AU2244800A

AU2244800A - Rotary growing house

Info

Publication number: AU2244800A
Application number: AU22448/00A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Michael Glyn Hadlum; Ronald Stephen Hadlum
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1999-03-22
Filing date: 2000-03-21
Publication date: 2000-10-05
Anticipated expiration: 2020-03-21
Also published as: AU757638B2

Description

Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

(ORIGINAL)

Name of Applicant: RONALD STEPHEN HADLUM and MICHAEL GLYN HADLUM RONALD STEPHEN HADLUM and MICHAEL GLYN HADLUM Actual Inventor(s): Address for Service: Invention Title: SANDERCOCK COWIE 69 Robinson Street, DANDENONG VIC 3175 ROTARY GROWING HOUSE Details of Associated Provisional Application(s): No(s): Australian Provisional Application No. PP9332 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: S-1- 2000-03-21,A:U66hadlum.00.wpd,

I

-lae TITLE: ROTARY GROWING HOUSE FIELD OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to a polyhouse assembly constructed so as to optimize quantity and quality of seedling or plant growth contained therein. In particular the invention relates to a rotary growing house which improves efficiency of seedling or plant growth in both a domestic and commercial application.

TITLE: ROTARY GROWING HOUSE FIELD OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to a polyhouse assembly constructed so as to optimize quantity and quality of seedling or plant growth contained therein. In particular the invention relates to a rotary growing house which improves efficiency of seedling or plant growth in both a domestic and commercial application.

2000-03-20,A:\62hadI=n.ompect.wpd, I -2- BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION There have been disclosed in the prior art many greenhouse systems in which planting and plant growth is promoted.

Greenhouses which are used for domestic and commercial growing purposes suffer a number of disadvantages. In domestic applications prior art greenhouses are generally too large a construction to be of any real practical advantage. In particular when available space is at a premium, prior art greenhouses do not enable a domestic user nor a commercial grower to efficiently use any such available space.

In order for greenhouses constructed for commercial growing purposes to be increasingly commercially viable, crop yield both in terms of the type of crop and amount must be :sufficient.

Crops grown in existing greenhouses are normally nurtured in trays placed on the ground.

At present the ground space defined by an assembled glasshouse provides only a limited (surface) area upon which the trays are placed, therefore the quantity of crops is restricted S"to the ground area as defined above.

There are yet further disadvantages associated with prior art greenhouses in that root :systems and soil in trays placed on the ground are subject to development of mould.

Frequent watering in the presence of a restricted air flow will often lead to this condition.

When seedlings, plants or crops are ready for a commercial market, individual trays are required to be removed manually thereby becoming a significant labour intensive operation.

It is an object of the invention to overcome or ameliorate at least one of the disadvantages of the prior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION There has long been a desire in this art to provide a means for effectively enabling a 2000-3-2OA:'\262hadfurnConplctc.wpd2 larger production turnover of crops per unit area of greenhouse. By this is meant substantially more efficient use of available area.

In addition in this art there has been a long felt need to reduce labour intensity and labour costs, and to address the problem of plant mould while optimizing greenhouse characteristics.

Thus in a first aspect of the invention there is disclosed a polyhouse for use in promoting seedling/cutting growth including:an assembly adapted to be rotatable in a vertical plane about a horizontal axis; a plurality of holding means; and 0% 0 15 attachment means adapted to attach said plurality of holding means to said assembly.

PREFERRED ASPECTS OF THE INVENTION •Preferably the assembly includes first and second upright wheels.

Preferably the upright wheels can be of any geometric shape. More preferably the first and second upright wheels can be octagonal in configuration.

Preferably the first and second upright wheels include a centrally located hub, which hub is adapted to contain therein a plurality of spokes.

Preferably the hub has positioned therein at evenly spaced intervals a succession of spokes which spokes extend outward to be secured by securing means to the periphery of said first and second upright wheels respectively.

Preferably the securing means can be U-shaped or T-shaped connecting pieces.

Preferably the first and second upright wheels are secured in a horizontal axis by a 20003-20.A:262hdlm.completc.wpd,3 -4centrally located axle passing through the hubs.

Preferably the assembly further includes a plurality of cross members which cross members extend from between the first and second upright wheels and are attached thereto by securing means.

Preferably the securing means includes T-pieces or U-pieces or spot welds.

Preferably the assembly includes at least two cross members joining said wheels, more preferably at least eight, depending on the size of said wheels, at evenly spaced intervals.

S: •Preferably the holding means include trays which trays are adapted to hold therein plant and seedling containers.

15 Preferably the holding means are suspended in hanging relation to the assembly by attachment means.

Preferably the plurality of holding means are attached to cross members by said attachment means so that at any given rotatable orientation of the assembly the plurality of holding means are offset in relation to each other.

Preferably the holding means include a plurality of perforations so as to allow continuous air flow to a bottom surface of the plant or seedling containers.

Preferably the attachment means or part thereof is adapted to slidably pivot on a surface of the cross member so as to maintain said holding means in a constant horizontal plane.

Preferably the assembly can have attached thereto a motor so as to rotatably drive the assembly.

Preferably the assembly can be made from plastic material or metal, steel, etc.

Preferably the assembly can be of any desired shape and size.

2000-03-20,A:\262hadlum.complcte.wpd,4 Preferably the rotary growing house further includes support means for supporting the assembly.

Preferably the support means is secured to the assembly. More preferably the support means is secured to the assembly by attachment to ends of the centrally located axle passing through the wheel hubs.

Preferably the support means includes wheels for ready movement and relocation of said assembly.

Thus the invention provides in a second aspect a rotary growing house for use in promoting seedling or cutting growth which includes:an assembly adapted to be rotatable in a vertical plane about a horizontal axis; a support means securably attached to the assembly for supporting the assembly in a vertical plane; a plurality of holding means; and attachment means adapted to attach said plurality of holding means to said assembly.

o S Preferably the rotary growing house further includes an external frame adapted to support a cover for the assembly. In a preferred embodiment the external frame can be secured to the assembly, alternatively the external frame supporting the cover need not be directly secured to the assembly.

Preferably the external frame can be a conventional greenhouse.

Preferably the cover is a plastic material for aiding control of temperature and humidity for optimal plant growing conditions.

Preferably the rotary growing house further includes an irrigation system so as to help 2000-O-20,A:\262hadlwnconpplcwwpd,5 -6moisten or maintain water uptake of cuttings, plants or seedlings held on the assembly.

Preferably the assembly further includes a braking arm for holding the assembly in a fixed temporary position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a side view of an octagonal rotary growing house.

Figure 2 is an end view of a rotary growing house.

Figure 3 is a partial end view of a rotary growing house.

Figure 4 is a pictorial representation of a modified rotary growing house.

Figure 5 is a close up view of a braking arm attached to the assembly.

Figure 6 is a representation of a modified rotary growing house with irrigation system.

20 INTEGER LIST 3. Rim 4. Rotary assembly Wheel 6. Spokes 7. Hub 8. Connecting pieces 9. Cross members Holding means 11. Chain 12. Collar 13. Perforations 14. External frame support 2000-03-20,A:\62halum.competc.wpd,6 -7- Conventional greenhouse 16. Axle 17. A first end of chain 18. A second end of chain 19. Frame member Lower ends of frame member 21. Stable support member 22. External housing structure 23. Plastic cover 24. Braking arm Spray system DETAILED DESCRIPTION WITH RESPECT TO THE DRAWINGS :15 With reference to Figure 1 there is shown in profile a representation of an embodiment of the polyhouse according to the invention.

The polyhouse comprises an assembly a plurality of holding trays and attachment means (11, 12) for attaching the holding trays to the assembly.

The assembly includes two upright wheels which wheels are adapted to rotate in a vertical plane. The upright wheels shown have an octagonal configuration •consisting of eight lengths of pipe joined together by connecting pieces to form a rim The upright wheels are mounted on a centrally disposed axle (16) having a first and second end, the axle being generally mounted in a horizontal position relative to the ground surface. The upright wheels also comprise spokes indirectly attached on their inner ends to respective first and second ends of the axle (16) and which spokes extend radially outward from a centrally located hub and being attached to the rim via connection pieces. Preferably the spokes are of equal length. The number of spokes may vary depending on the size and characteristic of the respective wheels.

As can be seen from the drawings the two upright wheels are joined by mating connection pieces on coinciding portions with a series of horizontal cross members 2000-03.20,A:U62hadhm.omplete.wp&7 -8- The horizontal cross members are preferably joined at points on the wheel where connection pieces join lengths of the rim together.

The function of the horizontal cross members serves to not only secure the rims of respective upright wheels together but function to have attached thereon means adapted to suspend holding trays for holding seedling and/or cutting containers.

As can be seen in Figures 2 and 3, the horizontal cross members have attached thereon collars (12) which are adapted to slideably pivot on the horizontal cross member without any substantial lateral movement. The collars (12) have attached thereto a length of chain (11) which has a first end (17) and second end The first and second end of the chain are attached to respective ends of the holding tray The holding trays are maintained in a suspended horizontal position relative to the ground surface.

.9 15 The holding trays (10) can be of any size and include a plurality of holes or perforations which enable free flow of air to seedling or cutting containers placed thereon. Preferably 9.99 the holding trays are suspended in offset relation to each other as shown in the figures.

It is preferred that the assembly has connected thereto a means of rotating the polyhouse.

Among means for driving rotation can be a motor or handle for manual rotation.

In a preferred embodiment the first and second ends of axle (16) are directly joined internally to an open frame structure wherein the open frame structure forms a housing external to the rotatable assembly The external frame structure can be covered in a conventional way so as to form a greenhouse type environment.

The rotatable polyhouse of the invention can thus be fabricated to function within an existing greenhouse. The polyhouse of the invention can significantly increase the quantity of seedlings or cuttings to be nurtured per unit area. In a commercial application this is important in optimizing a growers economic advantage and in a domestic application particularly where ground space is at a premium the polyhouse enables more efficient and effective use of the available space.

200-03-20,A:\262hadlum.ompictwpd -9- Referring now to Figure 4, there is shown a second embodiment of the rotary growing house in accordance with the present invention. In this embodiment the rotary growing house includes an assembly supported by frame member (19) so as to enable rotation in a vertical plane about a horizontal axis, defined by the centrally located axle (16).

As represented support frame member (19) is attached at its lower ends (20) to a further stable support member however it is understood in an alternative embodiment that the lower ends (20) of frame member (19) can be attached to wheels (not shown) for greater mobility.

Figure 4 also shows the rotary growing house including the assembly and frame member (19) in relation to an externally located housing structure (22) such that the housing structure (22) is adapted to have securably attached thereon a plastic cover (23).

The plastic cover (23) can be conveniently opened so as to expose the assembly to a user.

Generally the plastic cover can be used to maintain constant temperature and humidity conditions so as to provide optimal plant growing and propagation conditions.

In a further embodiment shown in Figure 5, the rotary growing house includes a braking arm (24) which is fixed to the bottom of the assembly for hooking into horizontal cross members The braking arm can therefore be used to conveniently hold the assembly in a stable static position enabling a user to attend to plants held on trays without any excessive assembly rotation.

In yet a further embodiment shown in Figure 6, the rotary growing house further includes 25 an irrigation spray system Advantages of the rotary growing house of the present invention are:- Firstly, because the trays are suspended above ground, the seedlings or cuttings contained thereon no longer suffer the disadvantage of build up of mould. By virtue of continuous exposure to air flow seedlings or cuttings maintained in containers on the holding trays, no longer display mould growth.

2000-03-20A:\262hadum.coplte.pd.9 Secondly, each holding tray in turn can be exposed to direct sunlight in order for photosynthesis to occur.

Thirdly, manual shifting or removal of trays is reduced because trays can be moved by mechanical means such as forklift, given that the trays are suspended from the polyhouse.

This would decrease labour intensity and consequently reduce commercial labour costs.

Fourthly, the polyhouse is able to substantially increase the volume of seedling or cuttings able to be nurtured and grown within a conventional greenhouse.

The claims, illustrations, photographs and drawings, if any, form part of the disclosure of this specification as does the description, claims, illustrations, photographs and drawings of any associated provisional or parent specification or of any priority document, if any, all of which are imported hereinto as part of the record hereof.

Finally it is to be understood that various alterations, modifications and/or additions may be incorporated into the various constructions and arrangements or parts without departing from the spirit and ambit of the invention.

*C

2000-03-20,A:\262hadim .complet.

Claims

1. A rotary growing house for use in promoting seedling/plant growth including:- an assembly adapted to be rotatable in a vertical plane about a horizontal axis; a plurality of holding means; and attachment means. adapted to attach said plurality of holding means to said assembly.

2. A rotary growing house according to Claim 1 wherein the assembly includes first and second upright wheels. :"15

3. A rotary growing house according to Claim 2 wherein the upright wheels are of any desired geometric shape. S"

4. A rotary growing house according to Claim 3 wherein the first and second upright wheels are octagonal.

A rotary growing house according to any one of Claims 2 to 4 wherein the first and second upright wheels include a centrally located hub, which hub is adapted to contain therein a plurality of spokes. 25

6. A rotary growing house according to Claim 5 wherein the hub has positioned S" "therein at evenly spaced intervals a succession of spokes which spokes extend outward to be secured by securing means to the periphery of said first and second upright wheels respectively.

7. A rotary growing house according to Claim 6 wherein the securing means can be U-shaped or T-shaped connecting pieces.

8. A rotary growing house according to any one of Claims 2 to 7 wherein the first

2000-3-20A:\262hadlunio mplcw.wpd II -12- and second upright wheels are secured in a horizontal axis by a centrally located axle passing through the hubs.

9. A rotary growing house according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the assembly further includes a plurality of cross members which cross members extend from between the first and second upright wheels and are attached thereto by securing means. A rotary growing house according to Claim 9 wherein the securing means includes T-pieces, U-pieces or spot welds. 11. A rotary growing house according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the assembly includes at least two cross members joining said wheels, more preferably at least eight, depending on the size of said wheels, at evenly spaced intervals. S, 12. A rotary growing house according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the S: holding means include trays which trays are adapted to hold therein plant and seedling containers. 13. A rotary growing house according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the holding means are suspended in hanging relation to the assembly by the attachment means. 25 14. A rotary growing house according to any one of Claims 9 to 13 wherein the o °holding means are attached to the cross members by the attachment means so that at any given rotatable orientation of the assembly the plurality of holding means are offset in relation to each other. 15. A rotary growing house according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the holding means include a plurality of perforations so as to allow continuous air flow to a bottom surface of the plant or seedling containers. 2000-03-20.A:;262hadlum.complet.wpd 12 -13- 16. A rotary growing house according to any one of Claims 9 to 15 wherein the attachment means or part thereof is adapted to slidably pivot on a cross member so as to maintain said holding means in a constant horizontal plane. 17. A rotary growing house according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the assembly can have attached thereto a motor so as to rotatably drive the assembly. 18. A rotary growing house according to any one of the preceding claims which further includes a support means for supporting the assembly. 19. A rotary growing house according to Claim 18 wherein the support means is secured to the assembly. A rotary growing house according to Claim 19 wherein the support means is 15 secured to the assembly, more preferably the support means is secured to the •assembly by attachment to ends of the centrally located axle passing through the wheel hubs. 21. A rotary growing house according to any one of Claims 18 to 20 wherein the support means includes wheels for ready movement and relocation of said assembly. S.'22. A rotary growing house for use in promoting seedling, plant or cutting growth which includes:- an assembly adapted to be rotatable in a vertical plane about a horizontal axis; a support means securably attached to the assembly for supporting the assembly in a vertical plane; a plurality of holding means; and attachment means adapted to attach said plurality of holding means to said 2000-03-20,A:\262hadln.complete.pd, 13 14- assembly. 23. A rotary growing house according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the rotary growing house further includes an external frame adapted to support a cover for the assembly. 24. A rotary growing house according to Claim 23 wherein the external frame can be secured to the assembly, alternatively the external frame supporting the cover need not be directly secured to the assembly. A rotary growing house according to any one of Claims 23 and 24 wherein the external frame can be a conventional greenhouse. 26. A rotary growing house according to any one of Claims 23 to 25 wherein the cover is a plastic material for aiding control of temperature and humidity for optimal plant growing conditions. 27. A rotary growing house according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the rotary growing house further includes an irrigation system so as to help moisten or maintain water uptake of cuttings, plants or seedlings held on the assembly. 28. A rotary growing house according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the assembly includes a braking arm for holding the assembly in a fixed temporary position. *a 29. A rotary growing house substantially as described with reference to the drawings. The steps, features, compositions and compounds referred to or indicated in the specification and/or claims of this application, individually or collectively, and any and all combinations or any two or more of said steps or features. 200 0- 0 3-20,A:\262hadiumconplete.wpd, 14 -I1s- Dated this 21sL day of March, 2000. SANDERCOCK COWIE PATENT ATTORNEYS FOR RONALD STEPHEN HADLIJM and MICHAEL GLYN HADLUM 20DO-03-20,A:\262hadlwii.completc..pd,