AU2007100378B4 - New DIY Garden Edge - Google Patents

Description

06/01/2003 08:11 0397597387 GEORGE CREEK PAGE 03/11 IPA 2007100378 20 JULY 2007 Australia Patents Act 1990 PATENT SPECIFICATION Innovation Patent No: 2007100378 Granted by Acting Commissioner of Patents on 20/7/2007 IP Australia NEW DIY GARDEN EDGE Inventor: George Michael Creek Priority Details: Australian Application No.: 2006902665 Filed: 18 May 2006 The invention is described in the following statement 1 of 9 COMS ID No: ARCS-183656 Received by IP Australia: Time 20:05 Date 2008-03-19 06/01/203 013:11 0397597387 GEORGE CREEK PAGE 04/11 IPA 2007100378 20 JULY 2007 00 S NEW DIY GARDEN EDGE 2 FIELD OF THE INVENTION S[001] This invention relates to landscape boundary dividing, and in particular to an interlocking garden or footpath edging which is flexible enough to create any contour on any Sslope where each edge segment can secure itself to the ground firmly without the need for a separate pin or fastcncr of any kind.

00 [002] The peg which is the focal point of the invention, also encompasses the integration of the water irrigation and sprinkling system which is located at the center of the cylindrical C chamber of the peg which is also the interconnection point of the edge segments.

0 O [003] In addition, the peg encompasses the integration of the spot light illumination in the Ssame cylindrical protective chamber of the peg which is at the interconnection of the edge Ssegments.

C [004] Further application of the peg and edge is to support external vertical members such as rods to provide a shade or protective surround for the plant or any item inside the enclosure from the weather.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART [005] Traditionally for many years, making garden edging involved using bricks, stones, concrete or wood which were heavy to lift. Nowadays service can be obtained to make edgings from concrete aggregate which can be expensive and the job is permanent in other words the edging can not easily be altered. The prior art do not allow the DIY landscaper freedom to alter the contour, height and width of his edgings or to set up a temporary landscape boundary for any special indoor or outdoor settings including a mini-golf playground in the backyard.

[006] Available currently in the market, there are many plastic alternatives which have no other use except for creating a boundary that are not tough enough to withstand abuse from mowers, etc.

[007] In landscaping, some form of flexible or rigid retaining wall or edgings are used to separate one area from another area such as in parks, recreational play areas, gardens farms, temporary corporate functions, etc.

[008] Various retaining wall systems based on prior art are made out of wood, stone, concrete and plastic. Most of them require some form of interconnection involving the use of a pin or some form of a fastener and this makes them not innovative when it comes to stacking one on top of the other while maintaining the desired contour or path.

[009] The foot hold in the ground using the hinge pin or some form of fastener is not ideal especially on muddy or sandy grounds and the hinge pin for example, may not prevent the wall segments from detaching from each other. To overcome this problem, stakes have been used to secure the long continuous edging strips commonly made out of plastic, wood or 2 of 9 COMS ID No: ARCS-183656 Received by IP Australia: Time 20:05 Date 2008-03-19 06/01/2003 08:11 0397597387 GEORGE CREEK PAGE 05/11 IPA 2007100378 20 JULY 2007 o steel. The stakes can be made from steel with curved end to hold down the top ofthe edging Sstrips. Wooden stakes were also commonly used by pressing them into the ground on each CN side of the curved or straight edging strips so that the edging strip would stay upright but these simple stakes were not designed to hold down the edging strip.

S[010] The other types of retaining wall segments from the prior art used a dowel pin arrangement to locate one segment to another segment with a receiving hole so that one C segment can rotate about the vertical axis of the dowel pin provided by the other segment but this arrangement could not facilitate stacking of the segment on top of each other without a separate pin to create a strong foot hold in the ground for the lower segments.

00 r. [011] Another type of retaining wall segments from the prior art used a Mortises and mn Tennon arrangement to interlink the segmets with restricted rotational freedom but this Sarrangement again could not facilitate stacking of the segment on top of each other without a 0 separate pin to create a strong foot hold in the ground for the lower segments.

o [012] Another method of connecting two wall segments from the prior art comprised a shaft 0 and hole system to allow relative swivel rotation whereby one segment with the shaft of the Ci body sit in the mating hole of the ring of the adjacent segment so that the segments can not be pulled apart in the horizontal direction. This arrangement however can not prevent the segments from being separated in the vertical direction.

[013] The wall segments from the prior art were designed to sit flat on the ground with no anchoring other than by a pin passing through the hinge axis or by vertical flat protrusions from the side wall of the wall segment which could not facilitate stacking of the segments on top of each other and at the same time accommodate the variation and slope of the ground.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [014] In order to overcome certain disadvantages of the prior art, and in particular to provide a wall like boundary of any curvature and height without the use of a separate locking hinge pin or fastener, in a broad embodiment of the present invention the present invention comprises a garden or footpath edging system that is flexible enough to not only create a curved path but can be stacked on the ground that is flat or inclined that is on slopes which is a common problem faced by many landscape designer and DIY enthusiasts.

[015] One idea behind the present invention is to allow the DIY landscape enthusiasts freedom to alter the contour, height and width of his edgings in any combination and to set up a "temporary" landscape boundary edging for any indoor or outdoor settings including a mini-golf playground in the backyard.

[016] Primary focus of the present invention is the peg and not the wall segment in contrast to the prior art. The present invention of the boundary making system, comprise of pegs and edges to form any garden or footpath edging that can be raised to any height or contour of the ground. Each peg is resiliently inflexible to secure the edging in the desired location to create and maintain any curved outline and height of the edging. The edges described above comprise of pegs and block segment where the peg is an integral member of the block segment. The block segment described does not need to be a rigid solid block. In a preferred embodiment, the pegs and edges comprise of a plurality of vertical and elongated members configured to resemble solid bricks with stakes that can be connected. Each ofthe edge 3 of 9 COMS ID No: ARCS-183656 Received by IP Australia: Time 20:05 Date 2008-03-19 06/01/2003 08:11 0397597387 GEORGE CREEK PAGE 06/11 IPA 2007100378 20 JULY 2007 00 O segments is coupled to an adjacent edge segment so as to create a flexible bending about a 0 vertical axis where the peg joins the edge. Each of the peg and edge that makes up the CN retaining wall possesses a cylindrical connection along the vertical axis of the peg and edge member so that they can be connected without any "secondary" locking pins or fasteners.

[017] The present invention was developed to enable the garden edges to light up the o garden and/or footpath edgings at the "same time" and from the "same spot" where the water C'i is sprinkling out like a fountain. The upper half of the peg has a cylindrical chamber with four through holes, access provided by the vertical grooves of the lower half of the peg that can be described as a conical wedge. Two of these holes are intended for, a) plant irrigation 00 and water sprinkling by means of watering tubes connected to the peg cylindrical chamber, and b) to connect electrical wires through the remaining two holes to a light up one or more light emitting devices or lamps secured inside the peg cylindrical chamber. The purpose of o the cylinder chamber is to; a) to store up with water from a mains tap via the watering tubes, Sand b) to provide a protective enclosure for a lamp, light emitting device (LED) or globe to create a "spotlight" like illumination with water squirting out like a fountain sprinkler system o for a foot path or lawn areas.

0 C- [018] Opposite to the peg end, the block segment has a round cover joined by thin radial ribs in the middle of the cap which in turn is joined to the block segment. The purpose of the cap is to protect the contents in the peg cylindrical chamber. The first intention of the cutout holes separated by the ribs spaced circularly in the cap is to provide an outlet for the water when the edging segment is used for irrigation or sprinkling purposes. The second intention of the holes in the cap described in this invention is to allow light to escape through these holes from a light source and the third intention of having the cover with holes is to make it removable from the cap without tools to form a circular opening for a separate clear lens cap to be fitted for the purpose of illuminating the edge segment with a light emitting device or lamp- The fourth intention of removing the cover from the cap is to facilitate the stacking of another segment whereby the conical wedge of the peg or edge can be inserted without obstruction through the cap opening and held inside the peg or edge cylindrical chamber.

[019] The present invention comprise of a peg and an edge segment, based on the principle where you can join each block easily to make long, short or curved garden edging or foot paths that can withstand abuse by relying on the peg for anchoring rather the block segment.

They are light and cheap and you can buy as few or as many as the job requires. If the edging needs to be higher, you can add more blocks onto the bottom block to build a short wall to suit without the need for long pins for securing all the stacked blocks. Being made out of strong UV stabilized thermoplastic, you can get them in different colors or in clear material. The peg and edge segment can be made out of wood, concrete, metal or clay. The present invention was developed to enable the garden edge to light up at the same time and water the garden from the same location at any height thereby creating a system of garden irrigation with fountain light illumination effect. This gives a modem creative touch to landscaping a garden of any type or size without the high expense as the job can be done by a DIY amateur.

[020] To further facilitate the stacking of one segment on top of the other, each of the segments have side saddles that sit over the back of the lower segment thereby providing a more secure and stable disposition. The other application of the saddle is to provide extra lengthwise foot hold in the ground once the position and angle of the edge segment and its peg is determined.

4 of 9 COMS ID No: ARCS-183656 Received by IP Australia: Time 20:05 Date 2008-03-19 06/01/2003 08:11 0397597387 GEORGE CREEK PAGE 07/11 IPA 2007100378 20 JULY 2007 0 BRF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [021] Further advantages and permutations will appear from the following detailed description of various non-limiting embodiments of the invention, taken together with the Saccompanying drawings, in which: O [022] FIG. 1 is a partial perspective view of a prior art garden edging arrangement, using cN flexible wood, steel or plastic held upright (not down) with wooden or metal stakes; [023] FIG. 2 is a partial perspective view of a prior art having a plurality of interlocked 00 (non-ornamental) solid panels; o [024] FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view of a prior art support elements, used to support Scurvilinear bricks during curing of mortar; [025] FIG. 4 is a partial perspective view of a prior art curvilinear wall retainer using a pin Sto secure the wall segments to the ground and a dowel pin to connect the wall segments.

[026] FIG. 5 is a partial perspective view of a prior art curvilinear wall retainer using a pin to secure the wall retainer to the ground and join the wall retainer using a Mortise and Tennon connection.

[027] FIG. 6 is a partial perspective view of a prior art edge segment to edge segment connection using a well known shaft and hole method to allow relative rotational movement about their common vertical axis.

[028] FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a prior art box segment having several flat stakes integrated with the main body of the wall segment on one side; [029] FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a prior art with the lamp and socket mounted inside the main body of the box segment with separate lid or cover; [030] FIG. 9 are perspective views of first embodiment of the new DIY landscape boundary edge making system or garden edge of the present invention; [031] FIG. 10 is a sectional view of the embodiment of the DIY landscape boundary edge making system of the present invention; [032] FIG. 11 are perspective and sectional views of another embodiment of the landscape boundary edge making system of the present invention, showing the stacking arrangement of the individual edge segments to form a continuous straight or curved edge.

[033] FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a non-limiting embodiment of the landscape boundary edge making system of the present invention, showing a staggered or stepped stacking of the individual edge segments to form a retaining wall on any slope using pegs and edges. FIG. 12 is another perspective view of a non-limiting embodiment of the present invention where the stacking of the edge segments can create windows in the retaining wall.

of 9 COMS ID No: ARCS-183656 Received by IP Australia: Time 20:05 Date 2008-03-19 06/01/2003 08:11 0397597387 GEORGE CREEK PAGE 08/11 IPA 2007100378 20 JULY 2007 00 O [034] FIG. 13 is a sectional view of another embodiment of the landscape boundary edge O making system of the present invention, showing the water chamber with watering tubes for (c self-cleaning the edge segments and to water the lawn and plants.

S [035] FIG. 14 is a sectional view of an alternative embodiment of the landscape boundary edge making system of the present invention, showing the lamp assembly inside the water Schamber.

[036] FIG. 15 is a sectional view of an alternative embodiment of the landscape boundary edge making system of the present invention, showing the lamp assembly housed inside a 00 water resistant lens cap that is secured inside the edge segment 0

F--

0 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT S(037] FIG. 1 shows a partial perspective view of a garden edging using flexible wood, o steel or plastic strips held down with rigid wooden or metal stakes. Stakes have been used commonly to secure the long continuous edging strips commonly made out of thin flexible extruded plastic, wood or steel. The stakes can be made from steel with curved end to keep the edging upright and hold down the edging strips. Wooden stakes are also commonly used by pressing them into the ground on each side of the curved or straight edging strips so that the edging strip would stay upright but these simple wooden stakes were not designed to hold down the edging strip.

[038] FIG-2 shows a simple solid panel joining system of the prior art, having a plurality of interlocking wall elements comprising a relatively flat elongated members of a relatively rigid material. Each elongated member possess a protruding portion which allows coupling to an adjacent elongated member via a pin member passing through an aperture in each elongated solid or box members (6 and thereafter into the ground (10) to retain the plurality of the elongated members (6 [039] FIG. 3 shows support elements (11).used to support curvilinear bricks (12) during the curing of the mortar. The support elements (11) are usually made of plastic and secured to the ground by means of pins or nails (13).

[040] FIG. 4 shows a prior art curvilinear retaining wall arrangement using a pin (14) to secure the wall or log segments (6 to the ground and a dowel pin (15) to connect the wall segments.

[041] FIG. 5 shows an alternative prior art method of connecting the wall segments (6 using a Mortises and Tennon system Note that again the log segments are secured to the ground by pins passing through the aperture in the log segments.

[042] FIG. 9 shows the interlocking arrangement of the new DIY landscape boundary edge making system of the present invention. A plurality of individual pegs (17) or pegs with segments (18) of any form or size temporarily connected to each other to form a garden edge, Each of the said segments (18) comprising of caps (19) at the opposite end of the peg to allow inter-connection of the individual pegs (17) or pegs with segments also referred to in this specification as the "edge" or "edge segment" to form a boundary.

6 of 9 COMS ID No: ARCS-183656 Received by IP Australia: Time 20:05 Date 2008-03-19 06/01/2003 0e:11 05/1/003 0811 03975973B7 GEORGE GREEK PG 91 PAGE 09/11 IPA 2007100378 20 JULY 2007 00 o The inter-connection. of the edge (18) is achieved by means of aligning the vertical o cylindrical axis (20) of the cap (19) to the vertical cylindhical axis (21) of the peg (17) so that (N the individual peg (17) or edge (18) can rotate about the common axis to form a curve in any ;--4given plane similar to the prior art shown in FIG. 6 wvith one major difference described in [044J below..

o The ground fixation of the individual peg (17) or edge (18) is achieved bythe lower c-i elongated part of the peg or conical wedge (22) so as to hold the pegs (17) or edges (18) in the said desired position without the need for a separate pin or hardware. This new inventive step or arrangement is very different to the prior art shown in FIG. 7 in which the flat weak 00 plastic stakes (30) being part of the main body of the wall segment on onoc side only is ineffective in stacking the wall segments (32) and ensure that the upper wall segments -not en shown do not fail off. The present invention shown in FIG. 10 FIG. 11 (ta) in contrast has 0 ~a WI.1 lengt saddle (39) on the lower part of the upper segment or edge (18U)9 on each 0 longitudinal side which sits over the shoulder of the tower edge (1 SL.) which prevents dislodgement of the upper segment (I 8U). The other purpose of the saddle (39) is to provide o a wedge like strong fbothold in the ground CA The upper part of the peg (23) is hollow in the center (24) to provide space for the stacking of the pegs (17) or edge (18) on top of the each other in any angular direction depending on the cirvature and the slope of the ground. The present invention shown in FIG- 1.1 has the bottom of the conical wedge (40) in contact with the round protrusion (41) inside the cylindrical chamber of the peg or lower edge segment (I18L) to provide additional vertical support for the upper edge segment (1 8U) in the assembled or stacked condition.

The peg comprising of upper (23) and lower (22) parts comprise of four holes (25) in the mid joining section to allow plumbing with watering tubes (26) and electrical wiring (38) which can be combined to form a water founxtain spray with spot light illumination.

[043] 14G. l0 shows another embodiment of the interlocking landscape boundary edge making system of the present invention. The cover (27) which is an integral part of the cap (19) comprise of plurality of venting holes (28) for water to spray out of dhe hollow cylindrical chamber (24) of the peg (17) or edge (18).

The cap (19) comprise of the cover (27) mentioned above can be easily removed by breaking the joining links (29) shown in FIG. 9 to allow the pegs (17) or edges (18) to be stacked above each other so that the lower elongated part of the peg (22) can penetrate into the hole in the cap (19) and into the receiving peg (17) or edge (18) below.

The edge being made out of thenmoplastic, the removal of the cover (27) is also intended to support a solid or tubular pole made of wood, metal or plastic into the hollow center (24) of the peg (17) or group of pegs (17) and/or edges (18) to form a closed wall or an enclosure to protect the plant inside or any item worth protecting from the harsh weather conditions.

[044] The cap (19) which is an integral part of the block or wall segment (32) to forn the edge (18) comprise of a single small protruding member (33) on the vertical cylindrical face of the block segment (32) to temporarily lock and prevent the peg (17) or edge (18) from disconnecting or lifting off- The peg (17) or the block segment with the peg (18) comprise of an external vertical cylinder with a semi-circular lip (34) to provide a corresponding locking ledge for the protruding maember (33) mentioned above to temporarily prevent disconnection of the peg (17) or the edge (18) until all the edges are secured to the ground (10) or stacked 7 of 9 COMS ID No: ARCS-183656 Received by IP Australia: Time 20:05 Date 2008-03-19 08/01/2003 08:11 0397597387 GEORGE CREEK PAGE 10/11 IPA 2007100378 20 JULY 2007 00 o on top of each other to form a retaining wal. Ref ering to FIG. 9 there is a secondary method of affixing the edges (18) of the present invention in the stacked arrangement A large square hole (35) in the cap (19) area provides a secondary connection for securing the upper edge segment to the lower segment in which a suitable protrusion on the upper edge, details not shown can lock or anchor itself into the cutout hole (35) in the cap (19) of the edge (18).

[£0453 FIG. 13 is a sectional view of another embodiment of the landscape boundary edge making system of the present invention, showing the water chamber (24) with watering tubes (26) connected to it for self-cleaning of the edge segments and to water the lawn and plant 00 roots.

e- M[0461 FIG, 14 shows an alternative embodiment of the landscape botmdary edge making osystem claimed by the present invention where the lamp assembly (37) inside the water chamber (24) with wires (38) entering and leaving through the holes (25) can be installed.

FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 shows a prior art which houses the lamp assembly (37) inside the solid or obox segment with a separate lid (31) instead of the having it inside the cylindrical o chamber of the peg or edge as claimed by the present invention which has no separate lid. ci [047] FIG. 15 shows another embodiment of the present invention that houses the lamp assembly (37) with a water proof lens cap (42) secured inside in the water chamber (24) with wires (38) entering and leaving through the holes S of 9 COMS ID No: ARCS-183656 Received by IP Australia: Time 20:05 Date 2008-03-19

Claims (3)

1. 2. An edging system as defined in claim I wherein the upper part ofthe peg is hollow in the center to provide space for the stacking of the pegs or block segments on top of Sc) each other,
2. 3. An edging system as defined in claim 1 wherein the peg comprises a plurality of holes in an intermediate portion to allow plumbing with water tubes and/or the passage of O electrical wiring. 0
3. 4. An edging system as defined in claim 1 wherein the block segment includes spray nozzles for watering plants. An edging system as defined in claim 1 wherein the block segment includes light globes or LEDs to light up the block segments. 9 of 9 COMS ID No: ARCS-183656 Received by IP Australia: Time 20:05 Date 2008-03-19