Balcony greenhouse

A movable greenhouse construction adapted for use on a balcony or a patio having means for moving the greenhouse laterally parallel to the building wall containing a balcony door or patio door to permit direct access from the building to the interior of the greenhouse. After use, the movable greenhouse can be moved laterally out of the way to free the balcony or patio door for unobstructed access from the building to the balcony or patio and flush with the exterior of the building structure or closed balcony or patio door.

This invention pertains to a movable greenhouse and relates more 
particularly to a balcony or patio greenhouse or the like adapted to be 
laterally movable relative to the balcony or patio door whereby the 
movable greenhouse is easily accessible from inside the building through a 
balcony patio door or other building opening for maintenance, enjoyment or 
other use but is adapted to be moved laterally free of the balcony or 
patio door or other building opening during non-use. 
Portable greenhouses are known as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,068,421 
wherein a centrally supported half-dome greenhouse is secured to a patio 
floor adjacent to a patio door. In similar manner, U.S. Pat. No. 3,562,972 
and U.S. Pat. No. 4,018,213 each disclose a lean-to type greenhouse 
adapted to be secured to a building wall. Free standing greenhouses are 
shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,812,616; 2,869,561; and 4,057,941. However, such 
prior art greenhouses must be dismantled for displacement and are not 
adapted for lateral movement once the greenhouse is secured in place. 
The present invention involves the construction of a freely movable 
greenhouse adapted for easy lateral sidewise movement on a balcony or 
patio floor, which greenhouse can be aligned with an opening in the 
building such as a building access door to a balcony or patio to provide 
direct access from inside the building to the interior of the greenhouse 
during use and working inside the greenhouse. Preferably the movable 
greenhouse includes supporting movement means such as a plurality of 
wheels or skids to provide lateral movement of the greenhouse in a 
direction parallel to the building wall. After use, the movable greenhouse 
can be maintained in said designated position for enjoyment by occupants 
of the adjacent room or can be easily moved laterally parallel to the 
building wall and away from the opening such as the balcony or patio door 
whereby the balcony or patio door is free and unobstructed for continuing 
use of the balcony or patio without interference from the greenhouse. 
These and other advantages of this invention will become more readily 
apparent by referring to the drawings and the detailed description of the 
invention. 
An object of the invention is to provide a greenhouse for apartment or 
homeowners adapted to be positioned easily and selectively in two or more 
positions as desired for use and/or storage and to be made secured in any 
such adjusted position. 
A further object of my invention is to provide a greenhouse structure which 
can be either artificially or solar selfheated. 
Another object of my invention is to provide a greenhouse which is simple 
in construction, composed of but few parts, inexpensive to manufacture and 
efficient in use. 
A still further object of my invention is to provide a greenhouse structure 
of the type set forth which will be adaptable to use with various 
greenhouse techniques. 
Other objects of my invention and the invention itself will become more 
readily apparent by reference to the following description and drawings. 
Briefly, the movable greenhouse comprises a glass, fiberglass or other 
opaque enclosure slidably engaging a building wall containing an access 
door opening to a balcony or a patio. The movable greenhouse includes 
supporting movement means such as a plurality of wheels or skids to 
provide lateral movement of the greenhouse in a direction parallel to the 
building wall. The greenhouse enclosure includes an opening in the 
forwardly facing section adjacent to the building wall and the greenhouse 
enclosure opening may be aligned with the building door opening to provide 
direct access to the interior of the greenhouse through the building 
opening as a balcony or patio door. During non-use, the greenhouse can be 
moved laterally sideways free of the balcony or patio door to permit 
unobstructed access to the balcony or patio from the building.

Referring to the drawings wherein like numerals designate like parts, at 20 
I show a movable greenhouse 20 disposed adjacent to an outside wall 12 of 
a bulding 10 having a balcony comprising a balcony floor 14 and a balcony 
railing 16. The movable greenhouse 20 is disposed inside the balcony and 
located adjacent to a pair of balcony sliding doors 18, 18 which provide 
access from inside the building 10 to the balcony. The balcony doors 
18,18, slide normally in a pair of channels 19,19. 
The movable greenhouse 20 comprises an open structural frame 22 provided 
with a plurality of glass panes 24, plexiglass, or other plastic sheets 
forming a greenhouse enclosure containing a front section 25, two side 
sections 28,28, a downwardly sloping top section 30, a wall section 34, 
and a greenhouse floor section 32. The greenhouse front wall section 25 
includes an access door 36 containing glass or plastic panes 37. Thus, the 
front section 25 is adjacently disposed to and faces the patio glass doors 
18,18. 
Secured to the upper lateral edge portion of the sloping roof 30 located 
closest to the building wall 12 is an upper elongated slidable structural 
member 38 preferably of and shaped like an inverted U-form which slidably 
engages an upper horizontally disposed channel 42 securely bolted to the 
outside of the building wall 12 just above the balcony doors 18,18. In 
similar fashion, a lower elongated inverted U-member 40 slidably engages a 
lower channel 41 secured to the building wall 12 below the patio glass 
sliding doors 18,18. A plurality of wheels 46 are operatively attached to 
the greenhouse floor 32 to support the greenhouse enclosure 20 on the 
balcony floor 14 and provide easy lateral movement of the greenhouse 20 in 
a direction parallel to the outside of the building wall 12. The 
greenhouse side walls 28,28 can include side extension members 29,29 
pivotally mounted to the side sections 28 at pivot connections 50 wherein 
the extension members 29,29 are adapted to tightly engage the outer 
sliding balcony door 18 and can further include resilient weatherstripping 
to provide slidable contact with the outer balcony door 18 and attendant 
channel 19, as well as the upper channel 42 and lower channel 44. 
FIG. 3 is a rearward view of the movable greenhouse 20 as viewed from 
inside the building and through the open sliding balcony doors 18,18. The 
greenhouse door 36 is shown open and extending inwardly through the open 
balcony doorway. The balcony doors 18,18 are pushed fully open to the 
right to provide direct access from inside the building 10 through the 
greenhouse door 36 into the interior of the greenhouse enclosure 20. 
Referring now to FIG. 5, shown is an enlarged partial section view taken 
along lines 5--5 in FIG. 1 and showing in more detail the sliding 
engagement of the upper elongated structural member 38 with upper 
horizontally disposed channel 42 securely anchored to the building wall 
12. Similarly, FIG. 6 is an enlarged partial section view taken along 
lines 6--6 in FIG. 1 and showing in greater detail the sliding engagement 
of the lower elongated structural member 40 with the lower channel secured 
to the outside of the building wall 12. Further shown in FIG. 6 is one of 
the wheels 46 operatively attached to the greenhouse floor 32 by a 
mounting bracket 48 and resting on the balcony floor 14 to enable easy 
lateral movement with at least three other operating wheels adjacent the 
four corners of the greenhouse in a direction parallel with the outside of 
the building wall 12, the upper structural member 38 slidably moving 
within the upper channel 42 and the lower structural member 40 slidably 
moving within the lower channel 44 during movement of the plurality of 
wheels 46 facilitating easy lateral movement in a direction parallel to 
the outside building wall 12. 
FIG. 7 is an enlarged partial section view taken along lines 7--7 in FIG. 1 
looking downwardly and showing the pivotal connection 50 of the side 
extension member 29 with the greenhouse side section 28. FIG. 8 is a 
similar view taken along lines 8--8 in FIG. 3 showing the other side 
extension member 29 pivotally connected at 50 to the other side section 
28. Further shown is the greenhouse door structure 36 containing glass 37 
held within the door frame 36. The greenhouse access door 36 is pivotally 
mounted by hinges 52 to the greenhouse side section 28 to permit movement 
of the door 36 outwardly from the greenhouse 20 and inwardly through the 
open balcony doors 18,18, as best viewed in FIG. 3 when aligned therewith. 
FIG. 9 shows a still further desirable feature of this invention, an 
enlarged sectional view taken along lines 9--9 in FIG. 2 better 
illustrating a locking means for preventing movement of the greenhouse 20. 
Shown is a wheel 46 having recesses 66 peripherally disposed about the 
outer surface of the wheel at spaced portions thereof, said wheel being 
disposed closest to the building wall 12 whereby the wheel 46 can be 
locked with a vertical drop lock-pin 60 having an upper circular finger 
grip 62 or by other suitable locking means. The lock-pin 60 is adapted to 
drop through an oversize vertical opening 64 in the greenhouse floor 32 to 
engage one of a plurality of recesses disposed radially into the wheel 46. 
In use, the lock-pin 60 can be removed to free the wheel 46 and permit 
lateral movement of the greenhouse 20, whereupon the lock-pin 60 can be 
reinserted through the vertical oversize opening 64 to once again engage 
one of the recesses 66 in the wheel 46. Any one of the wheels 46 can 
contain the foregoing locking means although the desirable wheel would be 
the wheel located nearest to the greenhouse access door 36; other locking 
means might further be employed. 
The greenhouse 20 can be constructed of conventional materials such as 
structural aluminum or steel frame members and smaller cross members to 
secure the glass, plexiglass, fiberglass or other translucent inserts 
adapted to permit the sunlight to enter the greenhouse. The greenhouse 
roof 30 further contains glass inserts and should be sloping to permit 
rain and snow runoff. Weather stripping can be used on the rearward frame 
members engaging the balcony sliding doors to provide a resilient seal 
between the movable greenhouse and the balcony doors. As noted 
hereinbefore, the greenhouse section 34 adjacent the balcony doors 18,18 
can comprise a wall 34 and an access door 36. Alternatively the greenhouse 
wall section 36 can be provided with an enlarged opening whereby the 
interior of the greenhouse can be freely accessible directly through the 
balcony door 18. The greenhouse 20 can be heated, ventilated, insulated 
and humidified in a conventional manner. 
In use, the movable balcony or patio greenhouse 20 can be moved laterally 
sideways and located opposite to the balcony or patio doors which 
typically are a pair of sliding glass doors 18,18 adapted to slide open 
and provide direct access to the interior of greenhouse enclosure as best 
viewed in FIG. 3. The wheel 46 can be locked with the lock-pin 60 as shown 
in FIG. 9 to prevent movement of the greenhouse 20 while working inside 
the enclosure. Upon concluding work inside the greenhouse 20, the lock-pin 
60 can be removed and if provided with a greenhouse door 36 said door can 
be closed, or if provided only with an opening, the entire greenhouse 20 
can be moved laterally sideways away from the open balcony door 18 whereby 
the balcony is freely accessible through the open balcony door 18. The 
greenhouse can be locked by means of the lock-pin 60 to remain out of the 
way during normal use of the balcony or patio as the case may be until 
access to or viewing of the inside of the greenhouse enclosure 20 is 
desired, whereupon the procedure is reversed and the greenhouse 20 again 
moved laterally sideways to align the greenhouse access door 36 or 
greenhouse with the balcony door 18 open or closed. 
The movable greenhouse of this invention is particularly adapted for use on 
an apartment or condominium balcony in conjunction with balcony sliding 
glass access door although the movable greenhouse can be simularly used on 
a patio in conjunction with patio sliding glass access doors. A 
particularly desirable aspect of this invention is that the movable 
greenhouse can be easily aligned with the balcony or patio access door or 
doors in use to provide direct entrance to the greenhouse enclosure. After 
work inside the greenhouse is finished, the greenhouse can, if desired, be 
easily moved laterally sideways out of the way and leave the major 
remaining portion of the balcony or patio free providing unobstructed 
ingress and egress to the building from the balcony or patio. 
It is to be noted that various means may be associated with or in the 
greenhouse structure such as shelving, humidity trays, ventilating means 
i.e. louvre openings or fans, lighting means, such as heating means, e.g. 
wires impregnated in the fiberglass or solar heating pipes, or other means 
and that the foregoing description of the movable greenhouse is a 
preferred embodiment and is not intended to be limiting except as defined 
by the appended claims.