GB984404A - Process and apparatus for growing plants, bacteria and similar bacteria and similar living organisms - Google Patents

Abstract

A process for the cultivation of a product in the form of plants, bacteria or similar organisms, comprises moving the product under cultivation vertically up and down along a serpentine path for at least part of its journey on an endless belt or belts, and supplying the product with nutrient substances. Plants, planted on screens, in clay or synthetic plastic containers 36, Fig. 4, or on turf or moss carriers, are conveyed around endless loops 18, Figs. 1 and 2, or on a series of loops 18, Fig. 3, being transferred from one to the next by a transfer device 52, and they are dipped into nutrient solutions 16 of various compositions during their looped circuits. Plants, cuttings or seeds may alternatively be supported in absorbent substances such as humus 48, Fig. 5, capable of holding the requisite nutrient solutions. The loops may comprise belts, chains, screening, netting or rope ladders with detachable rungs to which the containers are attached and the transfer device may consist of pivoted grips which remove bars 39, Fig. 4, of containers from one set of cables 38 and hook them on to another. In one embodiment, seeds are developed in seedling boxes 58, Fig. 8, slowly carried forward on a belt 56, healthy seedlings are planted in pots or buckets and attached (54) to a serpentine conveyer 18, and <FORM:0984404/C6-C7/1> <FORM:0984404/C6-C7/2> <FORM:0984404/C6-C7/3> <FORM:0984404/C6-C7/4> <FORM:0984404/C6-C7/5> <FORM:0984404/C6-C7/6> <FORM:0984404/C6-C7/7> <FORM:0984404/C6-C7/8> thriving plants ar transferred into larger containers which are attached to a further serpentine conveyer 18; and at the discharge point 55 the ripe plants are harvested and placed in a delivery belt 57 for final collection; suitable climatic conditions are maintained in each of the chambers 231 and 50. The procedure diagrammatically illustrated in Fig. 3 is applied in a greenhouse 1, Fig. 6, of width 6-20 metres and height 8-50 metres supported on a steel tubular or sectioned frame and carrying glass or transparent plastic sidewalls 2. The plants are subjected to suitable conditions for growth produced by fresh air entering through openings 5 past flaps 8, fresh and recirculated air circulated by fans 11 across Venetian blinds 12, heating/cooling elements 10 and flaps 17, and nutrient solutions 16 into which the plants are dipped. Destructive cultures of bacteria, fungi or other pests formed in the course of time may be removed by charging the tanks for nutrient solutions with hot water. In order to prevent drops of the solution falling from a bucket 36 into the bucket underneath, the bottom of each bucket has a deflector blade 37 or, alternatively, the belts 18 are inclined towards the top of the greenhouse. The greenhouse is covered by two flaps 3 which pivot about a common support 4, and is provided with a further fan 28 and heating/cooling elements 29 for gaseous circulation across the vertical wall 38, and with electric illumination 39. An air-conditioned transparent operations room 23 contains a travelling working bench 27. Coloured water or oil trickles down the walls 2 from reservoirs 30 and is returned through a unit 32, in which it is cleaned, processed and, if necessary, cooled or heated, and then pumped by a pump 33 back to the reservoirs. The greenhouse may be constructed integrally with or exteriorly to the stairway of a house, &c., Figs. 11 and 12 (not shown) the belts being embellished with angles, triangles or multi-point stars to enhance the decorative effect, or arranged around a factory chimney 45, Fig. 13, rollers 46 enabling the greenhouse 40 to be always directed towards the sun.