AU2011202048A1 - An improved weeding tool - Google Patents

Abstract

A weeding tool for the removal of weeds from the garden having a longitudinal handle attached to a ground engaging head portion that includes diverging fork fingers supported in substantially co-planar configuration by support prongs, a 5 wedge member adapted to rotate, wherein said rotation of the wedge member is adapted to extend or retract said support prongs such that said extension or retraction of the support prongs translates to a spreading or contraction of the diverging fork fingers one to another, whereby when a strip, cord or wire member is placed across said fingers, when the diverging fork members are 10 spread out by a retraction of the support prongs towards the longitudinal handle of the tool, the strip, cord or wire member across said fingers becomes taut and upon a rotation of the wedge member to extend the support prongs away from the longitudinal handle of the tool there is a coming together of the two diverging fork members thereby removing tension upon the strip, cord or wire 15 member. x'~ l W, -k ki -T -LV -L L4y 4,WJ L JL C) C) 0'0) I0' 9/-

Description

AN IMPROVED WEEDING TOOL [001] FIELD OF THE INVENTION [002] This invention relates to a weeding tool for the removal of weeds from the garden or farm and more particularly to the use of an un-powered garden implement 5 for simple weed extraction without requiring repetitive kneeling or scooping of the user to try and dislodge the weeds from the garden or unnecessary relocation of the soil during the removal. [003] DISCUSSION OF THE PRIOR ART [004] The popularity of gardening whether as an enjoyable hobby or on the other 10 hand market gardening completed on a slightly grander scale for the production of crops and so forth is often presented with the problem of weeds. [005] Both residential and commercial market gardens of moderate sizes have a very large problem in relation to weeds and the removal thereof. From a commercial sense, weeds compete with taking nutrients and moisture from the soil, and during 15 harvesting of the crop from a garden can become entangled and therefore the separation is required before the product can be sold. [006] 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, effort should be encouraged to eliminate plants 20 that take moisture from the soil that have no practical purpose within the garden. [007] United States Patent Application No. 2797628 presents a garden weeder of a type which supports a top section of relatively thin wire in relation to a head which serves as a depth gorge for limiting the penetration of the wire into the ground to be weeded.

2 [008] The problem with the weeder provided for in this United States specification is the difficulty by which to be able to conveniently attach the wire which is responsible for withdrawing the weed and associated roots from the garden. [009] The utensil required manually manipulating an adjusting screw and significant 5 skill and alignment is required in order to place the wire appropriately in position if it is to be tensioned correctly before use. [010] United States Patent Specification No. 3838510 provides a further kind of manually operable weed cutting implement which is capable of maintaining a weed cutting element thereof under tension and has a sharp edge frame portion for cutting 10 with the weed cutting element. [011] In this invention the cutting element which is mounted on the frame is kept taut by a turn buckle on a screw rod. The cutting element which is a length of wire is drawn taut by rotating the turn buckle. [012] As the actual length of wire responsible for cutting the weed is directly 15 supported by the same projecting fingers, after periodic use flexibility is lost in this tensioning functionality and once again special tooling and know-how is required to actually connect the length of wire to the arrangement. [013] United States Patent Application No. 2056007 shows a further garden tool or weeder for killing or pulling from the ground undesired weeds or plants. 20 [014] As with United States Patent Application No. 3838510 this patent application also has the actual tensioning of the wire done by manipulating the same fingers to which are in fact providing such tensioning support. [015] Also an operator would require tooling to create the tensioning and the fixing of the wire in place about the garden head tool requires a degree of skill in order to 25 receive both ends of the wire and to make sure that they are effectively passed 3 through the opposite ends of the extensions to be rested up correctly along the arms and along the upper frame of the tool. [016] Further patent applications can also be reviewed of various weeding tools which all utilise a single length of wire. 5 [017] These patent specifications include German Patent Nos. DE29820618, DE31 00011, DE29613055 and DE1 0038042. The prior art of such weeders can also be reviewed in the publications and teachings made in Great Britain Patent Specifications GB2161682 and GB337384. [018] Nonetheless there still remains a need in this field of manually operated 10 weeding implements to come up with a more simplistic design which will allow a user to more conveniently place upon the garden implement the wire to which a cutting and the weed removal will be responsible for and not only is an improved installation method of the wire required also a means by which once the wire has been secured upon the implement it can then be tensioned appropriately without the requirement of 15 any separate tooling or cumbersome tasks to achieve such an objective. [019] It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an improved weeding tool that is able to provide a manually operable garden weeder implement which has the wire easy to install and easy to tension so that also in use the weeding tool is able to extract the weed and the associated root system with realistic ease and minimum 20 ground disturbance. [020] Further objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from a complete reading of the specification. [021] SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [022] Accordingly in one form of the invention there is provided a weeding tool for 25 the removal of weeds from the garden, said tool including: 4 [023] a longitudinal handle attached to a ground engaging head portion, [024] said head portion including diverging fork fingers supported in substantially co planar configuration by support prongs, [025] a wedge member adapted to rotate, wherein said rotation of the wedge 5 member is adapted to extend or retract said support prongs such that said extension or retraction of the prong support member translates to a spreading or contraction of the diverging fork fingers one to another, whereby when a strip of cord or wire is placed across said fingers, when the diverging fork members are spread out by a retraction of the pull support member towards the handle of the implement the wire or 10 strip across said fingers becomes taut and upon a rotation of the wedge member to extend the prong support member away from the handle of the garden implement there is a coming together of the two diverging fork members thereby removing tension upon the wire member. [026] In preference the cord, strip or wire member at its distal ends is adapted to fit 15 about an extended shoulder or hook on each of the respective diverging fork members so that these eyelets on distal end of the wire can conveniently be slotted about said hook or extended shoulder of the respective fork finger. [027] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [028] In order to understand the invention now in greater detail the preferred 20 embodiment will be presented here with the assistance of the following text and illustrations. [029] Figure 1a is a perspective view of the weeding tool and Figure 1b is a view of the length of wire which will be tensioned across the diverging fork fingers of the weeding tool. 25 [030] Figure 2 is a similar representation to Figure la however the perspective view is shown from a top rear orientation.

5 [031] Figure 3 is a top view of Figure la. [032] Figure 4 is a cross sectional side view of the weeding tool in the preferred embodiment of this invention. [033] Figure 5 is an exploded view of the preferred emodiment of this invention. 5 [034] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [035] Referring to the drawings now in greater detail there is provided weeding tools shown generally as (10) and as best seen in Figures 1a and 1b there is also a strip of wire (12) with at its distal ends each terminate in an eyelet which as will be discussed in greater detail below are adapted to attach themselves to extended shoulders or 10 hook members (68) and then to extend down a length of the diverging fork members to again then be nested or rested upon inside a further hook at the base of each of one of the fork members. [036] The weeding tool (10) includes a handle (16) diverging fork members shown generally as (18) which in this embodiment have respective fork members (20) and 15 (22) which meet together at the base plate (52). These fork members (20), (22) have corresponding folds (24) and (26) which then provide for a more streamlined orientation towards the base of the diverging fork members (18) through sections (28) and (30). [037] These fold members (24), (26) allow the manual operation of the garden tool 20 by a user by grasping the handle (16) but rather than having to orientate the implement completing laterally or in parallel alignment with the ground, the user can comfortably place the gardening implement at a raised orientation but still have the wire (12) correctly configured as it submerged into the soil to be drawn across the stem or roots of the weed to be removed from the soil. 25 [038] Portions (28) and (30) of the diverging fork arrangement (18) have an extended shoulder which also makes it easier for the garden implement then to 6 conveniently submerge itself into the soil without unnecessarily disturbing the over burden of the soil and at the same time this extension also provides for a groove or hook type configuration shown generally as (70) in Figure 1a to which the wire (12) can then be supported therein between the two diverging fork members (20), (22). 5 [039] In this invention there is the important use of the support prong member shown generally as (36) which has a configuration substantially similar in orientation to the diverging fork member (18) but also includes recesses (34) to which the arms of the diverging fork member (18), that being (20) and (22) can rest and be supported therein for resilient engagement. 10 [040] As the prong support member (36) is extended or retracted up and down away from the handle (16) of the garden implement (10) one can envisage that as the diverging fork member (18) has its respective arms (20) and (22) resting in the corresponding recesses (34) of the support prong this vertical movement of the prong member translates to a spreading out of one fork member to the other or alternatively 15 the bringing together of one fork member with respect to the other. [041] The ability of being able to extend and retract the support prong member to and from the handle (16) is achieved through the wedge member (46) which is made up of the central rod (40) and nut (50) a rotation of the wedge member (46) translates to the movement of the rod (40) which is engaging the bolt (50) which is held in place 20 withinside the handle (16) so that a rotation of the wedge member (46) for example in a clockwise direction will see the bolt member (40) being retracted or drawn into bolt (50) which is fixed in place inside the handle (16). [042] The retraction of the bolt member (40) towards the nut (50) brought about by the clockwise rotation of the wedge member (46) cannot help but press down upon 25 the prong support member (36). [043] This pressing down effect (36) upon the prong support member causes the fork members (20) and (22) of the diverging fork arrangement (18) to be further slid 7 along into the corresponding recesses (34) of the prong support member thereby being spread out in greater divergence. [044] This spreading out of one fork (20) to the other fork (22) can then tension the wire (22) to its required taut. 5 [045] As the user has been able to conveniently hook the wire onto the diverging fork members by the use of the eyelets and the associated shoulders and hooks (68) and (70) the ability to tension the wire (12) can be achieved without trouble and without the requirement for any additional tooling or fastening arrangements. [046] Advantageously in this preferred embodiment, although it need not be 10 essential to the invention, the extensions (28) and (30) of each of the respective fork members (20) and (22) include both the upper hook (68) and also the bottom shoulder extensions (70). [047] It is to be appreciated that arguably the wire (12) could just as easily be pulled about the base of the diverging fork members rather than brought up the sides (28), 15 (30) of each of the fork members (20) and (22). [048] Nonetheless in this preferred embodiment the advantage of being able to shift the actual location where the wire is attached to the hand implement means that once the garden implement submerges itself deep enough to be drawn across a stem or roots of the weeds to be removed, it will do so with very minimal disturbance 20 to the soil structure and over-burden. [049] As can be seen by having the wire (12) actually secured to the hook (68) above the ground engaging location of the garden implement means that it is only a clean single length of wire which is moving across the soil rather than having any bulk, knots or other tying at the base of the garden implement.

8 [050] As best seen in Figures 4 and 5 the bolt member (50) is supported in apertures (42), (44) and (54) and is also held in alignment with the assistance of guide (48). [051] Platform (68) is able to encapsulate much of plate (52) and also fasteners (56) 5 So that the wedge member (46) can be positioned comfortably up against the handle (16). [052] In this embodiment the cylindrical chamber to which the bolt member (40) is retracted there into takes on the same configuration (58) as the bolt member (40) thereby preventing the nut (50) from rotating itself when the rod member (50) is 10 brought into rotation by a user operating the wedge member (46). [053] As also illustrated in each of the figures there is an aperture (62) which is adapted to receive an extension rod which can be then threaded into position by virtue of threads (64) which were available inside the handle (16). [054] As is to be expected an advantage of such an arrangement is that not only 15 can this garden tool be comfortably used by an operator grasping the handle (16), in some applications where it may be more difficult to kneel down or bend over to submerge the garden tool into the soil for the weeding operation, an extension rod, similar say to perhaps a length of a broom handle and so forth could then be connected to the garden tool so it can be operated from a standing position. 20 [055] Also included as part of the handle (16) along. the circumferential edge at the base of the handle (16) is a further aperture (66) which just provides a simple means to which the garden tool can be hung up after use and during storage. [056] The diagonal cut at the base of the handle (16) means that once the handle has been hung up by virtue of a hook being rested into aperture (66) the overall 25 design allows for the tool to sit comfortably in such a hanging position.

9 [057] As best seen in Figure 4 the handle (16) also includes about its longitudinal peripheral edge resilient plastic type material shown generally as (60) making it comfortable, durable and gripable when a user goes to grasp and utilise the implement. 5 [058] As best seen also in Figure 4 there is a slight curvature in the bottom portion of the handle (16) again making it more comfortable and user friendly when a user makes the effort to grasp the garden implement and prepare it for use. [059] Nonetheless what makes this invention essential is the unique wedging arrangement which is able to see the diverging fork members spread out in order to 10 tension the wire. [060] This is achieved by the use of the actual rotatable wedge member, the support prong member which includes the recesses to rest the arms of the fork members so that the movement of the prong support member up or down brought about the retraction of the wedge member will see this translated out upon movement either 15 divergently or a spreading away effect of one fork member to the other thereby altering the tensioning or taut of the wire.

Claims (11)

1. A weeding tool for the removal of weeds from the garden, said tool including: a longitudinal handle attached to a ground engaging head portion, said head portion including diverging fork fingers supported in substantially co 5 planar configuration by support prongs, a wedge member adapted to rotate, wherein said rotation of the wedge member is adapted to extend or retract said support prongs such that said extension or retraction of the support prongs translates to a spreading or contraction of the diverging fork fingers one to another, whereby when a strip, cord or wire member is 10 placed across said fingers, when the diverging fork members are spread out by a retraction of the support prongs towards the longitudinal handle of the tool, the strip, cord or wire member across said fingers becomes taut and upon a rotation of the wedge member to extend the support prongs away from the longitudinal handle of the tool there is a coming together of the two diverging fork members thereby 15 removing tension upon the strip, cord or wire member.

2. The weeding tool of claim 1 wherein the cord, strip or wire member at its distal ends is adapted to fit about an extended shoulder or hook.

3. The weeding tool of claim 2 including eyelets on each distal end of the strip, cord or wire member. 20

4. The weeding tool of claim 3 wherein the eyelets on each distal end of the strip, cord or wire member are adapted to be slotted about said extended shoulder or hook.

5. The weeding tool of claim 4 wherein the diverging fork members come together at a base plate. 11

6. The weeding tool of claim 5 wherein the diverging fork members include at least one fold to provide for a more ground aligned orientation towards the base of the diverging fork members.

7. The weeding tool of claim 6 wherein each support prong member includes a 5 configuration substantially similar in orientation to the respective diverging fork member to which it support.

8. The weeding tool of claim 7 wherein the each prong member includes arecess to which the arms of the diverging fork member is adapted to rest and be supported therein for a resilient engagement. 10

9. The weeding tool of claim 8 the wedge member includes a central rod and nut such that a rotation of the wedge member translates to the movement of the rod that is adapted to engage.

10. The weeding tool of claim 9 wherein the bolt is located substantially within the longitudinal handle. (16) so that a rotation of the wedge member (46) for example in 15 a clockwise direction will see the bolt member (40) being retracted or drawn into bolt (50) which is fixed in place inside the handle (16).

11. The weeding tool of claim 10 wherein the longitudinal handle includes an aperture for receiving an extension handle.