WO1988000006A1

WO1988000006A1 - Flower pot

Info

Publication number: WO1988000006A1
Application number: PCT/GB1987/000465
Authority: WO
Inventors: Leonard Sharples
Original assignee: Sharples, Martin, John; Haigh, Meryll
Priority date: 1986-07-02
Filing date: 1987-07-02
Publication date: 1988-01-14
Also published as: GB2218610B; GB8830376D0; GB2218610A

Abstract

Double walled flower pot (10) made of plastics material and comprising an inner pot-shaped liner (11) having provision (22) for drainage in its base (12) and intended to receive a plant, an outer sleeve (13) of plastic material which is detachably mounted on the inner liner (11) so as to define an annular space (14) into which a greetings or other card can be located, and a saucer (19) detachably coupled with the base (12) of the inner liner (11).

Description

FLOWER POT

This invention relates to a double-walled flower pot made of plastics material and which comprises an inner pot- shaped liner having provision for drainage in its base and an outer sleeve mounted on the inner liner.

The invention has been developed primarily with a view to enable the purchaser of a flower pot (usually with a chosen plant therein) to incorporate his own selected card or greeting with the flower pot so as to "personalise" the giving of the flower pot as a gift. The card may be selected to bear any suitable printed or hand-written message, or may be a chosen picture as desired.

Given that many potted plants are purchased as gifts, there is a significant commercial potential available to anyone who can design a flower pot in such a way that it can readily incorporate a selected card for display at the choice of the purchaser at the point of sale. It is with this in mind that the present invention has been developed. Accordingly, the present invention provides a double- walled flower pot made of plastics material and comprising an inner pot-shaped liner having provision for drainage in its base and intended to receive a plant, and an outer sleeve mounted on the inner liner so as to define therebetween an at least part annular space into which a card can be located, in which: the outer sleeve is transparent at least in a portion thereof which overlies said space so that a card located therein can be viewed; the outer sleeve is detachably mounted on the inner liner to permit introduction of the card into said space; and a saucer is detachably coupled with the base of the inner liner. Thus, in use of the flower pot, a customer may make a selection at the point of sale of the particular type or design of card to be introduced into the space between the transparent portion of the outer sleeve and the inner liner, and the card can then readily be located in position when the outer sleeve is coupled with the inner liner. The customer is therefore readily able to obtain a

"personalised" gift of a potted plant.

Conveniently, the entire outer sleeve is moulded from clear plastics material, and the space for the card may be a complete annular space so that a card or greeting can be introduced that is wrapped around the entire periphery of the inner sleeve.

The inner liner will usually be frusto-conical in shape, and converging towards its base, in which case the outer sleeve will be similarly shaped and adapted to be fitted over the inner liner by first passing over the base thereof.

Preferably, the outer sleeve has snap-fitting engagement with the inner liner and conveniently this takes place along what will normally be the upper edge of the inner liner and the outer sleeve i.e. the edges at the ends remote from the base of^"the inner liner.^"

The snap-fitting engagement may be provided by interfitting lugs and recesses which snap-fit with each other as the outer sleeve moves relatively to its fully assembled position. This snap-fitting engagement may comprise circumferentially spaced slots formed in an upper rim of the inner liner, and outwardly projecting lugs on the upper edge of the outer sleeve. The lower edge of the outer sleeve is preferably inturned, so as to engage with the outer periphery of the inner liner, thereby to prevent the card from dropping out of the space, and also to resist any tendency for ingress of water. To further assist in preventing water penetration of the interspace between the liner and the sleeve, it is preferred that the upper edge of the saucer, when assembled with the inner liner, is at a lower level than the lower edge of the outer sleeve so that, even if the saucer fills with water draining from the flower pot, there will be no risk of water migration to the card located in the interspace.

As a safeguard against water penetration from splashes by careless watering, the lower edge of the outer sleeve may have an outwardly extending lip which is shaped to promote the shedding of water falling onto the outer surface of the outer sleeve.

The detachable coupling of the saucer to the inner liner may take any convenient form, but in one preferred arrangement the saucer has at least one upstanding projection which is capable of being located in a matching hole formed in the base of the inner liner.

Given that the base is provided with means for drainage, coveniently a series of drain holes is arranged in the base equal in number to at least one more than the number of projections on the saucer, so that there will remain at least one hσle available for drainage purposes, with the remainder occupied each by a respective projection. Thus, in a preferred arrangement, three projections are provided on the saucer and equi-spaced from a central point of the saucer, and a circular array of six holes is formed in the base of the liner and radially spaced from the centre of the circle by the same distance as the spacing of the projections from the central point of the saucer. Therefore, upon assembly, each projection can fit in a respective hole, thereby leaving three unoccupied holes available for drainage purposes.

One embodiment of double-walled flower pot according to the invention will now be described in detail, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig 1 is a side view of a double-walled flower pot of plastics material according to the invention; Fig 2 is a plan view of the flower pot;

Fig 3 is a section taken on A-A in Fig 2; and

Fig 4 is a view from below a saucer on which the flower pot is mounted.

Referring now to the drawings, a double-walled flower pot according to the invention is designated generally by reference 10 and comprises an inner pot-shaped liner 11 having provision for drainage in its base 12 and intended to receive a plant (not shown) and accompanying soil or other suitable medium, and an outer sleeve 13 mounted on the inner liner 11 so as to define therebetween an at least part annular space 14 into which a card can be located. The card may be selected from any suitable range of cards available, including greetings cards, pictures and the like, and cards on which personal messages can be inscribed.

The outer sleeve 13 is transparent in at least a portion thereof which overlies the space 14 in which a card

* is located so that the latter can be viewed from externally of the flower pot. However, for convenience, in the illustrated embodiment the outer sleeve 13 is moulded entirely of transparent plastics material, and defines a complete annular space 14 within which the card can be located.

The outer sleeve 13 is detachably mounted on the inner liner 11 in order to permit introduction of the card into the space 14, this being achieved by a snap-fitting arrangement at the upper edges of the inner liner 11 and the sleeve 13 in the form of circumferentially spaced slots

15 formed in an upper rim 16 of the inner liner 11, and outwardly projecting lugs 17 on the upper edge of the outer sleeve 13. This enables a snap-fitting interengagement which will normally take place after selection of a card, and mounting of the card in the space 14.

The lower edge 18 of the outer sleeve 13 is inturned, 5 so as to engage with the outer periphery of the inner liner 11, thereby to prevent the card from dropping out of the space 14, and also to resist any tendency for ingress of water.

A plastics saucer 19 is detachably coupled with the

10 base 12 of the liner 11, and serves both as an. attractive mounting for the flower pot, and also to retain any excess water draining from the flower pot following watering.

To assist in preventing water penetration of the space 14 between the liner 11 and the sleeve 13, it can be seen

15 from Figs 1 and 3 that the upper edge 20 of the saucer 19, when assembled with the inner liner 11, is at a lower level than the lower edge 18 of the outer sleeve 14 so that, even if the saucer fills with water, there will be no risk of water migration to the card located in the space 14.

20 As a safeguard against water penetration of the space from splashes by careless watering, the lower edge 18 of the outer sleeve 13 also has an outwardly extending lip (not shown) which is shaped to promote the shedding of water falling onto the outer surface of the outer sleeve

25 13.

The detachable coupling of the saucer 19 to the inner liner 11 comprises at least one upstanding projection provided on the base of the saucer, and a matching hole formed in the base 12 of the liner. In the illustrated

30 embodiment, three upstanding projections 21 are provided on the saucer base, and a circular array of six holes 22 is formed in the base 12 at suitable spacings so as to permit the three projections 21 to be inserted into any one of three selected arrangements of three of the holes, thereby 5 leaving three of the holes 22 available for drainage purposes

Claims

1. A double walled flower pot (10) made of plastics material and comprising an inner pot-shaped liner (11) having provision (22) for drainage in its base (12) and intended to receive a plant, and an outer sleeve (13) mounted on the inner liner (11) so as to define therebetween an at least part annular space (14) into which a card can be located; characterised in that: the outer sleeve (13) is transparent at least in a portion thereof which overlies said space (14) so that a card located therein can be viewed; the outer sleeve (13) is detachably mounted on the inner liner (11) to permit introduction of the card into said space (14) ; and a saucer (19) is detachably coupled with the base (12) of the inner liner (11) .

2. A flower pot according to Claim 1, characterised in that the outer sleeve (13) is moulded from clear plastics material, and a complete annular space (14) is defined between the inner liner (11) and the outer sleeve (13) so that a card or greeting can be introduced and which is wrapped around the entire periphery of the inner liner (11).

3. A flower pot according to Claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the inner liner (11) is frusto- conical in shape and converges towards its base (12), the outer sleeve (13) being similarly shaped and adapted to be fitted over the inner liner (11) by first passing over the base (12) thereof.

4. A flower pot according to any one of Claims 1 to 3, characterised in that the outer sleeve (13) has snap- fitting engagement with the inner liner (11) .- 5. A flower pot according to Claim 4, characterised in that the outer sleeve (13) is snap-fitted to the inner liner (11) by means of interfitting lugs (17) and recesses (15) at the upper edges of the sleeve (13) and the liner

(11).

6. A flower pot according to any one of Claims 1 to 5, characterised in that the lower edge (18) of the outer sleeve (13) is inturned to retain the card and to resist possible ingress of water.

7. A flower pot according to Claim 6, characterised in that the upper edge (20) of the saucer (19), when assembled with the inner liner (11) is at a lower level than said lower edge (18) of the outer sleeve (13).

8. A flower pot according to Claim 6 or 7, characterised in that the lower edge (18) of the outer sleeve (13) has an outwardly extending lip to promote water shedding.

9. A flower pot according to any one of Claims 1 to 8, characterised in that the saucer (19) is detachably coupled with the base (12) of the inner liner (11) by means of at least one upstanding projection (21) received by a corresponding hole (22) in the base (12) of the inner liner

(11).

10. A flower pot according to Claim 9, characterised in that there are more holes (22) than projections (21) so that the surplus holes can serve for drainage purposes.