AU715959B3 - Plant protectors - Google Patents

Description

Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A PETTY PATENT

(ORIGINAL)

NAME OF APPLICANT(S): ACTUAL INVENTOR(S): ADDRESS FOR SERVICE: INVENTION TITLE: ROSSMARG PTY.LTD.

MALCOLM WILLIAM WILSON DAVIES COLLISON CAVE, Patent Attorneys 1 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, 3000 Plant protectors The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: -1- Q:\OPER\RSH\ROSS.PET 3/11/99 P: OPER\RSH\PLANT.PET -9/12199 -2- PLANT PROTECTORS This invention relates to plant protectors, and more particularly to plant protectors of sleeve-like form for attachment to a support wire.

There is disclosed in our earlier Australian patent application 710089 (the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference) a plant protector of tubular form erected from sheet material and held in its erected state by a series of interlocking tabs. Although this protector has a wide range of applicability, it is particularly suitable for protecting vines, primarily young vines. For use in vineyards, the protector includes at its upper end a flap or tab foldable about a horizontal wire of the vine support system and lockable in position to secure the upper end of the protector to the supporting wire.

We have now determined that if the protector is fabricated from a single layer of semirigid plastics sheet material, for example polyethylene or polypropylene, the securing flap does not engage sufficiently tightly to the wire to prevent movement along the wire and therefore some lateral instability of the protector can occur.

According to the present invention, there is provided a plant protector formed from flexible semi-rigid material adapted to surround a growing plant, said protector having at an upper end thereof an upwardly extending flap foldable downwardly over a horizontal supporting wire and retainable in its folded condition to retain the upper end of the protector to the wire, said protector also including a tab engageable with the wire in the folded condition of the flap whereby the wire is gripped between the tab and flap with a frictional force which resists lateral movement of the flap along the supporting wire, wherein the tab is formed in the body of the flap and when considered in relation to the flap prior to folding of the flap, the tab is downwardly projecting whereby after folding the flap the tab extends upwardly and engages the wire with a surface thereof opposite to the surface of the flap which engages the wire.

In the preferred embodiment, the tab is downwardly projecting and is bounded at each Sside by a slot within which P:\OPER\RSH\PLANT.pET -3/11/99 -3the wire is seated when the tab is in contact with the wire in the folded condition of the flap.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a front elevation showing the upper end portion of a plant protector in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention in a condition prior to folding of a securement flap around a horizontal supporting wire; and Figure 2 is a front elevation equivalent to Figure 1 but showing the flap in its folded and retained state.

There is shown in the accompanying drawings the upper end portion of a plant protector, the main body of the protector being of tubular form (not shown). The protector is erected from a blank which may be substantially in accordance with that shown in our earlier application having sets of tabs along opposed edges and which engage when the blank is bent or folded into its erected tubular form around a growing plant so as to retain the protector in its erected form. Reference may be made to our earlier application for a detailed description of the interlocking tab mechanism although it is to be understood that the present invention is not restricted to the use of such tabs to hold the protector in its erected condition and other means may be used to hold the sleeve in that condition either releasably or permanently. At its upper end, the main body of the protector has a projecting flap 2 for securing the protector to a horizontal supporting wire 4, by folding the flap 2 over the wire.

The flap 2 includes a T-shaped tab 6 which is engageable in a slot 8 in the main body of the protector when the flap 2 is folded over the supporting wire 4 to secure the protector to that wire. As described thus far, the securing flap 2 is substantially as described in our earlier application.

In accordance with the present invention, the body of the flap 2 includes a downwardly-directed tab 10 approximately mid-way between the opposite sides of the flap 2, with the wire 4 being seated in opposed slots 12 adjacent the base of each of the opposed sides of the flap 2. When the flap 2 is folded over the wire 4 and its securing tab 6 engaged in the slot 8 to hold the flap 2 in its folded condition, the additional tab 10 engages the wire 4 from P:\OPER\RSH\PLANT.PET 3/11/99 -4the underside so that the wire 4 is gripped between the upper or outer surface of the tab and the inner or under surface of the folded flap 2, as shown in Figure 2. This provides a substantial frictional force between the flap 2 and the wire to resist lateral displacement of the flap 2 along the wire even during severe weather conditions.

It is to be noted that although prior to folding the flap 2 the tab 10 does not actually overlie the wire 4 (although in alternative constructions this may happen), as the flap 2 is folded the tab 10 will move downwardly into contact with the wire and, if necessary, a little assistance from the finger of the installer will ensure that the tab 10 is properly located beneath and behind the wire 4 to provide the configuration shown in Figure 2. To facilitate the effective gripping action provided by the tab 10, at each side of the tab 10 a slot 14 is formed which seats the wire.

This flap and tab system is particularly suitable for use in a protector fabricated from relatively thin, resiliently flexible, semi-rigid, single-layer plastics sheet material, for example polyethylene or polypropylene, for example of a thickness within the range 0.25 to 1.5 mm.

The protector is formed by cutting from suitable plastics material and the presence of the gripping tab 10 simply represents an additional cut required during manufacture and as a result the presence of the tab 10 will only represent a negligible increase in the manufacturing costs.

Although the invention has significant utility when applied to a plant protector fabricated from single layer sheet material as discussed above, nevertheless it may also be used with protectors fabricated from other sheet materials, for example plastic flute board such as sold under the trade mark CORFLUTE or plastic-coated and/or aluminised paper board.

The embodiment has been described by way of example only and modifications are possible within the scope of the invention.

P:\OPER\RSH\PLANT.PET 3/11/99 Throughout this specification and claims which follow, unless the context requires otherwise, the word "comprise", and variations such as "comprises" or "comprising", will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated integer or group of integers or steps but not the exclusion of any other integer or group of integers.

Claims (2)

1. A plant protector formed from flexible semi-rigid material adapted to surround a growing plant, said protector having at an upper end thereof an upwardly extending flap foldable downwardly over a horizontal supporting wire and retainable in its folded condition to retain the upper end of the protector to the wire, said protector also including a tab engageable with the wire in the folded condition of the flap whereby the wire is gripped between the tab and flap with a frictional force which resists lateral movement of the flap along the supporting wire, wherein the tab is formed in the body of the flap and when considered in relation to the flap prior to folding of the flap, the tab is downwardly projecting whereby after folding the flap the tab extends upwardly and engages the wire with a surface thereof opposite to the surface of the flap which engages the wire.

2. A plant protector according to claim 1, wherein the tab is bounded at each side by a slot within which the wire is seated when the tab is in contact with the wire in the folded condition of the flap. DATED this 9th day of December, 1999 ROSSMARG PTY.LTD. By its Patent Attorneys: DAVIES COLLISON CAVE