AU2008310304A1 - A weeding tool - Google Patents

Description

WO 2009/046489 PCT/AU2008/001491 1 A WEEDING TOOL TECHNOLOGICAL FIELD This invention relates to a weeding tool for the removal of weeds from the garden or farm and more particularly to a weed extraction home or market 5 garden implement having combined features that facilitate easy and efficient weeding of the soil in a garden without requiring repetitive kneeling or scooping of the user or unnecessary relocation of the soil during the removal Home gardening is a very popular and enjoyable hobby, particularly i amongst those members of the public that have both time and available property space to become involved with such an activity. On the other hand, market gardening is done on a slightly grander scale than simply household gardening activity but what is common to both gardening and the production of crops from market gardens is that is generally they are done on a reasonably small scale and in the most part it is neither economical or practical to employ large scale machinery or chemical treatment, such as sprays and the like to combat the growth of weeds and other pest plants. Hence in both residential and commercial market gardens of moderate 20 sizes, weeds and their removals have always been and are a constant problem. From a commercial sense, weeds compete with taking nutrients and moisture from the soil, and during the harvesting of the crop from a garden can become entangled and therefore the separation is required before the product can be sold. 25 When considering well kept gardens and established lawns, the appearance of sporadic weeds is very unwelcome in the most part from an aesthetic point of view, but in this time of water conservation, efforts should always be encouraged to eliminate plants that take moisture from the soil that have no practical purpose withih the garden.

WO 2009/046489 PCT/AU2008/001491 2 Currently in residential gardens or small-scale market gardens the solution to this weeding problem in the most part is to treat the plant with a weed killer or to extract it using a common garden tool such as a spade, or a trowel. 5 As the person skilled in the art will appreciate, these kinds of approaches as well as others used in the past bring their own kinds of problems, not the least but in the most part weed killers are poisonous chemicals that have to be carefully handled and are not at all environmentally friendly. In many cases after careful and safe guarded application of a weed killer 10 onto a plant that has to be extracted, it can take several weeks for the plant to die, although this is not always successful. Still further, again as the person skilled in the art will be aware of in many instances even though the weed has been treated with a poisonous weed killing chemical, wide scale evidence still suggests that the plant or the 15 weed is able to recover. In order to move away from conventional chemical treatment of weeds for their removal, as introduced above, numerous garden tools and implements have been developed over time for the purpose of facilitating this weed removal. . 20 However, in the most part, these tools suffer from drawbacks that affect their usefulness. Quite often claw or jaw based weeding devices have a pair of blades that are designed to be placed next to the main stem of the weed and dug in below to remove the weed and roots. The size of the claw or jaw, or blade often makes the tool difficult to 25 position about the weed to be removed, particularly in a garden bed where there are a lot of plants growing in amongst the weeds. Further, sharp blades and claws can easily be mishandled by the user therefore bringing injury such as cuts and the like to the hand when the tool is being used.

WO 2009/046489 PCT/AU2008/001491 3 Still further, those existing garden tools on the market are very tedious to use and for those persons suffering from physical impairments and disabilities, bending or kneeling repetitively to remove weeds may be prohibitively difficult, painful or exhausting. 5 It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a weeding tool that is able to extract the weed and their associated root system with realistic ease and minimum ground disturbance. A further object of this invention is to provide a useful weeding tool for the removal of weeds from a garden, such as those found in residential homes io or in market gardens, that can ameliorate the short comings and problems associated with those methods and implements introduced above for the extraction of weeds from the soil. Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a complete reading of this specification. 15 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In one form of the invention, there is provided a weeding tool for the removal of weeds from the garden, said tool including: a longitudinal body attached to a head, said head including diverging fork fingers, 20 said fingers spaced to define connection points for a lateral/horizontal fixing of a cord or strip across said fingers, such that when the fork fingers are rested or pressed into the soil for weed extraction, the cord or strip is submerged enough to be drawn across the stem or roots of the weed to be removed from the soil. 25 An advantage of such an arrangement is that no longer is there the requirement to use poisonous or at best, chemicals that are required to kill WO 2009/046489 PCT/AU2008/001491 4 off the weeds to potential detriment of other plants grown within the soil substrate. Advantageously this invention provides for a simple weeding tool which through the utilisation of the fork fingers can assist the cutting edge, which 5 for this invention is a simple strip or cord, which when the edge is dragged or actually worked against the sterr of the weed, the strip or cord is able to leverage up or out the weed and take with it the associated root system, or at least a substantial part thereof in a single action. Advantageously, as the edge or contact of the implement with the weed 10 itself is a simple strip or cord, there is no excessive ground disturbance and the whole weed extraction process can be done with realistic ease and efficiency. Unlike the application of claws, jaws or serrated blade edges, the forked fingers of this garden tool implement is able to get in close proximity of the 15, weed to be removed making it particularly useful in very crowded garden plots, wherein the weed or weeds are surrounded also by the plants which are purposely part of the arrangement. Advantageously, the garden tool provides weed eradication that is capable of efficiently removing the weed and in substantial part the associated root 20 system from both the residential gardens and also those market garden situations. In preference the cord or strip is fixed to the diverging fork fingers at substantially the end or tip of the respective fork fingers in preference, the cord or strip is a single length of wire. 25 In preference, the forked fingers include a rotatable tensioning feature for the simple tightening of the strip of wire across the respective forked fingers.

WO 2009/046489 PCT/AU2008/001491 5 An advantage of such an arrangement is that the wire can be easily clipped on between the forks and then tightened simply by rotating the feature such as a screw or the like. As no sharp serrated blades are used, the chances of user injury through 5 cuts and the like are substantially minimised. In preference the rotatable tension means is a threaded arrangement wherein a threaded bar extends across and joins each of the diverging fork fingers, and a rotatable barrel about the thread upon rotation tightens or loosens said wire. 10 In preference the rotatable tension means is a threaded arrangement wherein a threaded bar extends up into the handle, and a nut about the thread upon rotation tightens or loosens said wire. In preference the longitudinal body attached to the head of the forked fingers, is of a length to make it such that the application of the wire can 15 be done with the user not having to be required to stoop or kneel very close to the weed to properly extract it. This extended longitudinal body includes at its distal end a handle which the user's hand can be gripped thereto during use, and preferably in some embodiments an additional handle extends perpendicularly from the 20 longitudinal upright to which the users other hand can then grasp. An advantage of this arrangement is that by having the handles as part of the longitudinal body means that greater comfort and efficiency can also be realistically envisaged improving the ease to which the weed can be eradicated. 25 Preferably, the head that includes the diverging fingers is folded forward from the vertical plain of the longitudinal body with the respective tips of each finger also folded to run substantially again in parallel with the longitudinal body.

WO 2009/046489 PCT/AU2008/001491 6 An advantage of such an arrangement is that these respective folds in the garden tool implement again all add to an improved realistic ease in being able to position the toor as close as possible to the pest plant to be removed both efficiently and with minimal ground disturbance to the soil as 5 the eradication takes place. In preference the weeding tool is a hand held garden tool wherein the longitudinal body in the most part simply forms a handle to which can be gripped by a user. In a further form of the invention, although this further form of the invention 10 need not be the broadest or the only form of the invention, the arrangement forms part of a ground engaging wheel driven implement. An advantage of this further form of the invention is that the actual garden claws attached to a traditional wheel type ploughing arrangement can be wheeled along certain sections of ground for continual engagement of the 15 device with weeds that require eradication. In order to have a greater appreciation of the invention, several preferred embodiments will now be described with the assistance of illustrations showing the three embodiments which include the longitudinal stand up use of the weeding tool, as well as the short handle weeding tool and 20 finally the embodiment more applicable to the use in market gardens and the like wherein the weeding tool forms part of a wheel type plough for use of the tool over a greater expanse of area. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a preferred embodiment of one form of the invention wherein 25 there is provided an extended longitudinal arm which would allow the user of the weeding tool to eradicate the weeds from a standing position. Figure 2 shows a close up of the head of the weeding tool showing the two diverging fingers wherein the wire is connected there across.

WO 2009/046489 PCT/AU2008/001491 -7 Figure 3 shows a further embodiment of this invention wherein the weeding tool includes a more traditional short handled grip. Figure 4 is a further embodiment of this invention wherein the weeding tool is incorporated into a wheeling device for it to be applied for the 5 eradication of weeds and other pest plants over a more expansive area of soil to be treated. Figures 5a and 5b show a cross-sectional view and a frontal view of weeds being removed from the ground using the weeding tool. Figure 6a and 6b show preferred embodiments of the rotatable tension 10 means for the wire. DETAIL DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Referring to the drawings now in greater detail and firstly to Figure 1 where there is provided a weeding tool shown generally as 10, wherein the weeding tool includes a longitudinal body 12 which has attached atone 15 distal end a head which is generally shown as 14. The head includes two diverting fingers 16, 18 that move off the longitudinal plain of the longitudinal body 12 by virtue of fold 17 and extend out to a further fold 19 where the two distal ends 20, 22 of the respective forked finger 16, 18 returned to a substantive parallel 20 positioning with the longitudinal body 12. The respective fingers 16, 18 and the relevant ends 20 and 22 provide a path to which a strip of wire 24 can be positioned therein and then tensioned by the feature 30, which is best shown in Figure 2 by virtue of the screw thread which when rotated can tighten the strip of wire 24 to the 25 weeding tool 10. The design of the forked fingers are such that they are able to rest or slightly be pressed into the soil so that the strip of wire 24 becomes submerged and a simple lateral movement of the weeding tool 10 across WO 2009/046489 PCT/AU2008/001491 8 the weed will see the weed being dislodged from its position within the soil, but with minimal disturbance or loosening of the soil thereby not affecting the soil structure to any plants in close proximity. Figure 3 provides a further embodiment of the invention but in this 5 instance the longitudinal body is not extended and simply forms in the most part a handle 34 of which can be gripped by the user when the implement is required for use. Figure 4 provides still a further embodiment of the invention where in this instance, the weeding tool forms an attachment to almost a ploughing 10 agricultural implement. The wheeling arrangement allows for the tool to be passed over much greater expansive of lands, such that the kinds associated with market gardens and small farms. The user is able to utilise this particular implement 36 by taking hold of the is respective uprights 38, 40 and through the use of the wheel effectively roll along the length of the land lifting the fingers 16, 18 and the wire into place as required. As the person skilled in the art would appreciate this form of the invention shown in Figure 4 would see the user wheeling the arrangement 36 along 20 positioning or extracting the wire into the soil as required every time a weed is encountered. These three embodiments shown as preferred forms of the invention should not be considered as the only forms of the invention as what .remains essential to the invention is the fact that no longer is there the 25 requirement to use claws, jaws or serrated blades in dislodging a weed from the soil With this invention, the unique application of the diverting fork fingers and the strip of wire there across means that weed eradication is capable of WO 2009/046489 PCT/AU2008/001491 9 being completed conveniently without physical detriment to the user or the soil and plants surrounding the weed. Figures 5a and 5b show a cross-sectional view and a frontal view of weeds being removed from the ground using the weeding tool 10. As can 5 be seen the wire 24 is positioned slightly below the surface of the ground 52 by virtue of the ends 20,22 of each forked arm 16,16. The path of the wire 24 below the ground surface 52 can be seen through broken lines 54. As the wire 24 comes across a weed 50 the wire 24 is able to sever the weed 50. 10 In figure 6a the rotatable tension means is a threaded arrangement 66 wherein a threaded bar 68a, 68b extends across and joins each of the diverging fork fingers 62, 64, and a rotatable barrel 70 about the thread upon rotation tightens or loosens said wire 72. In figure 6b the rotatable tension means is a threaded arrangement is wherein a threaded bar 76 extends up into the handle 74, and a nut about the thread upon rotation forces wings 82a, 82b against diverging fingers 84, 86 to tighten or loosen the wire 88.

Claims (10)

1. A weeding tool for the removal of weeds from the garden, said tool including: a longitudinal body attached to a head, 5 said head including diverging fork fingers, said fingers spaced to define connection points for a lateral/horizontal fixing of a cord or strip across said fingers, such that when the fork fingers are rested or pressed into the soil for weed extraction, the cord or strip is submerged enough to be drawn across the 10 stem or roots of the weed to be removed from the soil.

2. The weeding tool of claim 1 wherein the cord or strip is fixed to the diverging fork fingers at substantially the end or tip of the respective fork fingers

3. The weeding tool of claim 2 wherein the cord or strip is a single 15 length of wire.

4. The weeding tool of claim 3 wherein the forked fingers include a rotatable tensioning feature for the simple tightening of the strip of wire across the respective forked fingers.

5. ' The weeding tool of claim 4 wherein the rotatable tension means is 20 a threaded arrangement wherein a threaded bar extends across and joins each of the diverging fork fingers, and a rotatable barrel about the thread upon rotation tightens or loosens said wire.

6. The weeding tool of claim 4 wherein the rotatable tension means is a threaded arrangement wherein a threaded bar extends up into the 25 handle, and a nut about the thread upon rotation widens a wing upon the diverging forks to tighten or loosen said wire. WO 2009/046489 PCT/AU2008/001491 11

7. The weeding tool as is any one of the preceding claims wherein the longitudinal body attached to the head of the forked fingers, is of a length to make it such that the application of the wire can be done with the user not having to be required to stoop or kneel very close to the weed to 5 properly extract it.

8. The weeding tool as is any one of the preceding claims wherein the head that includes the diverging fingers is folded forward from the vertical plain of the longitudinal body with the respective tips of each finger also folded to run substantially again in parallel with the longitudinal body. 10

9. The weeding tool as is any one of the preceding claims 1 to 7 wherein the longitudinal body forms a handle to which can be gripped by a user as a hand held tool,

10. The weeding tool as in claim 7 further including a ground engaging wheel driven implement. 15