FR2516345A1 - Sectional stand for vending of plants - uses sockets on pallet to locate feet of hollow posts with hooks for plants in carrier pots - Google Patents

Abstract

The sectional stand comprises demountable tubular posts (B) projecting from a standard pallet (A) and is used in effecting the distribution and vending of ornamental plants. Short cylindrical bases (C) which are rigidly connected to the pallet house the feet of each post and the pallet is stackable. Hollow hooks (D) with open ends cantilever from each post, being evenly distributed along the height and the perimeter, and providing for the hanging of individual evergreen plants in disposable carrier-pots (E). The assembly is used to transport plants to vending outlets and also as a vending display stand, each hook having at least one wall aperture which constitutes an overflow when the post is filled with irrigating water.

Description

 The present invention relates to the storage, handling, transportation and presentation on the place of wind of ornamental green plants and their automatic irrigation.

 The sale of green plants poses several problems for store managers. The usual method of distribution is to transport the producer's or wholesaler's depot, place the plants on one level on standard pallets, or transport them on fixed racks on the frame of the means of transport, but this method, if it makes it possible to make better use of the useful volume of the means of transport, implies the use of specialized equipment, the cost of which is high. A solution for lowering the transport costs allowing palletization consists in depositing each plant in a unit packaging of form suitable for palletization but besides the cost of condi tions this solution has the disadvantage of forcing the speakers to remove the plants from these packaging when placing on shelf and to destroy packaging: long, tedious operations dohc expensive in manpower.

 The distribution of green plants thus comes up against a first type of problem: the importance of the cost of transport resulting from the improper use of the capacity of the means of transport, and the necessity of manipulation during the setting on the shelf.

 The second type of problem concerns the design of plant presentation furniture at the point of detail. The common practice is to expose green plants placed on a common pallet of handling, but this system gives an impression of neglected and therefore not In addition, there is a large loss of space, since the plants are stored on one level only. Since the traders are able to achieve the best possible turnover on a given sales area, the plants are commonly exposed on a single surface. fixed X9 furniture with several floors, and usually pyramidal fotme that can multiply the sales area.But the disadvantage of this type of furniture is that on the same level the plants are laid in several rows which forces the consumer to not to choose only plants of the first rank or to move several plants to grow to the chosen plant.In this case usually the consumer of plants are displaced on the floor around the furniture, which implies poor accessibility of the shelf, risks of deterioration for the plants and the need for frequent replacement by the store staff.

 The distribution of green plants therefore faces a second type of problem: the design of a presentation furniture allowing maximum loading of the sales area while providing sufficient access to the shelf for the consumer.

The third type of problem concerns the maintenance of plants on the shelf: ornamental plants are living organisms, thus requiring water, air,

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<tb> and light.Every room has its own needs, the water that causes the asphyxiation of the roots, lack of water causing drying of the plant, it is impossible to ask staff generally poorly watered plants according to their own needs. Also frequently the same amount of water is brought to all plants with more or less happiness which causes significant losses and therefore affects the appearance of the ray.

pots ruisselent et souillent les denrées que le consommateur a déposé au fond de son caddy avant l'achat de la plante.Une variante dans le conditionnemen ement des plantes consiste à enfermer la plante dans une feuille de matière translucide et imperméable a l'eau et a l'air et de créer ainsi une micro atmosphère en circuit fermé.Cette technique a l'inconvénient de donner a la plante un aspect artificiel,ce qui peut nuire è la vente, les motivations d'achat du consommateur etant basées sur le besoin de réagir aux conditions de vie artificielle du milieu urbain.On the other hand the watering of all the plants of a ray is a long operation, so expensive which is in fact often neglected.Une technique consists in depositing a felt carpet soaked with water in the bottom of the bins intended to receive the pots on the sobilier.Mais this method is harmful to the species of plant who dread to be plunged to length of time in a stagnant water. On the other hand in this system the

pots trickle and stain the foodstuffs that the consumer has deposited at the bottom of his cart before the purchase of the plant. A variant in the conditioning of the plants consists in enclosing the plant in a sheet of translucent material impervious to water and This technique has the disadvantage of giving the plant an artificial appearance, which can be detrimental to the sale, the reasons for purchase of the consumer being based on the need. to react to the artificial living conditions of the urban environment.

The distribution of green plants thus comes up against a third type of problem: the maintenance of living organisms at a low cost, without distorting the product! by unskilled staff.

tubes verticaux etant simplement emboités dans des embases cylindriques solidaires de la palette,dont le diametre extérieur est immédiatement superieur ou inferieur au diametre des supports verticaux. The device according to the invention consists in the adaptation on a standard handling pallet of several vertical tubes provided over their entire height and around hooking tetons on which are hanging green plant pots through the pot holder lost packaging designed for this purpose.

vertical tubes being simply nested in cylindrical bases integral with the pallet, the outer diameter of which is immediately greater than or less than the diameter of the vertical supports.

The device results in the juxtaposition on a standard pallet unit of several vertical supports, loaded with a greater or lesser number of plants. These pallet units being standardized, they allow the transport of green plants in unmarked conditions, which induces the the possibility of using all the usual means of transport: road, rail, air and sea, the possibility of carrying out mixed transport (green plant + other commodities), the possibility of transporting plants from the place of production to place of consumption without any manual breakage.

The device on the other hand allowing the juxtaposition on a pallet unit of several independent vertical supports on which the plants are hung, induces that the pallet unit can be used as a display stand for the retail sale of ornamental plants and that In addition to the ability of the vertical supports to rotate on their own thanks to the clutch system, the device allows viewing and gripping of all plants exposed on the pallet unit.

 The device according to the invention also allows the automatic irrigation by simple gravity of all the plants exposed on a pallet unit. The use of the inner tubing of the vertical supports and the hooking tetons as water pipe and the adaptation of the principle of pressure drops, premettent to bring a quantity of water substantially equal in all the points of clashes of the same medium rertical, a quantity of water being poured by means of a simple watering can in the upper opening of the vertical support tube, this water escapes into the hooking nipples thanks to a first perforation intended to create a first loss of load, then thanks to a second perforation made in the hooking nipple itself water escapes from the system in the form of a regular flow jet. The device according to the invention is characterized by the fact that the said water jet is in no way directed towards the location of the plants but on the contrary towards the vertical supports in order to be captured, dribbled and eliminated along the vertical tube by simple gravity.This implies that the impoundment of a vertical support on which no plant is hooked causes the elimination of all the water by runoff along the support without soil of the immediate environment of the one The mere hanging of a plant by means of the pot holder designed for this purpose, can divert the water jet from its initial path and direct it to the plant.

porte-pot est canalisée et divisée en plusieurs parties égales au moyen de rainurages imprimés en creux ou en relief dans la matiere du porte-pot.Les filets d'eau ainsi detreminés et canalisés dans les différent rainurages sont diriges par ruisselement vers des languettesz juxtaposées et indépendantes les unes des autres, et correspondantes chacune à un rai nurage.Cs languettes de forme triangulaire ont leurs bases solidaires du porte-pot et leurs sommets dirigés vers un point ou se situe la plante.The pot holder is a packaging lost packaging adapted to receive a plant and- to allow the attachment to a nipple of a vertical support. It consists of a conical lower part intended to receive the ornamental plant, and an upper part intended to allow the attachment of the assembly to a hooking tee.The upper part off "straps intended to maintain the plant in perfect verticality, has an orifice surmounted by a cone off live fit the nipple.If the end of the cone adapts perfectly to the nipple, its base is determined by a diameter much larger than that of the nipple to facilitate the embedding operation.The cone and the nipple may be of round section but also possibly of square section to reduce lateral oscillations during transport.Le cone has n on its upper side a perforation that coincides Perfectly with the perforation of the hooking nipple once the two recessed elements, to allow the passage of the jet of water which is thus inside the pot-holder.Le said jet of water is then captured by the the upper part of the pot-holder which forms a screen between it is the vertical support. This water taken inside the

pot-holder is channeled and divided into several equal parts by means of grooves printed in relief or in relief in the material of the pot-holder. The nets of water thus deteminated and channeled in the different grooves are directed by streaming towards tabs juxtaposed The triangular shaped tabs have their bases integral with the pot holder and their vertices directed towards a point where the plant is located.

receptacle a pour fonction de collecter l'eau destinée a etre élliminée, dela dirigée vers l'extérieure du porte-pot en un point jouxtant le support vertical sur lequel l'eau ruisselle et s'éllimine.Le dispositif selon l'invention permet donc,a partir d'une quantité d'eau fixe de déterminer des filets d'eau indépendant les uns des autres ,qui selon qu'ils correspondent a une languette ou non sont dirigés vers la plante ou vers le support vertical afin d'etre élli miner;l'importance d'un circuit par rapport a l'autre permet de définir une quantité d'apport spécifique a chaque taille et éspèce de plante. The pulling of one or more langaettes (an operation carried out when the pot is placed in the plant according to pre-established data according to the specific water needs of each species) results in the fact that the water nets determined by the grooves corresponding to the torn tongues instead of being directed towards the planta, fall by gravity into a large receptacle arranged for this purpose under the junction zone of the grooves and tongues.

The purpose of the receptacle is to collect the water intended to be eliminated, directed towards the outside of the pot-holder at a point adjacent to the vertical support on which the water flows and is eliminated. The device according to the invention thus allows from a fixed amount of water to determine water streams independent of each other, which according to whether they correspond to a tab or not are directed towards the plant or to the vertical support in order to be eli The importance of one circuit with respect to the other makes it possible to define a quantity of intake specific to each size and species of plant.

 Figure I showing an overview of the elements constituting the device, Figure 2 showing the system for fitting the vertical supports in the integral bases of the pallet, Figure 3 showing the arrangement of the hooking studs on a vertical support FIG. 4 shows the hooking means of the pot holder, FIG. 5 representing the water circuit in the device, FIG. 6 representing the same circuit seen in section, FIG. 7 showing a lost packaging pot holder, 8 shows the detail of the attachment system and water circuits of the pot holder, Figure 9 showing a diagram of the front view of the water distribution of the pot holder; the appended drawings are given by way of example in a nonlimiting manner.

8 de diamètre intérieur 2,6 cm.The device comprises as represented: a pallet of current handling length I, width 2, height 120 x 100 x I3 on which are nested five vertical supports high of I80 cm 4 spaced between them of 5 of 64 cm 6 of 52 cm 7 of 48 cm.The vertical supports are realized from tubes of 2.4 cm of external dimeter
They are simply nested on the pallet by means of cylindrical bases formed of a vertical tube

8 of inner diameter 2.6 cm.

This tube with a height of IO cm maximum (to allow the stacking of one pallet on the other, once the vertical supports disassembled, the height under floor of a pallet current being of IIcm) this tube is fixed to a plate 9 of 5 cm in diameter, it is even attached to a threaded rod 10 which passes through the floor of the pallet and is locked by means of 1m nut 11. Each vertical support has sixteen hooking studs distributed over the entire height and on When four vertical planes A, B, C, D are defined on the outer surface of a support, each plane will have four pins.The pin 13 of the plane Ā is located 35 cm high relative to to the floor, in order to easily arrange the plants on the surface of the pallet. The nipple I4 of the plane C is opposite to the stick I3 is located 5 cm higher, its distance to the nipple 15 of the plane
B is 20 cm. The nipple I6 of the plan

est opposé au téton I5 et est distant de 5 cm . Les tétons I6 et 17 situes sur le mème plan D sont séparés de 40 cm .Les espaces entre les tétons des différents plans sont similaires sur toute la hauteur d'un support vertical.D

is opposed to the nipple I5 and is 5 cm apart. The pins I6 and 17 located on the same plane D are separated by 40 cm. The spaces between the nipples of the different planes are similar throughout the height of a vertical support.

ou s'inserent les tétons.Ces orifices sont destinés a rréer une premiere perte de charge et a permettre le passage de l'eau, versée dans le support dans les tétons d'accrochage .L'eau ainsi emprisonnée dans un téton s'écha ppe par un orifice 22 de 0,3 cm situé a I;5 cm de la base sur la face sup érieure du téton ,sous la forme d'un jet d'eau créer par la deuxième perte de charge Due a l'orifice du téton.Lenplacement précis de cette perforation permet de diriger éxactement le jet d'eau 21 vers la surface extérieure du support vertical afin qu'il y soit eliminer par simple ruissellement 23
L'eau ainsi éliminée s'evacue par gravité au travers du plancher de la palette mais il est possible de stocker cette eau éxcédentaire si la surface de la palette est recouverte d'un dispositif étanche propre a re eeuillil'eau résiduelle.Each hooking stud I8 is a cylindrical tube 1 cm in diameter and 4 cm in length whose angle of insertion on the support is
450.These nipples can possibly be of square section.i is on these nipples that come hang the pot-holders.
caux are pierced with orifice 20 of 0.3 cm in diameter, located at the location

These holes are intended to create a first pressure drop and to allow the passage of water, poured into the support in the hooking nipples .The water thus trapped in a nipple is released. ppe through an orifice of 0.3 cm located at I; 5 cm from the base on the upper face of the nipple, in the form of a jet of water created by the second pressure drop Due to the orifice of the The precise location of this perforation allows the jet of water 21 to be directed exactly towards the outer surface of the vertical support so that it can be eliminated by simple run-off.
The water thus eliminated is evacuated by gravity through the floor of the pallet, but it is possible to store this excess water if the surface of the pallet is covered with a clean watertight device to collect the residual water.

 The lost packaging pot-holder with a total height of 25cm is composed of two parts: the simple low-shaped wooden part intended to receive the potted plant, its base diameter is 9cm, its height of 11cm and its greater diameter It is 16 cm inside the volume of the lower part a discontinuous collar is crimped perpendicularly at the midpoint of the body of the lower part, this collar being more or less crushed by the pot of the plant introduced into the pot-holder, and perméttantainsi the stabilization of plant pots of different diameters.

The upper part of the pot holder is 14 cm high and forms a dihedral angle with the lower part, this being due to the difference in length of the "braces" for supporting the pot holder. The purpose of this arching of the pot door is to fight against the tendency of suspended plants to tilt outwards by the simple fact of the shaping of pots that camber-tends to maintain ita the plant in perfect verticality.

The upper part I9, which allows the suspension of the assembly to the hooking stud has in its center a perforation of 2 cm in diameter masked by an oblique cone 4 cm long whose diameter at the base is 2 cm and the diameter at the end is 1 cm.Ce cone 24 forming sleeve is embedded on the nipple thus allowing the clamping.

Cecone furthermore has a perforation 25 located on its upper face at 1.5 cm from its base, with a diameter of 0.5 cm, the displacement of which corresponds exactly to the location of the perforation of the hooking stud so that recess the water jet can escape freely from the device
The jet of water breaks on the upper part of the pot-holder forming a screen between him and the vertical support. This jet of water thus diverted from its initial treme burst on the grooves 26; it is divided into several streams of water channeled by the different grooves.

The water streams thus channeled flow by gravity to the tabs 27 located in the axis of the grooves. the grooving is printed intaglio or in relief in the body of the pot holder. In the case of grooving in relief, the thickness of this is 0.2 cm. the general farm grooving and tongues reminiscent of an onion seen in section: the outer groove on the envelope of the onion, the inner grooves in the ecsilles, the point of contact of the jet of water on the plate d inserting the scales and tongues on the top of the onion.

The intervals delimited by the grooving each drain a substantially equal portion of the initial amount of water from the jet of water, it is a set of triagular tongues which makes it possible to direct the streams of water towards the plant. Cbzque tabuette is a yard whose base measures
I cm and the height 4 cm, being attached to the pot-holder only by their bases they are independent of each other, but their direction tend towards the same point :: the center of the pot-pot.The tearing of one or more tongues discovers a large opening 28 of 1 cm high and 4 cm wide, made in the corupp of the pot holder, in which water falls from the grooves corresponding to the tongues torn off.This part of water is located thus directed towards the vertical support or it flows by runoff.

 The device thus described makes it possible, thanks to a contribution of five liters of water per vertical support, to dispense 0.3 L per attachment point in one minute. Each of the sixteen attachment points discharging 0.3 L the removal of Zero, one, two, three or four tongues allow a supply of 0.3 L or 0.23 L or 0, I5 L or 0.075 L OR a zero amount of water to the plant. In average conditions it can be estimated that The addition of five liters of water per vertical support results in a quantity of 2.3 L actually distributed to the plants and 2.7 L eliminated.

 The device can be completed with a peripheral accessor installation of flexible pipes made of PVC outer diameter 2 cm including a main pipe connected to the water distribution circuit of the store. This pipe branches into five secondary pipes whose ends are introduced deep in the vertical supports to bring in one operation the water for the entire pallet unit.

 Finally, it should be noted that because of the independence and the removability of the vertical supports, it is possible to use basic equipment: coabant handling pallets of different categories.

This allows to adapt the importance of the pallet unit to the sales rhythm
shops, given that the I00 x I20 pallet handling
serves as a basis for the description of the invention comprises five vertical supports
allows to expose from fifty to fourteen plants, depending on the size
of those; an 80 x I00 pallet has four supports
which allow the suspension of thirty to sixty plants and finally a pallet of dimension 50 x 30 with a single support allows the exhibition
from seven to fourteen plants.

connues des produits transportés et vendus dans des conténaires ,par exemple les bananes commerciklisées grace a un pool de banana-tainer.The invention as described makes it possible to trivialize the distribution of green ornamental plants, by allowing the entire palletization of the transport, and thus eliminating the handling that is during transbodings or when it is placed on the shelf The device allows the presentation at the retail sale under good conditions. In addition the automatic irrigation system allows a fast and correct maintenance of all the different species by a staff without horticultural qualifications. This allows to consider more particu
the exploitation of the invention in the distribution of the "surface" type. It is possible to envisage, with the object device
of the invention, to distribute the green plants under conditions similar to those

known products transported and sold in contenaires, for example bananas marketed through a banana-tainer pool.

 The device can also be used in all areas where transport, transhipments, handling, maintenance, irrigation and display for sale of live plants are subject to constraints due to non-standardized, fragile * products and products. and in which the vertical stacking offers an interest. In a non-limiting manner the device can be used for the distribution of grafted vine plants in pot as well as all the rooted plants.

Claims (9)

 I. A set of elements to facilitate the physical distribution of ornamental plants consisting of a basic element: a pallet of current handling, on which are nested by means of short cylindrical bases, integral with the pallet, the vertical tubular elements These tubular elements acting as vertical supports are provided over their entire height and circumference, hooking nipples adapted to allow the suspension of green plants thanks to containers-pot lost packaging designed for this purpose. is characterized in that it allows on the one hand, thanks to the possibility that it confers to stack the plants vertically on material of current and standard design (the pallets of handling) which makes it possible to carry out their transport and their physical distribution in This set is characterized on the other hand by the fact that it allows without any modifications, the exposure to the sale in retail store as well as automatic irrigation of plants by a staff without horticultural qualifications, thanks to the possibility offered by the design of vertical supports and pot-holders, to bring from a quantity of average water, the amount of irrigation required for each different type of ornamental plant, by the means of creating a stream of water that tends to be eliminated naturally, the pot-pot diverting a predetermined part towards the plant of this stream of water .  2. A set of elements adapted to facilitate the physical distribution of ornamental plants according to claims I characterized in that on the one hand the arrangement and the multiplicity of hooking studs on a vertical support allow the presentation for sale of plants of Different species and sizes and on the other hand is characterized in that the minimum height of the lowest hooking stud makes it possible to deposit plants on the same floor of the pallet.  3. A set of elements to facilitate distribution  Ornamental plant physics according to claim I characterized in that the assembly is removable and capable of being transported under vacuum in a reduced volume thanks to the racking system of the vertical supports and to the size of the bases that allow stacking l one on the other empty pallets.  4. A set of elements adapted to facilitate the physical distribution of ornamental plants according to claim I characterized in that the means for suspending the plants with the hooking studs is a lost packaging pot-holder adapted to receive plants whose diameter of the pot is more or less important thanks to a discontinuous collar set perpendicularly at mid-height of the interior of the lower and conical part of the pot-holder, whose crushing more or less important tends to fill the gap between the pot and the pot holder; the hooking of the pot holder has a hooking stud being allowed by the embedding of a large perforation made in the body of the upper part of the pot holder

 and surmounted by a cone forming a sleeve, on the nipple, the upper part and the lower part forming a dihedral angle in order to give a camber to the general shape of the pot-holder in order to fight against the tendency which the hanging plants to tilt towards the outside of the axis of attachment.  5. A set of elements to facilitate the physical distribution of ornamental plants according to claim I characterized in that the water poured into the upper orrifice of a vertical support is brought about through the use of the phenomenon of gravity and the principle of hydraulic pressure drops, at each point of attachment in the form of a jet of water which is in no way directed towards the theoretical displacement of the plant but at

 contrary to the outer surface of the vertical support in order to be eliminated by free runoff from the immediate environment, which would be detrimental to the flowering plants.  6. A set of elements to facilitate the physical distribution of ornamental plants according to claims 4 and 5 characterized in that the simple attachment of a pot holder to a hooking nipple allows to divert the water jet of his initial path, the upper part of the winnowing pot-holder interpose between the surface of the vertical support and the water jet during embedding.  7. A set of elements to facilitate the physical distribution of ornamental plants according to claim 6 characterized in that the jet of water from a hooking nipple and diverting from its initial path is captured and divided into several nets d water substantially equal in volume, by means of a groove printed hollow or raised on the inner face of the upper part of the pot holder and whose center is the insertion zone of the cone hooking.  8. A set of elements suitable for facilitating the physical distribution of the ornamental plants according to claim 7, characterized in that the grooving printed inside the pot holder has the shape of the longitudinal section of an upside-down onion: the groove The outer surface of the onion envelope, the internal grooves on the scales, the point of contact of the water jet on the scale insertion tray.  9. A set of elements suitable for facilitating the physical distribution of ornamental plants according to claim 8, characterized by the presence, in the extension of the grooves, of tabs secured to the pot-holder by the base, of triangular shape whose apex is directed

 to the same point in the center of the volume of the pot holder. The purpose of each tab is to drain the stream of water from a groove and direct it by gravity and runoff to the plant deposited in the pot holder.  IO. A set of elements adapted to facilitate the physical distribution of ornamental plants according to claim 9 characterized in that the tearing of one or more tongues reveals a large orifice made in the body of the upper part, in the extension of groove ges, whose purpose is to drain the water thread or nets from the grooves with the tongue was torn off, and eliminate them out of the pot holder to the surface of the vertical supports so that they are removed by runoff.