at least one support loop 500 comprising a support ring 510 formed having a shape adapted to surround the plant as it grows through a center section thereof, wherein the support ring has a diameter that is larger than the diameter formed by the semi-circular bracket of the base portion, such that as the plant grows larger the support ring is adapted to support the growing plant; and a plurality of support legs 520, wherein the plurality of support legs are spaced from one another and attached to the support ring 510, and wherein the plurality of support legs are adapted to be releasably attached to respective heads 320 of the plurality of stakes 340, wherein said support ring 510 is spaced vertically from said base portion 305 an amount determined by the length of the plurality of support legs 520. Furthermore, there may also be a plurality of support loops 500 adapted to be stacked one on top of another; and wherein each successive support loop has a larger diameter center section than a previous one of the plurality of support loops, such that as the plant grows taller and larger the plurality of support loops are able to support the plant throughout its growth process while the watering loop continues to provide water to the plant.
The instant plant grow rack 300 may be formed from various materials, such as the base portion from copper, stainless steel, plastic, or polyvinyl chloride, and the bracket water line and the main water line from rubber and/or plastic.
It should be noted that the steps described in the method of use can be carried out in many different orders according to user preference. The use of “step of” should not be interpreted as “step for”, in the claims herein and is not intended to invoke the provisions of 35 U.S.C. § 112, ¶ 6. Upon reading this specification, it should be appreciated that, under appropriate circumstances, considering such issues as design preference, user preferences, marketing preferences, cost, structural requirements, available materials, technological advances, etc., other methods of use arrangements such as, for example, different orders within above-mentioned list, elimination or addition of certain steps, including or excluding certain maintenance steps, etc., may be sufficient.
The embodiments of the invention described herein are exemplary and numerous modifications, variations and rearrangements can be readily envisioned to achieve substantially equivalent results, all of which are intended to be embraced within the spirit and scope of the invention. Further, the purpose of the foregoing abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially the scientist, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application.
The present application is a Continuation-In-Part (CIP) of and claims priority to non-provisional application Ser. No. 16/922,286, filed Jul. 7, 2020 which is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 16922286 | Jul 2020 | US |
| Child | 17676511 | US |
