GB2335395A - Planting aid - Google Patents

Abstract

A planting aid comprises a barrow having two wheels 6 at the front, handles 4 which are adjustable in height to permit users of varying height to maintain the barrow pan 1 horizontal in use and rear support legs 2 for maintaining the pan inclined to the horizontal when resting upon the legs. The pan 1 has one or more partitions (10, Fig 3) and can accommodate seed trays (8,9) and plant pots on its floor. A tool tray (11, Fig 4) and one or more plant trays (12) for accommodating seed trays are supported by the top edges of the pan 1.

Description

1 PLANTING AID 2335395 This invention relates to a planting aid comprising

a harrow and fitments to facilitate the garden transport and planting out of a quantity, of y, oung plants and the garden transport and planting of older plants in plant pots and containers.

0 Bar-rows are commonly used for carrying plants, tools, fertiliser, etc to the area of a garden or park where they are to be planted Two common forms are the traditional wheelbarrow and the'garden centre' trolley. The wheelbarrow is not primarily suited for the function because the pan shape is not suited to standing plants upright, because when the handles are lifted the pan contents tend to be thrown to the front of the pan where all items placed in the pan become jumbled together ivith risk of damage and because when at rest the loaded barrow has limited stability and is liable to tip since it has only, three point support. The'garden centre' trolley has two wheels centrally placed with anti tipping stays at each end which restricts its manoeuvrability, in a garden environment, is primarily suited to paved areas and usually has no sides. An annual task in many gardens and parks is the planting out of many so-called 'bedding plants' and on other occasions the planting of more mature plants grown on in the nursery, in larger plant pots or similar containers Young plants are commonly supplied in 'seed trays' which closelyr conform to a standard size. The present invention is specifically' intended to assist in these tasks by the safe carriage of an appropriate number of such plants either in seed tray.s or plant pots and the tools and materials needed for their planting in domestic gardens or in parks and to assist the gardener in the planting process. With its fitments removed the barrow may, be used for other general gardening purposes and is particularly suited to the carriace of hover mowers and llszht. buikv items such as leaves and grass cuttings.

According to the present invention there is provided a planting aid comprising a harrow and fitments, the barrow chassis with handles adjustable in height such as to permit users of varying height to maintain the barrow. body or pan [hereafter called a pan] approximately, horizontal in use, two wheels mounted approximately at the full width of the chassis at the front, rear support legs of such height as to maintain the pan inclined by, a small amount below the horizontal at the rear when resting upon the legs, a pan of such dimensions and shape as to accommodate seed trays and plant pots on the pan floor, one or more pan partitions, a tool trayf located at the top portion of the pan and one or more plant trays sized to accommodate seed trays located at the top portion of the pan.

A specific embodiment of the invention will now be described by way, of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which 0 Figure 1 shows a side view, showing the range of handle heights against a wale; Figure 2 sbows four front views showing alternative wheel locations', 1) Figure 3 shows side and plan views of tile pan showing the partition and seed tray locations; Figure 4 shows two plan views of the pan showing alternative tray locations over the partition.

Referring to Fig. 1 the barrow is shown with its pan 1 horizontal ' in this position the rear support feet 2 fixed on both sides of the chassis 3 are approximately SOmm off tile groundThe height of the handles is adjustable by means of sliding the hadle parts 4 over the chassis uprights 5 and locating them in position by means of inserting pin through the handles 4 into appropriately spaced holes in the uprights 5 or other suitable locating device. The range of handle heights available and indicated generally, against the scale in Fig. 1 is taken from published ergonomic data and allows over 95% of the population to choose a handle height such that when a person lifts the handles at normal full arm reach the rear support feet 2 are approximately 50mm clear of the ground. Trials have shown that this clearance is adequate for manoeuvring the barrow in typical garden ground conditions. When the user so chooses the correct handle height, the pan is a proximately, horizontal and plant pots and other articles 0 p placed in the pan are in a stable attitude.

Referring to Figs 1, 2 and 3 the pan 1 has a flat base or floor and straight, flat, front, rear and side panels. The side and rear panels are inclined at an angle to the floor such as to permit plant pots to be placed against them for support and stability, an angle of 12. 5 de rees to the 9 ertical Is appropriate for the majority of plant pots. The front panel of the pan is at a larger anole to the vertical than the sides and rear panels, typically 25 degrees, to facilitate tipping C) and with the trays and partition removed the barrow may be used for general purposes. The barrow is particularly suited to the carriage of light, bulky, garden material such as leaves and 0 0 grass clippings,,v-Ithout spillage over the front panel because of its approximately horizontal 1 0 pan attitude in use.

Referring to Fig 2a the two wheels 6 are shown mounted outside the chassis frame on stub axles together with an axle 7 mounted between the chassis members. Alternative arrangements are shown in b, c and d which confer progressively less stability but which users may, choose to adopt because of constraints such as path widths. The different configurations b, c and d are achieved by removing 'snap on' spacers (spacers not shown), moving the ",heels along the axle 7 as desired and replacing the spacers appropriately whereas to change configuration a requires the stuh axles and axle to be unbolted from the chassis [bolts not shown] The preferred positions of the wheels are either a or b since both these positions confer sufficient stability to the harrow to fulfil at least two functions - the first is to ensure that when a heavy item such as a relatively mature plant in a plant pot or container or bag of fertiliser etc is placed in a front corner of the pan 1 the barrow does not tip over and damage the plant and other contents. the second is to assist the gardener in risincy from the kneeling position usually, adopted in planting by utilising the edge of pan 1 as a support of sufficient security that the gardener may press down with as much force as necessary 3 Referring to Fig. 3 the pan 1 is shown in plan and elevation. The dimensions of the pan floor are determined by the functional requirement to accommodate the seed tray 8 and the two seed trays 9 in the positions shown in outline with adequate clearance to allow for handling. typical seed trays being 380mm long by 230mm wide by SOmm deep or less. A removable partition 10 is shown located in vertical slots in the side of the pan 1 such that in this configuration the rear portion of the pan floor is able to accommodate commonly used plant pots having angled sides In particular, when the plant pots are placed against the partition 10 they are prevented from tipping over due to jolts resultant from the forward movement of the barrow over the garden surfaces. The position of the partition 10 is such that the seed trays 8 and 9 can still be accommodated when it is in place as shown. The functions of the partition 10 are twofold, firstly to separate volumes of the pan such that with delicate plants in position of the two seed trays 9, heavy items such as bags of fertiliser may be substituted for the seed tray 8 without risk of damage to the plants, secondly at the planting site the partition 10 may be removed from the pan 1 and used as a kneeling pad by, the gardener when planting.

Referring to Fig. 4 the tool tray 11 and the plant tray, 12 are shown in two arrangements. The tool tray 11 has side panels at the same angle to the floor of pan 1 as those of tile sides of pan 1 and supports or brackets (not shown) which fit all pan edges. Thus the tool tray may, be placed in any, transverse position at the top of the pan 1 unless the partition 10 is in its location in the pan 1 in which case positions where it would foul the partition 10 are not possible. In particular the tool trail 11 may be alway's be located adJacent to either the front or rear panel of pan 1 dependent on the location of the plant tray, 12. The tool tray 11 is divided into two unequal parts, the larger being sized to accommodate a hand trowel and a hand fork, these C being the tools most commonly used in planting bedding plants. The smaller part is adequate to contain packets of seeds and other small items such as ties which may be required to be kept separate from damage by the larger tools. The tray base is perforated to allow drainage of any rainwater. The plant tray, 1 -1 I's supported by the side edges of the pan 1 only and can be located in any, transverse position on the pan 1 regardless of whether the partition 10 Is in place or not since it has adequate clearance over the partition 10, the plant tray 12 being supported in such a manner that it only, sits into the pan 1 for a part of the tray depth. The plant tray, 12 together with seed trays and plants may, be lifted out and placed on the ground at the planting site, giving access to the contents of the pan 1 as required. The tray base is perforated to allow drainage of any rainwater. A total of five seed trays of young plants can be carried at once if the three lower positions in the pan 1 and the two positions in the plant tray 12 are all utilised An alternative embodiment is generally similar to that described above but has the chassis and pan extended and an additional plant tray provided so that an additional four seed trays of young plants may be carried, a total of nine. This design is suitable for professional gardeners working in parks, large gardens and estates where planting out work is on a larger scale than in domestic -ardens.

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Claims (1)

1 ' A planting aid comprising, a barrow and fitments. the barrow chassis with handles adjustable in height such as to permit users of varlying height to maintain the barrow body or pan [hereafter called a pan] approximately horizontal in use. two wheels mounted approximately, at the full width of the chassis at the front, rear support legs of such height as to maintain the pan inclined by a small amount below the horizontal at the rear when resting upon the legs, a pan of such dimensions and shape as to accommodate seed trays and plant pots on the pan floor, one or more pan partitions, a tool tray located at the top portion of the pan and one or i-nore plant trays sized to accommodate seed trays located at the top portion of the pan.

A planting aid as claimed in Clairn 1 wherein the height ranee of handle adjustment is sufficient to cover 90111 of the Eurasian population as determined by published ergonomic data.

3. A planting aid as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein the two wheels are mounted on an axle and may. be varied in position.

4. A planting aid as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein the planting aid is of stability and strength adequate to be used as support by a user getting up from a kneeling position 5- A planting aid as claimed in Clainns 1.2.3 and 4 wherein the pan partition(s) are kneeling pads.

6. A planting aid substantially as described herein with reference to Figures 4 of the accompanying drawings.

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