JP2012217344A - Horticultural scoop - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a horticultural scoop that can easily dig a hole in which a seedling or a bulb is planted in a horticultural operation.SOLUTION: The horticultural scoop 1 comprises two scoop parts 4 equipped with a handle 2 and a blade 3 that is continued to the handle 2 and has a circular arc cross-sectional shape in a plane perpendicular to the longer direction in which the scoop parts are rotatably connected through a pivot 5 at a boundary part of the handle 2 and the blade 3 while the concaves of the blades 3 are mutually opposed. The two scoop parts 4 are each biased in a direction to close the blades 3 by a biasing member. When the tips of the two blades 3 are contacted, the two handles 2 are mutually opened.

Description

  The present invention relates to a gardening scoop that can easily dig a hole for planting a seedling or a bulb in a gardening operation.

  In order to dig holes for planting seedlings and bulbs in horticultural work, various scoops such as one-handed scoops, cylindrical replanting devices, and the like are used.

  An example of such a device is what is called an American scoop. The American scoop is an instrument in which two scoops are opposed to each other in a bellows shape, and a portion close to the base of the handle, that is, the vicinity of the boundary between the blade and the handle is rotatably connected. The connecting portion is not energized, and the two scoops open and close when force is applied by the user's hand. Two connected scoop handles are operated with both hands, the blade is opened by closing the handle, and the blade is closed by opening the handle.

  When inserting an American scoop blade into the soil, close the handle and open the two blades in parallel. When two blades that are parallel are inserted into the soil, the handle is opened and the blade is closed, the soil is sandwiched between the two blades. When the American scoop is pulled out in this state, the soil is pulled out while being sandwiched between the two blades, so that a hole can be dug locally. Such an American scoop is used when digging relatively large holes in hard ground.

  As another example of the device, as in the invention described in Patent Document 1, the upper ends of two scoops are connected by a handle, and the two scoops are connected by a belt below the handle. There is a transplant scoop. As for this scoop, two scoops are parallel in normal condition, and a blade is inserted in soil by pushing a handle in this state. And when the blade is inserted into the soil, grasp the belt and handle, pull the scoop out of the soil as if the belt is pulled up, the two scoops are elastically deformed and closed between the blades. It is pulled out while the soil is caught, and a hole can be dug. Such horticultural transplant scoops are used when digging relatively small holes in soft ground.

JP 2004-154111 A

  In the above-mentioned American scoop and the transplanting scoop for gardening described in Patent Document 1, since the force that keeps the distance between the two blades does not work in the state where the two blades are parallel, the two blades are grounded in this state. When inserting the blade, the blade is not kept parallel, and the blade may not be inserted smoothly.

  Further, the above-mentioned American scoop is for digging a relatively large hole and needs to be operated with both hands, so it is not suitable for digging a large number of small holes for transplanting seedlings or the like into a flower bed or the like. Furthermore, the transplanting scoop for gardening described in Patent Document 1 grips only the handle when inserting the blade into the soil, but it is necessary to grip both the handle and the belt when pulling the blade out of the soil, so it must be changed during the work. There is no workability to dig a large number of holes.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and when inserting the blade, a force to keep the two blades parallel by gripping the handle works to keep the two blades parallel and smoothly insert them into the soil. An object of the present invention is to provide a gardening scoop that can be easily digged with a small force so that it can be handled with one hand without changing the handle.

  The present invention has two scoop portions provided with a handle and a blade having an arcuate cross-sectional shape in a plane orthogonal to the longitudinal direction provided continuously with the handle, and the concave surfaces of the blades are opposed to each other. On the other hand, the scoop for horticulture is rotatably connected via a shaft at the boundary portion between the handle and the blade, and the two scoop portions are each urged by the urging member in the direction of closing the blade, and the urging force The most important feature is that the two handles are open to each other when the tips of the two blades are in contact.

  According to the horticultural scoop according to the present invention, when inserting the blade, the two blades are kept parallel to each other by grasping the two handles, and can be inserted into the soil in this manner. When pulling out the blade, the urging force acts in the direction of closing the blade, so the blade can be closed simply by weakening the gripping force while holding the two handles, and the soil is held between the two blades. Can be pulled out. Therefore, even when the blade is inserted into the soil or pulled out from the soil, it can be handled with one hand without changing the handle, so that a large number of holes can be efficiently dug in a short time.

It is a perspective view which shows the Example of the scoop for gardening which concerns on this invention. It is a side view of the said garden scoop. It is a perspective view which shows the aspect which the said Example operated against the urging | biasing force. It is a front view which shows another Example of the scoop for gardening which concerns on this invention. It is a front view which shows another Example of the gardening scoop which concerns on this invention, (a) shows the state in which the handle was opened and the blade was closed, and (b) shows the state in which the handle was closed and the blade was opened. It is a front view which shows another Example of the scoop for gardening which concerns on this invention.

  Embodiments of a gardening scoop according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  The horticultural scoop 1 according to the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 has two scoop portions 4 in which a handle 2 and a blade 3 are continuously provided, and a shaft 5 at a boundary portion between the handle 2 and the blade 3. It is the structure connected so that rotation was possible.

  The scoop portion 4 is created by press-molding a metal plate, and has a semicircular cross section. Near the center of the scoop portion 4 in the longitudinal direction, the cross section is U-shaped, and a shaft hole (not shown) is provided near the center, and two shafts are inserted by inserting the shaft 5 into the shaft hole. The parts 4 are connected to each other so as to be rotatable. When both the handles 2 rotate around the shaft 5 in a direction approaching each other, that is, in a closing direction, both the blades 3 open to each other. Conversely, when both handles 2 are opened, both blades 3 close to each other.

  The handle 2 has a long plate-like metal plate that is curved so that the cross-sectional shape, that is, the cross-sectional shape in a plane orthogonal to the longitudinal direction is a semicircular arc, is gently waved in the longitudinal direction. A member formed into a shape. In the state where the two scoop portions 4 are connected as described above, the two handles 2 have the concave surfaces facing each other. The garden scoop 1 is constricted at the center in the length direction when viewed from a direction perpendicular to the surface on which the handle 2 and the blade 3 are opened and closed. The edge of the end portion 21 of the handle 2 has an arc shape when viewed from the side surface shown in FIG. The user can easily grip the handle 2 by gripping both handles 2 at the constricted portion, and can effectively apply a force when inserting the blade 3 into the soil. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, when the end portions 21 of both the handles 2 are in contact with each other, the outer edge thereof is positioned on a smoothly continuous arc surface.

  The blade 3 is provided continuously with the handle 2 and is formed by bending a long plate-shaped metal plate so that a cross-sectional shape in a plane orthogonal to the longitudinal direction is an arc shape having a larger diameter than the handle 2. It is a member that is curved in a substantially square shape at a position close to the direction axis 5. The width of the blade 3 (the dimension in the left-right direction in FIG. 2) is wider than the width of the handle 2. The blade 23 is divided into two parts with the above-mentioned curved portion as a boundary, and a portion on the shaft 5 side is a base end portion 31 and a tip side portion is a distal end portion 32. The proximal end portion 31 and the distal end portion 32 have the same width except that the vicinity of the handle 2 of the proximal end portion 31 and the vicinity of the distal end of the distal end portion 32 are tapered. Three slits 33 are formed in the distal end portion 32 in the longitudinal direction. By forming the slit 33, the resistance received from the soil when the blade 3 is inserted into the soil is reduced.

  A shaft hole is provided at the boundary between the handle 2 and the blade 3. The two scoop portions 4 are rotatably connected via a shaft 5 inserted into the shaft hole.

  A coil spring 6 as an urging member is attached to the shaft 5. One end of the coil spring 6 is in contact with the inner surface of the handle 2 of the one scoop portion 4, and the other end is in contact with the inner surface of the handle 2 of the other scoop portion 4. Accordingly, the coil spring 6 opens the two handles 2 and biases the two blades 3 in a direction in which no external force is applied to the gardening scoop 1.

  When the user uses the gardening scoop 1 according to this embodiment, the constricted portion formed by the two handles 2 is squeezed and the handle 2 is closed against the urging force of the coil spring 6. . When the two blades 3 are opened by this operation, the end portions 21 of the handle 2 come into contact with each other, and the operation of the blade 3 is restricted so that the blade 3 does not open any more.

  In a state where the user grasps and tightens the two handles 2 and the movement of the two blades 3 is restricted by the contact of the end portions 21 of the handles 2, the tip portions 32 of the two blades 3 are parallel to each other. Therefore, the resistance from the soil applied to the blade 3 when inserting the gardening scoop 1 into the soil is minimized, and the insertion can be performed smoothly. At this time, when the user keeps gripping the handle 2, the force to keep the tip portions 32 of the two blades 3 parallel to each other when the gardening scoop 1 is inserted into the soil continues to act. Even when receiving, the tip 32 can be kept parallel.

  When the two blades 3 are inserted into the soil and the user loosens the gripping force of the handle 2, the two blades 3 are closed by the urging force of the coil spring 6 and sandwich the soil between the two blades 3. By pulling out the gardening scoop 1 in this state, the soil is pulled out together, and a hole can be easily dug in the soil. At this time, since the user does not need to change the handle 2 and can handle it with one hand, the work can be performed quickly, and the workability of digging is improved. Therefore, the gardening scoop 1 according to the above-described embodiment can be suitably used when digging a large number of holes in creation of a flower bed or the like.

  Moreover, the gardening scoop 1 which concerns on the Example mentioned above can be used suitably also when digging a hole in the soft plantation land with few mixing of a stone etc. other than a flower bed, or the soil in a planter. In particular, when the blade 3 is inserted into the soil, the tip portions of the two blades 3 can be kept in parallel, so when replanting some plants in the planter, other plants growing around Root cutting can be minimized. Also, since the soil in the hole is pulled out when digging a hole, even if new seedlings are put in the hole, the increase in the amount of soil in the planter can be effectively suppressed, and the soil suitable for watering Can keep the quantity.

  In order to dig a hole effectively, after inserting the blade 3 into the soil, the blade 3 is pulled out while holding the handle 2, and rotated 90 degrees, for example, when viewed from the direction in which the blade 3 is inserted, and then again the blade It is better to release the handle 2 after inserting 3 into the soil. By doing so, the soil is cut out in a cylindrical shape in advance, and the soil can be easily pulled out.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various aspects can be adopted. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the handle 2 may have a wave shape at a portion gripped by the user's hand. Even in such a shape, the user can easily grip the handle 2 and can effectively apply a force when the blade 3 is inserted into the soil.

  In the embodiment described above, the end portion 21 of the handle 2 has a semicircular arc shape. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and as shown in FIGS. The end 21 may be substantially planar. By adopting such a mode, even when the user closes the two handles 2 and the hand is caught by the end 21 of the handle 2, the end 21 contacts the user's hand over a wide area. As a result, it is possible to effectively prevent the user from being injured.

  Moreover, as shown in FIG. 6, you may form the edge part 21 of the two handles 2 by the substantially planar plane part 22 and the convex part 23 which protruded from the substantially center part of the plane part, respectively. In a state in which the handle 2 is closed and the end portions 21 are in contact with each other, a predetermined gap is formed between the two flat portions 22 by the contact between the two convex portions 23. As a result, even when the user closes the two handles 2, a predetermined gap is formed between the plane portions 22, so that the user is not caught and the user is effectively prevented from being injured. I can do it.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Garden scoop 2 Handle 21 End 3 Blade 4 Scoop 5 Axis 6 Coil spring

Claims (4)

Two scoop portions provided with a handle and a blade having an arcuate cross-sectional shape in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal direction provided continuously with the handle, while making the concave surfaces of the blades face each other, A horticultural scoop that is rotatably connected via a shaft at a boundary portion between the handle and the blade,
The two scoop portions are each urged in a direction to close the blade by an urging member, and the two handles are open to each other when the tips of the two blades are in contact with each other by the urging force. Gardening scoop.   The horticultural scoop according to claim 1, wherein the movement of the blade is restricted by the end portions of the handle contacting each other in a state where the blades of the two scoop portions are opened in parallel.   The gardening scoop according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the end portions of the two handles have flat surfaces. In the state where the end portions of the two handles are formed from a convex portion projecting from the flat portion and the central portion of the flat portion, and the blades of the two scoop portions are opened in parallel, respectively. The horticultural scoop according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the movement of the blade is restricted by the protrusions of the handle coming into contact with each other.

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