Abstract:
A support bracket for mounting on a support wire includes a resilient U-shaped member having mutually orthogonal partial loops formed at the distal ends thereof. The legs of the U-shaped member lie in planes which diverge by an acute angle and which intersect through the base of said U-shaped member.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/096,842 filed Aug. 18, 1998 and Canadian Patent Application No. 2,258,727 filed Jan. 14, 1999, titled Irrigation Line and Plant Support. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to the field of devices used in orchards or the like for releasably supporting a plant sapling or like immature growth against a rigidly mounted supporting wire and in particular to resilient clips or clamps or brackets adapted for supporting such plants against rigid support wires where such devices may be employed to also support irrigation lines generally parallel to the support wire. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Saplings or like immature plants in an orchard typically have to be supported and irrigated. It is known in the prior art to use a single generally horizontal line of heavy gauge high-density wire rigidly supported between spaced apart generally vertical poles. Plastic hooks or clamps are releasably suspended from the horizontal line of heavy gauge high-density wire to support sapling trunks generally vertically. It is known in the prior art to use plastic clips for releasably mounting saplings to the horizontal wire line. However, such plastic clips do not display the versatility of the supporting device of the present invention and typically due to harsh weather environments have a relatively high failure rate and must be seasonally replaced. 
     Canadian Patent No. 967,750 which issued May 20, 1975 to Zelinka for a Clip for Plant and Vine Line Suspension is one example of an attempt in the prior art to support a growing immature plant from a horizontal support line. Zelinka teaches using a generally rectangular sheet body having a plurality of transversely disposed line engaging slots formed in the body. The spaced apart slots cooperate to grip a vertical supporting line frictionally when the line is woven through the slots in the sheet body. It is neither taught nor suggested to provide a resilient supporting bracket which may be releasably mounted directly on to the horizontal supporting line. 
     In the prior art, applicant is however aware of a supporting bracket which is mounted onto a horizontal wire so as to support the wire adjacent a generally vertical member. In particular, applicant is aware of Canadian Patent No. 299,197 which issued Apr. 8, 1930 to Davidson for a Wire Securing Clip. Davidson discloses a U-shaped clip provided with loops for securing fence wires to fence posts. The loops are provided at the distal ends of the generally U-shaped clips and, once the clip is positioned around a fence post so as to extend the distal ends of the clip over the fence wire, the loops may be bent so as to wrap around the wire thereby securing the wire against the fence post. What is neither taught nor suggested is to provide a generally U-shaped clip or bracket having the spacial orientation of the present device whereby the ends of the device may be releasably secured to a supporting wire by resiliently deforming the clip rather than by bending of the ends of the clip so as to wrap the ends of the clip around the wire. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is a support bracket for mounting on a support wire. It comprises a resilient U-shaped member having mutually orthogonal partial loops formed at the distal ends thereof wherein the legs of the U-shaped member lie in planes which diverge by an acute angle and which intersect through the base of the U-shaped member. 
     In particular, the support bracket of the present invention for mounting on a support wire includes a generally U-shaped resilient member. The U-shaped member has a base segment, and a first leg extending from a first end of said base segment to a distal end of said first leg. The U-shaped member also has a second leg extending from a second end of said base segment, wherein the second end of the base segment is opposite said first end of said base segment. A first loop is formed at said distal end of said first leg. A second loop is formed at said distal end of said second leg. 
     The said first loop, said first leg, and at least a portion of said base segment lie generally in a first plane. The said second loop and said second leg lie generally in a second plane. The said second leg and at least a portion of said base segment lie generally in a third plane. The said first and third planes are generally orthogonal to said second plane. The said first and third planes intersect along a line of intersection generally co-extensive with at least a portion of said base segment. The said first and third planes are disposed at an acute angle relative to each other so as to define an acute angle of divergence therebetween. 
     The said second loop is formed so as to lie outside of an area between said first and third planes swept out by said acute angle of divergence. The said first loop has a first gap therethrough in proximity to said first leg for passing a support wire into said first loop. The said second loop has a second gap therethrough in proximity to said second leg for passing said support wire into said second loop. The first loop may thus be hooked over said support wire, so that said support wire is in said first loop. This leaves the U-shaped member depending from said support wire. The U-shaped member may then be rotated in a first direction of rotation into a support wire first engaging position wherein said support wire is in contact with opposite interior sides of said first loop. The U-shaped member may then be further rotated in said first direction of rotation from said support wire first engaging position into a support wire second engaging position by resilient bending of said U-shaped member to hook said second loop over said support wire. The support wire is thus resiliently urged against an interior side of said second loop. 
     Advantageously, said first and second legs are generally parallel and generally linear, and said base segment is generally linear. The acute angle of diversion may be approximately 20 degrees. The first and second loops may be generally circular. The U-shaped member may be made of heavy gauge wire. 
     Further advantageously, said first loop is sized so that, in said support wire first engaging position, said U-shaped member must be resiliently bent so as to further rotate said U-shaped member in said first direction of rotation into said support wire second engaging position. In addition to the first loop being sized sufficiently small, advantageously the acute angle of diversion is also sufficiently small so that, in said support wire first engaging position, said U-shaped member must be resiliently bent so as to further rotate said U-shaped member in said first direction of rotation into said support wire second engaging position. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is, in front elevation view, a plant supported by the supporting bracket of the present invention. 
     FIG. 1 a  is an enlarged view of the supporting bracket of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 1 b  is, in plan view, the supporting bracket of FIG. 1 being installed onto a wire. 
     FIG. 1 c  is, in plan view, the supporting bracket of FIG. 1 b  installed onto the wire. 
     FIG. 2 is a section view along line  2 — 2  in FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 3 is, in front elevation view, the supporting bracket of the present invention. 
     FIG. 4 is a right side elevation view of the supporting bracket of FIG.  3 . 
     FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the supporting bracket of FIG.  3 . 
     FIG. 6 is, in top plan view, a supporting bracket of the present invention being installed onto a support suspend an object therefrom. 
     FIG. 7 is, in top plan view, the completed installation of the supporting bracket of FIG. 6 onto the support wire. 
     FIG. 8 is, in front elevation view, the installation of the support bracket of FIG.  6 . 
     FIG. 9 is, in front elevation view, the completed installation of the supporting bracket of FIG.  7 . 
     FIG. 10 is a section view along line  10 — 10  in FIG.  9 . 
     FIG. 11 a front elevation view of a sprinkler suspended from a support wire by the supporting bracket of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     As may be seen in FIGS. 1,  1   a  and  2 , the supporting bracket  10  of the present invention may be releasably clipped onto a generally horizontal support wire  12 . Supporting bracket  10  is generally U-shaped and has a base segment  14  and first and second legs  16  and  18 , respectively, extending generally perpendicularly from base segment  14 . The distal ends of first and second legs  16  and  18  terminate in first and second formed loops  20  and  22  respectively. Base segment  14 , first leg  16  and second leg  18  define therebetween a tree supporting space  24 . Thus, tree  26  may be supported against support wire  12  by supporting bracket  10  when supporting bracket  10  is releasably clipped onto support wire  12 , as better described below so as to retain tree  26  within tree supporting space  24 . 
     First formed loop  20  is spatially oriented generally at 90° to the orientation of second formed loop  22 . That is, a first plane P 1  containing first formed loop  20 , first leg  16  and base segment  14  orthogonally intersects a second plane P 2  incorporating second formed loop  22  and second leg  18 . In FIGS. 3-5, the first plane may be thought of as being parallel to a sheet of paper containing FIG. 3, and the second plane may be thought of as parallel to a sheet of paper containing FIG.  4 . 
     As better understood from FIGS. 4 and 5, the spacial orientation of first and second legs  16  and  18  also define a generally V-shaped divergence, advantageously approximately cumulatively 20°, illustrated by reference angle α as 10° on either side of a center vertical axis A. Angle α extends between first plane P 1 , and a third plane P 3  containing base segment  14  and second leg  18 . In FIG. 4, the first and third planes may be thought of as extending out of the sheet of paper containing FIG.  4  and defining therebetween angle α about a common line of intersection L along linear base segment  14 . 
     Advantageously supporting bracket  10  is made of between 11.5 and 12.5 gauge high-density high tensile class II or III galvanized wire. Depending on the size of the object to be supported within space  24 , in one preferred embodiment base  14 , first leg  16  and second leg  18  may be between  55  and  75  millimeters in length. To allow for construction of support bracket  10  by radius bending of linear stock of high density wire, in one preferred embodiment the elbows  28  between base segment  14  and the legs are bends having  10  millimeter radii and the formed loops are bends having 6.625 millimeter radii. These dimensions are not intended to be limiting but rather illustrative of one preferred embodiment which applicant has determined may be resiliently clipped onto a heavy gauge linear support wire to support plants and irrigation pipes therethrough, for example irrigation pipes of ¾ inch-1 inch PVC piping. It has been found that angle α is, as illustrated, advantageously 20°, although tolerances of plus or minus 2-4° may also be employed. Gaps  30  are left when forming first and second formed loops  20  and  22  so that the formed loops may be hooked over supporting wire  12  upon installation of supporting bracket  10  onto support wire 1.2 as seen in FIGS. 6-10. 
     FIGS. 6-10 illustrate how mounting bracket  10  is releasably clipped onto support wire  12 , in particular, the resilient clipping of second formed loop  22  onto support wire  12  so as to support irrigation line  32  suspended beneath support wire  12 . As seen in FIG. 6, supporting bracket  10  is initially translated in direction B from its initial position shown in dotted outline so as to hook first formed loop  20  over support wire  12  thereby extending base segment  14  underneath an elongate object be supported such as irrigation pipe  32 . In that position, irrigation pipe  32  is cradled within supporting space  24  between first and second legs  16  and  18  respectively. With irrigation line  32  so cradled, supporting bracket  10  may be rotated from its position shown in dotted outline in FIG. 7, in direction C, so as to bring second formed loop  22  into proximity to support wire  12 . In so doing, irrigation line  32  is brought into adjacent parallel relationship with support wire  12  and second formed loop  22  may then be hooked over support wire  12  by passing support wire  12  through corresponding gap  30  in loop  22 . The radius dimension of first formed loop  20  as described above, in combination with the perpendicular relation between first formed loop  20  and second formed loop  22  results in supporting bracket  10  having to be slightly resiliently deformed in order to hook second formed loop  22  over support wire  12  as supporting bracket  10  is rotated in direction C. This resilient deformation results in the first and second formed loops being resiliently biased into frictional engagement with support wire  12 , keeping in mind that, although support wire  12  is also typically of high density heavy gauge wire, support wire  12  is relatively rigidly tensioned so as to extend generally linearly between supporting posts. Being heavily tensioned, support wire  12  does not appreciably deform when support bracket  10  is mounted thereon. 
     When supporting bracket  10  is oriented so as to align the eyelets formed by first formed loop  20  and second formed loop  22  co-linearly with support wire  12 , the divergence (at angle α) between first leg  16  and second leg  18  causes base segment  14  to be skewed by angle β relative to support wire  12 , as better seen in FIGS. 7 and 10. As seen in FIG. 10, skewing base segment  14  forms irrigation line supporting space  34  between first leg  16 , second leg  18 , and base segment  14 . This allows support bracket  10  to cradle irrigation line  32  parallel to support wire  12 . 
     With irrigation line  32  cradled within irrigation line supporting space  34  so as to rest on base segment  14  suspended below support wire  12 , sprinkler heads  36  or the like as seen in FIG. 11 may be mounted to irrigation line  32 . Sprinkler head  36  may then be draped over base segment  14 ′ so as to be cantilevered outwardly. With line  32  supported by bracket  10 , a second bracket  10 ′ is placed over the upper surface of line  32  by resting first and second legs  16 ′ and  18 ′ over the upper surface of irrigation line  32 . 
     Thus it will be appreciated that the supporting bracket  10  of the present invention provides a simple economical means of supporting saplings and other plants against supporting wires and also a means for supporting irrigation pipes up off the ground and out of harms way. Supporting bracket  10  may be readily installed onto supporting wire  12  in a cost efficient and time efficient manner which is important in an orchard because of the many of such supporting brackets which are required. The supporting bracket  10  of the present invention advantageously allows for resiliently biased spring clip mounting of the supporting bracket onto the supporting wire  12  so that the supporting bracket  10  frictionally engages the supporting wire and is thus not easily dislodged longitudinally along the supporting wire. As described above, the spring clip mounting is accomplished by the approximately 90° offset between the formed loops at the distal ends of the supporting bracket, the size of one of the loops, and the angular offset of the first and second legs relative to each other about the axis of the base segment  14 . 
     When manufactured as described above, the supporting bracket of the present invention provides for relatively easy and rapid mounting of the brackets onto the supporting wire, and conversely the easy and rapid removal of the brackets from the supporting wire without the requirement for tools. As compared to plastic clips in the prior art, the supporting bracket of the present invention does not exhibit similar deterioration due to exposure to the environment. The frictional engagement of the supporting bracket to the support wire makes the supporting bracket of the present invention well adapted for use on steep hillsides and windy locations where otherwise prior art clips may slip longitudinally along the support wire. 
     As will be apparent to those skilled in the art in the light of the foregoing disclosure, many alterations and modifications are possible in the practice of this invention without departing from the spirit or scope thereof. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is to be construed in accordance with the substance defined by the following claims.