GB2385504A

GB2385504A - A device for removing weed plants from the soil

Info

Publication number: GB2385504A
Application number: GB0201578A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Ivan William Butters
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2002-01-24
Filing date: 2002-01-24
Publication date: 2003-08-27
Anticipated expiration: 2022-01-24
Also published as: GB2385504B; GB0201578D0

Abstract

A hand tool with a handle fitted with two or more prongs 19 which engage with the plant in the soil. The prongs are loosely mounted allowing both lateral and axial movement. In use the device is pushed into the soil with the prongs either side of the plant. The operator rotates the handle, causing the prongs to effectively grip the weed, and pulls on the tool to remove the plant from the soil. A further embodiment is described in which a hand operated lever 27 attached near to the handle connects to the prongs by a cable 25. Lifting of the handle sets up tension in the cable causing the prongs to be moved into a relatively rigid or non-moving position. The prongs may have grooves around the cylindrical shaped body, or grooves lengthwise along the structure. They may have pointed or rounded tips.

Description

DESCRIPTION PLANT-REMOVER FIELD OF INVENTION This invention relates to garden tools used to remove unwanted weeds and plants from growing areas especially from difficult to access areas e. g. under thorns, shrubs, fences and near ponds.

DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ARTS There are several different devices for removing plants from growing areas examples are the fork, hoe, rake, spade and trowel all of different lengths most of these tools are cumbersome and difficult to use in said areas and cannot pullout and pickup weeds and plants without the operator having to kneel, squat or crawl in said areas.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION This present invention consists of a cylindrical pole with a handle at the top end of the pole and a rectangle shaped hook joined on to the bottom end of the pole with three movable grooved prongs fixed onto the bottom of the rectangle hook. This new device can grip the plant stems above the ground or can be pushed into the ground to grip the roots below the surface. This invention uses a unique method to remove weeds, plants or grass by using the three moving prongs on the hook which when placed each side of a stem or roots of a plant the handle is then rotated causing the moving prongs to wrap around each other and the stem or roots effectively gripping them tight, by further rotating and pulling the handle the whole plant structure can be removed from the ground with little effort. Large weeds can be removed by downwardly penetrating the soil around the roots with the prongs and then using the above method plus the hook. The operator can remove the plant from the prongs by hand or by tapping the prongs onto the top of a wastebin.

The main object of this present invention is to provide a means to remove the whole plant structure of weeds and plants from difficult to get at areas e. g. under thoms, shrubs, hedges and near or in ponds as well as easy accessable areas.

Another object of this invention is to provide a lightweight garden tool that elderly and disabled people as well as ablebodied people can use to help them enjoy the pleasures of gardening.

Still another important object of this invention is to make gardening less arduous and to help prevent possible back problems by enabling the operator to use this device while remaining in an upright stance. It can also be used sitting down. A main advantage of this invention is you can avoid getting your hands and clothes dirty.

A final object of this invention is to provide a lightweight device which can remove the whole plant structure including the roots to help eliminate regrowth therefore providing an alternative to using harmful chemicals also to provide means to remove and pickup plants and litter and use prongs to downwardly penetrate and turn the earth for cultivation and arenating as well as other possible optional uses.

Those and other objects, advantages and features will become readily apparent on inspection of the accompanying drawings and descriptions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. 1 illustrates a front view of the plant remover.

FIG. 2 illustrates a view of the hook of the plant remover with the moving prongs overlapping a plant after rotation.

FIG. 3 illustrates a front view of the hook and prongs of the plant remover.

FIG. 4 illustrates a side view of the hook and prongs of the plant remover FIG. 5 illustrates a view of the hook and prongs of the plant remover FIG. 6 illustrates a view of the handle and pole of the plant remover.

FIG. 7 illustrates a top view ofpredrilled prong holes in the hook of the plant remover.

FIG 8 illustrates a front view of the hook of the of the plant remover showing the angles of the predrilled prong holes.

FIG. 9 illustrates a bottom view ofpredrilled prong holes in the hook of the plant remover.

FIG. 10 Illustrates a front view of the cable operated prongs in the untensioned position.

FIG 11 Illustrates a front view of the cable operated prongs in the tensioned position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring to FIG. I the preferred construction of the cylindrical pole 10 is to be of a sturdy lightweight material possibly wood, plastic coated aluminium or other suitable material. The preferred length of the pole is at least 130cm for an upright posture but can be shorter in length for keeling work or longer in length for clearing weeds from ponds and rivers. The diameter of the pole 10 is between 25mm to 35mm Referring to FIGS. 1 and 6 the handle grip 11 is preferably to be made of a strong soft plastic or rubber material, is of a cylindrical grooved shape, about 15cm in length with a sphere shaped soft top 12 to protect hands when prodding the roots etc, and secured to the top end of the pole 10 by strong glue.

Referring to all the drawings the hook 14 is to be rigidly secured to the lower end 13 of the pole 10.

The hook 14 is of a rectangular shape and preferably made of hard metal. On the end of the hook 14 is a blunt V shaped notch 17 up to 25mm deep to help remove large plants.

Referring to FIGS 7-9 three prong holes are drilled into the bottom of hook 14 at specific angles see 20, 21,22 and 23 to allow the prongs 18,19 to cross over each other as shown in FIG 2. Specific size and angles of the rectangle hook prong holes are dependant on the diameter and length of the prongs.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3 the prongs 18,19 are to be made of hard metal with cylindrical shaped body, grooved all round to help grip plants and have pointed tips to help penetrate hard soil for aerating, cultivation and easy assess to roots. The tips of the prongs may also be rounded to help prevent pond liners being damaged. The prongs 18,19 can also be grooved lengthwise to create sharp edges for cutting twigs. The prongs 18,19 are secured to the bottom of hook 14 through the predrilled holes 20 with hemisphere shaped or other type of spaced stoppers 15,16 The prongs are to move freely within the angled holes of the hook 14 up and down approximately 2mm and all around at specific angles to allow overlapping. With three prongs the two outer prongs 19 are preferably at least 8cm in length and the central prong 18 being lcm shorter. With the central prong 18 being shorter the area between the two outer prongs 19 is large enough to allow the operater to place the prongs each side of the stem or roots of a plant with minimum effort. The diameter of the prongs is preferably 0. 5mm-0. 75mm, the prongs are in line with each other and preferrably I cm apart, the middle prong 18 is to be in line with the pole 10. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 describing the operation of the plant remover, the operator grasps the handlegrip 11 and pole 10 of the plant remover and push the prongs 18, 19 each side of a stem at an angle of around 45 degrees, the central prong 18 will move left or right of the stem, the handlegrip 11 and pole 10 are then rotated clockwise or counterclockwise, the prongs will then cross over each other and the stem therefore gripping the stem tight, further rotation and pulling will force the plant from the earth. Optionally the plant remover may have just two prongs fitted, for using on lawns to remove weeds with minimum disturbance to the surrounding grass.

Referring to FIGS. 10 and 11 which show details of a cable operated version of the plant remover. With the addition of a cable operating tension lever the operater can straighten the prongs when the requirement occurs for either releasing the weed or item to be removed from the soil, or when the requirement occurs to pierce the soil. Referring to FIGS. 10 and 11 describing the operation of the cable operated version of the plant remover, with the hand grip lever 27 in the untensioned position the prongs 19 remain loose and untensioned as the cable is in the untensioned position. With the cable tensioned by operating the lever 28 the prongs are pulled by a tensioning yoke 24 attached to the inner cable and in doing so tension and uncouple the prongs allowing the prongs to penetrate the soil or remove the weed foliage which will have been entangled and gripped by the loose overlapping prongs. The cable 25 is inserted through the main operating handle, this will allow free access for the operator to rotate the complete handle and prongs for weed removing. The inner cable protrudes through the main handle with the outer sheath retained in the handle. The inner cable is then attached to the yoke 26 and retained.

It is clear that alterations and changes may be made to this device while still retaining its essential characteristics and features of patentable novelty involved as stated and claimed in the documents provided.

Claims

1. A hand-held garden fork tool comprising a shaft with a handle region at one end and carrying at its other end two or more relatively loose fitting spaced-apart elongate prongs, each of which has a limited axial freedom of movement combined with a similarly limited lateral freedom of movement, and each of which can move independently of the movement of the or each other prong so as to tend to entangle with the roots of a plant as the fork is first thrust into the root cluster and then twisted about its shaft axis.

2. A garden tool as in Claim 1 wherein the moving prongs are so sized, shaped and given sufficient freedom of movement as to be able to cross over each other as the shaft is twisted.

3. A garden tool as in either in Claims 1 and 2 with the prongs augmented one or more hooks or notches protruding from the prong region.

4. A garden tool as in any of Claims 1,2 and 3 wherein one or more of the prongs are shaped with grooved and/or ridged surfaces to provide a better grip-

5. A garden tool as in Claim 4 wherein one or more of the prongs have sharpened edges for cutting.

6. A garden tool according to Claim 5 when dependent on Claim 4 and in which the sharpened edge is provided by one or more grooves running lengthwise of the prong.

7. A garden tool as in any of Claims 1 to 6 wherein there are three prongs and the middle prong of the three is shorter than the two outer prongs.

8. A garden tool according to any preceding claim further comprising:

a control mechanism operable at or adjacent the handle portion and moveable between two positions, a prong-relaxed position and a prong-tensioned position and enabling the operator to use the garden tool with the prongs being in either a freely moving orientation or a relatively rigid, restricted or non-moving orientation.

9. A garden tool as in any preceding Claim wherein the handle grip region is ball-ended.

10. A garden tool substantially as described herein with reference to and as illustrated in any appropriate combination of the accompanying text and drawings.

Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows CLAIMS

1. A hand-held garden fork tool comprising a shaft with a handle region 1011 at one end and carrying at its other end two or more relatively loose fitting spaced-apart elongate prongs, each of which has a limited axial freedom of movement combined with a similarly limited lateral freedom of movement, and each of which can move independently of the movement of the or each other prong so as to tend to entangle with the roots of a plant as the fork is first thrust into the root cluster and then twisted about its shaft axis.

3. A garden tool as in either in Claims 1 and 2 with the prongs augmented 3. A garden tool as'ii I 1 1 ta 4 MT. e OF more hoolor notchprotruding from the prong region.

4. A garden tool as in any of Claims 1, 2 and 3 wherein one or more of the prongs are shaped with grooved and/or ridged surfaces to provide a better grip.

8. A garden tool according to any preceding claim further comprising :

a control mechanism operable at or adjacent the handle portion and moveable between two positions, a prong-relaxed position and a prong-tensioned position and enabling the operator to use the garden

tool with the prongs being in either a freely moving orientation or a t relatively rigid, restricted or non-moving orientation.