U.S. patent number 3,852,912 [Application Number 05/285,879] was granted by the patent office on 1974-12-10 for shipping and carrying container for pots.
Invention is credited to Kenneth Diller.
United States Patent |
3,852,912 |
Diller |
December 10, 1974 |
SHIPPING AND CARRYING CONTAINER FOR POTS
Abstract
An assembly for use in shipping or carrying potted plants
includes a plurality of rigid pots, a flat having a bottom and four
upright side walls which are preferably slightly outwardly inclined
and provided with an upper peripheral lip, and a flat flexible
spacer plate apertured to snugly receive a plurality of the pots
and arranged so that the pots engage all four side walls of the
flat to thereby fix the spacer plate relative to the flat. The pots
held in the spacer plate may be so spaced as to provide supports
for additional pots which extend only partially through the spacer
plate and are provided with circumferential shoulders for support.
The combination forms a rigid structure which will not twist, sag
or bend under normal handling conditions.
Inventors: |
Diller; Kenneth (Jordan,
MI) |
Family
ID: |
23096080 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/285,879 |
Filed: |
September 1, 1972 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
47/84; 206/423;
206/499; 47/39; 206/488; 428/23 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A01G
9/028 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A01G
9/02 (20060101); A01g 009/02 () |
Field of
Search: |
;47/34,34.11,34.12,34.13,39,1.2 ;206/46PL,65R,65C,65K
;224/45R,45AB,45AC,45G,46T,46R,48R,48F,48C ;211/74,76 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1,351,218 |
|
Dec 1963 |
|
FR |
|
1,413,806 |
|
Nov 1964 |
|
FR |
|
1,000,377 |
|
Nov 1949 |
|
FR |
|
535,074 |
|
Feb 1955 |
|
BE |
|
Primary Examiner: Bagwill; Robert E.
Assistant Examiner: Eickholt; E. H.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Dawson, Tilton, Fallon &
Lungmus
Claims
I claim:
1. In a shipping and carrying container for potted plants made of
sheet plastic having a thickness of about 0.040 inch or less, the
combination comprising: a plurality of rigid pots, such having a
sidewall of inverted frusto-conical shape; a flat having a bottom
and only four generally flat, upright peripheral sidewalls, each
terminating in an upper peripheral edge and being slightly
outwardly inclined from the vertical, all of said upper edges lying
in a common plane; and a spacer plate comprising a flat sheet of
plastic defining a plurality of apertures for slidably receiving
said pots, each aperture being sized to snugly engage a pot
received therein, said apertures being further sized and arranged
such that pots received therein engage all four sidewalls of the
flat and a plurality of pots engage and partially rest on the
bottom of said flat while maintaining snug peripheral engagement
with the edge of their associated spacer apertures to thereby fix
the spacer plate and the pots relative to said flat, said spacer
plate being dimensioned to extend beyond and rest on the upper
peripheral edges of said sidewalls of said flat and to partially
transmit the weight of pots received therein to said sidewalls of
said flat when said flat is distorted to maintain said upper edges
of said sidewall of said flat in said common plane; the inclination
of said sidewalls of said flat being approximately the same as the
inclination of the sidewall portions of said pots which engage them
to provide an extended upright engagement location between the
outer surface of said pot sidewall portions and the inner surface
of said sidewalls of said flat.
2. The combination of claim 1 wherein each of said pots is
generally circular in horizontal cross section and the side walls
thereof are tapered so that the circumference increases proceeding
from the bottom thereof to the top.
3. The combination of claim 1 wherein said apertures in said spacer
plate are arranged in three rows including two outer rows arranged
such that when pots are placed in apertures in said outer rows,
said pots will engage opposing upright side walls of said flat, and
an intermediate row offset relative to said outer rows, said
intermediate row of apertures including an end aperture extending
beyond the end apertures of the outer rows and adapted to receive a
pot in engagement with an upright end wall of said flat.
Description
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a shipping container for potted
plants. Normally, plants such as geraniums which are grown
commerically, are grown in pots of standard size (typically having
a diameter of about 4 and 1/2 in.). They are grown on a wholesale
scale prior to their being shipped for retail sale. The amount of
space allotted each individual plant during growing is greater than
that which is allotted each plant during shipping--that is, it is
desirable to move the plants into more compact relation to conserve
space for shipping. It is also desirable to be able to handle a
number of the potted plants during shipping.
Heretofore, when a number of potted plants have been placed into a
conventional flat formed from thin plastic sheet material and
provided with bottom ribs, the flat has sagged in the middle under
the weight of the plants, thereby creating an unstable carrier and
one which, in addition to sagging, had a tendency to twist at
diagonally opposite corners. Further, the pots themselves were
unstable, having a tendency to fall over in the flat as its bottom
sagged and also having a tendency to be knocked over during
transportation or carrying.
Hence, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide
an assembly which facilitates the carrying of a plurality of potted
plants, and one which remains rigid during handling and
transporting. The invention provides for a flat spacer plate, a
plurality of rigid pots having slightly tapered side walls, and a
conventional plastic flat. The spacer plate is dimensioned to
extend beyond the side walls of the flat so that when it is placed
over the flat, it will rest on the upper edges of the side walls.
The spacer plate is also provided with a plurality of apertures
formed to snugly receive the pots. The apertures in the spacer
plate are also arranged so that the pots engage all four side walls
of the flat. Thus, the spacer plate and the pots are fixed relative
to the flat, and the entire assembly forms a rigid carrier for the
pots. It has been found that the combination will not twist, sag or
bend under normal handling and transporting conditions, even though
the pots are fully loaded with a growing medium.
In a preferred embodiment, there are three rows of apertures with
the center row being offset relative to the other two rows, and the
apertures are closely spaced to each other so that at least some of
the pots in the center row are supported by pots in adjacent rows
and do not even touch the bottom of the flat. Thus, a dozen or so
potted plants may be shipped in a relatively compact space and in a
rigid assembly that will insure against tipping of any of the
plants during handling and transportation.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be
apparent to persons skilled in the art from the following detailed
description of a preferred embodiment accompanied by the attached
drawing wherein identical reference numerals will refer to like
parts in the various views.
THE DRAWING
FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a shipping container for pots
constructed according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a fragmentary plan view showing the pots held in the
apertured spacer plate;
FIG. 3 is a plan view of the spacer plate;
FIG. 4 is a vertical cross sectional view of the portion of the
assembly showing an empty side pot received in the spacer plate;
and
FIG. 5 is a vertical transverse cross sectional view taken through
the sight line 5--5 of FIG. 1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Referring first to FIG. 1, there are three principal elements to
the assembly which comprises a shipping and carrying container for
potted plants. The first element is a conventional flat generally
designated by reference numeral 10. A flat spacer plate 11 is
supported by the upper edge of the side walls of the flat 10, and
it is apertured to receive the third element--namely, the pots
themselves, each of which are generally designated by reference
numeral 12. The pots 12 are identical, and they may be of
conventional configuration, also, such as is shown in FIGS. 4 and
5. As seen there, each of the pots 12 include a generally flat
bottom 13, an upright side wall 14 which is slightly tapered so as
to form an increasing circumference toward the top of the pot, an
upper peripheral shoulder 15, and an upper side wall portion 16 of
expanded diameter.
The pot 12 may be made of any suitable plastic or other fairly
rigid material so as to resist deflection or deformation under
normal use conditions. A typical size for the pot 12 if it is used,
for example, to grow geraniums, is the so-called 4 1/2 inch pot,
which indicates that the diameter taken at the uppermost edge of
the expanded upper wall portion 16 is approximately 4 1/2 inch.
Such pots are typically apertured at the bottom to provide
drainage, and they may or may not contain supporting feet extending
from the bottom 13 so as to lift the bottom slightly above any flat
surface that the pot may be placed on to permit drainage.
As best seen in FIGS. 1, 4 and 5, the flat 10 includes a ribbed
bottom 18, first and second relatively long upright side walls 19
and 20, and first and second end walls 21 and 22. The walls 19-22
are inclined slightly outwardly and at an angle approximately equal
to the taper of the side wall 14 of the pots 12. Thus, the pots,
when they are placed against the side walls of the flat, will
engage those side walls along a line. At the upper edge of the side
walls of the flat, there is formed a generally horizontal lip 23,
the outer edge of which is provided with a down-turned flange
24.
Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3, the spacer plate 11 includes a
plurality of apertures 25 for receiving the pots 12 in snug
engagement.
Referring to FIG. 3, the embodiment shown therein is designed to
carry 12 individual potted plants, and the 12 apertures 25 are
arranged into three separate rows of four, designated respectively
R1, R2 and R3. It will be observed that the center row R2 is offset
somewhat so as to conserve space.
The overall dimensions of the apertured spacer plate 11 are
slightly larger than the corresponding dimensions of the peripheral
lip 23 of the flat 10 so that when the spacer plate is placed over
the flat 10, it will rest on the lip 23, as seen in FIGS. 1, 4 and
5. The diameter of the apertures 25 are designed so that when the
pots 12 are inserted, they are snugly received, as illustrated in
FIG. 4. Further, the spacing of the apertures 25 in rows R1 and R3
is such that the pots, when placed in their associated apertures,
will engage the two longer side walls 19, 20, of the flat, and that
two lower apertures 25 (as seen in FIG. 3) will not only engage the
side walls 19, 20, but will also engage the common end wall 21. The
uppermost aperture 25 in row R2 is placed such that when it
receives a pot 12, the pot will engage the side wall 22 of the flat
10. Thus, the pots 12 will engage all four side walls of the flat.
The function of this is to stabilize and fix the apertured spacer
plate 11 relative to the flat 10. Obviously, some of the pots could
be removed in the intermediate positions in the rows R1 and R3 as
well as in the lower positions in the row R2 to achieve the same
effect. As best seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the pots received in the
three right-hand apertures in row R2 are supported on the upper
edges of adjacent pots by means of their shoulders 15. The
apertures in which they are received are correspondingly reduced so
as to again snugly engage the outer surface of these pots for their
insertion depth.
In operation, potted plants are preferably first inserted in the
lower two corner apertures (as viewed in FIG. 3) of the rows R1 and
R3 as well as in at least one other aperture in each of these rows.
A fifth pot, when placed in the upper aperture in row R2 will
stablize the entire assembly. Additional pots may be filled in as
needed.
The spacer plate 11 is preferably formed from polystyrene plastic,
and it may be stamped from a sheet of such material having a
thickness of 0.040 inch. The thickness could be varied while
continuing to practice the invention, although, as a general rule,
I prefer to use thinner, rather than thicker sheets of plastic.
I have found that the above-described combination forms a rigid
carrying or transporting container for potted plants, as
distinguished from the prior practice of merely loading the plants
into a container. Such an arrangement buckled the center of the
flat, caused it to sag, and resulted in tilting and falling of the
pots and spilling of some of the contents thereof.
I have found that best operation is achieved if the apertures 25
snugly engage the entire periphery of a pot for the depth to which
that pot is inserted. Surprisingly, I have found that the
combination when thus arranged exhibits a true rigidity which
otherwise is not found simply with a flat and pots because the
weight of the pots causes the center of the flat to sag, and it is
difficult to transport the flat.
It appears to me that one of the most important factors in the
successful operation of the present invention is the fact that the
pots engage all four inner surfaces of the upright side walls of
the flat. This tends to stabilize the pots and spacer plates
relative to the flat. Secondly, by having the pots snugly engaged
in the apertures of the spacer plate, the location of the pots is
fixed, and this in cooperation with the side wall engagement
mentioned above, fixes all three elements relative to each other.
Thus, a more uniform loading distribution is achieved, and this
aids in a more stabilized combination.
Finally, it has been hypothesized, although I do not intend to so
limit the invention, that part of the weight of the pots may be
borne by the spacer plate and, due to the close proximity of some
of the pots to the upright side walls of the flat, this weight is
transmitted to those walls. Any load which is thus transmitted to
the lip 23 would confine that lip to being located in a horizontal
plane which would tend to achieve a more rigid structure and one
which resists buckling.
At any rate, the redistribution of the loading and the stressing of
the sides appear to have significant advantage in achieving the
desired results. As mentioned, this is accomplished by maintaining
contact with the bottom of the flat or tray while, at the same
time, arranging the apertures to snugly receive their associated
pots while simultaneously engaging all four upright sides of the
flat.
Having thus described in detail the preferred embodiment of my
invention, persons skilled in the art will be able to modify
certain of the structure which has been illustrated and to
substitute equivalent elements for those disclosed while continuing
to practice the principle of the invention; and it is, therefore,
intended that all such modifications and substitutions be covered
as they are embraced within the spirit and scope of the appended
claims.
* * * * *