AU6253000A - A vegetation growth maintenance system and device - Google Patents

Description

P/00/011 Regulation 3.2 .i

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT Name of Applicant: MAPLEMINSTER PTY LTD TELGEM PTY LTD Actual Inventors: Bryan Lesley Chambers and Wieslaw Walczuk Address for Service: INTELLPRO Patent Trade Mark Attorneys Level 7, Reserve Bank Building 102 Adelaide Street BRISBANE, QLD, 4000 (GPO Box 1339, BRISBANE, 4001) Invention Title: "A Vegetation Growth Maintenance System and Device" Details of Associated Australian Patent Application No PQ3315 Provisional Application No: filed 7 October 1999.

The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me: T r 2 A VEGETATION GROWTH MAINTENANCE SYSTEM AND DEVICE TECHNICAL FIELD OF INVENTION THIS INVENTION relates to a system of maintaining vegetation growth on a ground surface with one or more structures extending from the surface, and in particular but not limited to a system of maintaining vegetation growth on a ground surface adjacent to a road and one or more road signs extending from the surface.

THIS INVENTION also relates to a road sign including an upright and a vegetation growth control device for preventing vegetation growth adjacent to the oooo upright.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Ground surfaces including road sides, parks, areas around or adjacent to buildings, gardens, and other like surfaces require regular maintenance in order to oo o control growth of vegetation such as grass, weeds, shrubs and the like.

Such maintenance is especially important along road sides as the vegetation otooo growth, if not checked, will obscure road signs along roads. This is undesirable as visibility of road signs is important to safety of motorists and other road users.

Vegetation growth maintenance in gardens, parks and next to buildings is also important for aesthetic, comfort and safety reasons.

Accordingly, Governments and property owners usually have regular vegetation maintenance programs in an attempt to keep vegetation growth under control.

Present vegetation maintenance systems generally employ mowing machines to cut vegetation to a certain height. These machines may be hand-pushed mowers, ride-on mowers or tractor-towed mowers (also known as slashers or cutters).

But none of these machines can cut vegetation grown on ground surfaces next to structures extending from the surfaces. Attempts to cut as close to the structures as possible often cause damages to the structures.

Chemical poisoning of ground surfaces adjacent to structures has been used to control vegetation growth. This will provide the desired result for a limited time.

The effective period of poisoning depends on soil and climatic conditions. But poisoning needs to be reapplied when the effective period is over.

~Generally, chemical poisoning is not viewed favourably due to health and safety of people applying the poisons and people living in the vicinity. Additionally application of the poisons also affects flora and fauna in the vicinity due to unavoidable drift during application of the poisons. Some of the poisons may also °Qooo find their way into local water courses and thereby polluting water which may be used for drinking.

Instead of chemical poisoning trimmers (whipper snippers) are used for cutting the vegetation that mowers cannot reach. The trimmers are labourious as users must manually move the trimmers along or around the structures and as close to them as possible. Again they can cause damage to he structures if all vegetation close to the structures is to be cut.

4 Using a trimmer for an extended period may have occupational health and safety consequences due to higher risk of back injuries and excessive exposure to sunlight.

Apart from health and safety concerns, poisoning and/or trimming vegetation along or around structures extending from a ground surface subsequent to cutting by a mower are costly in terms monetary and human resources, and inefficient in terms of time required for vegetation management.

OBIECT OF INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to alleviate or to at least S: 10 reduce to a certain level one or more of the above-mentioned disadvantages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In one aspect therefor the present invention resides in a system of oooo maintaining vegetation growth on a ground surface with one or more structures extending upwardly from the surface. The system comprises a mower being operational to cut the vegetation, each said one or more structures having a flexible opaque mat positioned therealong or therearound on said ground surface for preventing vegetation growth under the mat, and the opaque mat is configured to extend outwardly from the associated structure to a periphery which is at or greater than a predetermined distance from the associated structure. Said predetermined distance is such that the mower can cut vegetation growing next to the periphery.

In use, the mower is operated to move about the ground surface for cutting the vegetation and to move over said mats so that vegetation growing next to the periphery of each mat is cut.

In another aspect therefore the present invention resides in a method of maintaining vegetation growth on a ground surface with one or more structures extending upwardly from the surface. The method comprises the steps of: positioning a flexible opaque mat on said ground surface along or around each said one or more structures for preventing vegetation growth under the mat, the opaque mat being configured to extend outwardly from the associated structure to a periphery which is at or greater than a predetermined distance from the associated structure, said predetermined distance being such that a mower can cut ooo.

vegetation growing next to the periphery; S: 10 (ii) operating a mower to cut the vegetation by moving about the ground surface and moving over said mats so that vegetation growing next to the periphery of each mat is cut.

In a further aspect therefore the present invention resides in a vegetation :,growth control device for preventing vegetation growth adjacent to a structure extending from a ground surface. The device comprises a flexible opaque mat positioned therealong or therearound on said ground surface for preventing vegetation growth under the mat, and the opaque mat is configured to extend outwardly from the associated structure to a periphery which is at or greater than a predetermined distance from the associated structure. Said predetermined distance is such that the mower can cut vegetation growing next to the periphery.

In another further aspect therefore the present invention resides in a road sign including an upright for fixing in ground and a vegetation growth control device for preventing vegetation growth adjacent to the upright. The device 6 comprises a flexible opaque mat having an aperture through which the upright extends and the opaque mat is configured to extend outwardly from the upright to a periphery which is at or greater than a predetermined distance from the upright.

Said predetermined distance is such that a mower can cut vegetation growing next to the periphery.

In preference said ground surface includes any one or a combination of verges along a road or foot path, park land, garden, land around a building, and the like.

*Said one or more structures may include road signs, signs for advertisement, playground equipment, walls of buildings, fences and the like. Said one or more structures may have at least one upright or wall extending upwardly from the S.ground surface.

The opaque mat may be made from a natural or synthetic material.

°go• 00 Preferably the material is rubber, a polymer or a combination thereof. More preferably the opaque mat is made from a recycled pneumatic tyre.

The opaque mat may be in any desired shape including triangle, rectangle, circular, oval and any other appropriate shape.

Desirably the mat has a mass per unit area of a magnitude so that it is not dislodged during operation of the mower or in normally expected weather conditions. It is also desired that the mat has a thickness that does not interfere with operation of the mower. The mat therefore can prevent or reduce erosion of soil close to the one or more structures.

7 Typically the mat has a flexibility that it conforms to the contour of the ground surface when positioned thereon.

The mat for use with said one or more structures having an upright may have an aperture sized so that the associated upright can extend therethrough into the ground surface. Advantageously the aperture is shaped in conformity with the transverse cross-section of the associated upright. More advantageously the aperture is sized to have an interference fit with the associated upright in order to prevent or at least reduce water seepage between the mat and the associated upright. The mat thus can assist in reducing corrosion or rotting of the upright.

10 The mat can have a slit from the aperture to the periphery so that it can be fitted to an existing upright of the one or more structures by simply moving opposed sides of the mat along said slit and positioning the upright between said sides until the upright is in the aperture.

*BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In order that the present invention be more readily understood and be put into practical effect, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings wherein:- Figures 1 illustrates overgrown vegetation on verges along a typical road with road signs; Figure 2 illustrates the vegetation on the verges shown in Figure 1 after being cut with a tractor-towed mower of the existing vegetation maintenance system; Figure 3 illustrates the vegetation on the verges shown in Figure 1 after being 8 cut with a tractor-towed mower according to one embodiment of the vegetation maintenance system according to the present invention; Figure 4 shows an embodiment of the vegetation growth control device of the present invention configured for use with a road sign; and Figure 5 shows a partial view of a public park equipped with another embodiment of the system according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Referring now to the drawing in Figure 1, there is shown a partial view of a road 10 and a verge 12 on one side of the road 10. As can be seen the verge 12 is 0 overgrown with vegetation 14 which in this case is grass. The overgrown grass 14 o°°o almost completely obscures visibility of a "GIVE WAY" road sign 16 which is used to warn motorists that there is a T-junction or a cross-road ahead and completely obscures visibility of two reflector road signs 18 which are used to indicate edges of the road 10. Accordingly motorists cannot see the "GIVE WAY" sign 16 properly and have no awareness of the reflector signs 18.

Obscuring road signs such as shown in Figure 1 can cause serious motor vehicle accidents. Accordingly, authorities in charge of roads usually have a vegetation growth maintenance system in place for cutting back the overgrown vegetation 14. The existing maintenance system usually employs tractor-towed mowers (not shown) to cut the grass 14. Figure 2 shows the state of the grass 14 after being cut with the tractor-towed mowers. It is clear that the tractor-towed mowers cannot cut grass which is close to the road signs 16 and 18. It continues to obscure visibility of motorists.

9 Figure 3 shows embodiments of a "GIVE WAY" road sign 20 and reflector road signs 22 according to the present invention. The road signs 20 and 22 each have an upright 24, a sign indicator 26 which in the case of 20 is "GIVE WAY" and in the case of 22 is a reflector, supported on a top portion of the upright 24, and a vegetation growth control device 28 in the form of an opaque triangular mat. The Figure shows that the grass 14, after being cut with the tractor-towed mowers, no longer obscures visibility as the mats 28 being opaque prevent the grass 14 growing in soil underneath the mats 28 and extending sufficient far from the signs 20 and 22 for the mowers cut the grass 14 without damaging the signs 20 and 22.

10 Figure 4 is a some what more detailed i llustration of the reflector road sign 000.

22 shown in Figure 3. In this embodiment the upright 24 supports the sign indicator 26 and the upright 24 is prefixed in the ground. The mat 28 is to be °oo° positioned over and along the upright 24 to contact the ground.

As can be seen in Figure 4 the upright 24 has a rectangular cross-section with 15 a width of mm and a depth of mm. In general W is about 100 mm and D is about 50 mm. The mat 28 is triangular in shaped and has a rectangular shaped aperture 30. The aperture 30 therefore has a shape in substantial conformity to the cross-section of the upright 24 and in this embodiment it is slightly undersized with a width "W1" of 95 mm and a depth "D1" of 45 mm for the purpose of interference fit to the upright 24 to prevent water seepage and to reduce rotting of the upright 24. Needless to say that the mat has a thickness that will not interfere with the mowing operation.

It should be noted that the mat 28 is flexible and is made of recycled tyre material. The flexibility allows the mat 28 to conform with contour of the ground.

The mat material is substantially ultra violet radiation resistant and does not decompose in normal weather conditions. Italso has a massthat itdoes not liftfrom the ground during mowing and in windy conditions. Another advantage of the mat 28 is that it prevents erosion of soil around the upright 24 and assists in keeping the upright 24 standing.

Figure 5 shows an application of the system according to the present sees "7 invention to items normally found in a public park.

Whilst the above has been given by way of illustrative examples of the present invention, many variations and modifications thereto will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the broad ambit and scope of the ihrp invention as herein set forth in the appended claims.

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Claims (12)

1. A system of maintaining vegetation growth on a ground surface with one or more structures extending upwardly from the surface, the system comprises a mower being operational to cut the vegetation, and a flexible opaque mat positioned therealong or therearound each said one or more structures and on said ground surface for preventing vegetation growth under the mat; the opaque mat being configured to extend outwardly from the associated structure to a periphery which is at or greater than a predetermined distance from the associated structure, r said predetermined distance being such that the mower can cut vegetation growing next to the periphery; in use, the mower is operated to move about the ground o surface for cutting the vegetation and to move over said mat or mats so that vegetation growing next to the periphery of the or each mat is cut. S2. A method of maintaining vegetation growth on a ground surface with one 0 5, or more structures extending upwardly from the surface, the method comprises the steps of: positioning a flexible opaque mat on said ground surface along or around 0*S* each said one or more structures for preventing vegetation growth under the mat, the opaque mat being configured to extend outwardly from the associated structure to a periphery which is at or greater than a predetermined distance from the associated structure, said predetermined distance being such that a mower can cut vegetation growing next to the periphery; 12 (ii) operating a mower to cut the vegetation by moving about the ground surface and moving over said mat or mats so that vegetation growing next to the periphery of each mat is cut.

3. A vegetation growth control device for preventing vegetation growth adjacent to a structure extending from a ground surface, the device comprises a flexible opaque mat for positioning therealong or therearound on said ground surface for preventing vegetation growth under the mat, and the opaque mat being configured to extend outwardly from the associated structure to a periphery which is at or greater than a predetermined distance from the associated structure, said predetermined distance is such that the mower can cut vegetation growing next to the periphery. S. 4. A road sign including an upright for fixing in ground and a vegetation growth control device for preventing vegetation growth adjacent to the upright, the device comprises a flexible opaque mat having an aperture through which the upright extends and the opaque mat being configured to extend outwardly from the upright to a periphery which is at or greater than a predetermined distance from the upright, said predetermined distance is such that a mower can cut vegetation growing next to the periphery. The invention according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein said ground surface including any one or a combination of verges along a road or foot path, park land, garden, land around a building, and the like. 13

6. The invention accordingly to any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein the or each said one or more structures including a road sign, a sign for advertisement, playground equipment, a wall of a building, a fence and the like.

7. The invention according to claim 6 wherein the or each said one or more structures having at least one upright or wall extending upwardly from the ground surface.

8. The invention according to any one of claims 1 to 7wherein the opaque mat oo..°is made from a natural or synthetic material.

9. The invention according to claim 8 wherein the material is rubber, a polymer or a combination thereof. The invention according to claim 8 wherein the opaque mat is made from a recycled pneumatic tyre.

11. The invention according to any one of claims 1 to 10 wherein the opaque i mat is configured in a triangle, rectangle, circular, oval or the like shape.

12. The invention according to any one of claims 1 to 11 wherein the mat having a mass per unit area of a magnitude so that it does not dislodge from the surface during operation of a mower or in normally expected weather conditions.

13. The invention according to any one of claims 1 to 12 wherein the mat having a thickness selected so that it does not interfere with operation of a mower.

14. The invention according to any one of claims 1 to 13 wherein the mat having a flexibility selected so that it conforms to the contour of the ground surface when positioned thereon. 14 The invention according to any one of claims 1 to 14 wherein the mat is configured for use with said one or more structures having an upright, and includes an aperture sized so that the associated upright can extend therethrough into the ground surface.

16. The invention according to claim 15 wherein the aperture is shaped in conformity with the transverse cross-section of the associated upright.

17. The invention according to claim 16 wherein the aperture is sized for an interference fit with the associated upright in order to prevent or at least reduce water seepage between the mat and the associated upright. S18. The invention according to any one of claims 15 to 17 wherein the mat having a slit from the aperture to the periphery so that the mat can be fitted to an existing upright of the one or more structures by moving opposed sides of the mat along said slit and positioning the mat so that said upright is between the opposed sides until the upright is in the aperture. DATED this 6th day of October 2000 MAPLEMINISTER PTY LTD and TELGEM PTY LTD By their Patent Attorneys INTELLPRO