APPARATUS FOR BRINGING TOGETHER PLANTS IN A SMALL HEATED AREA OF A HOTHOUSE

Abstract: Movable apparatuses in the form of plant tables (1, 2) for hothoueses and like premises with a view to making it possible to move the plants, for instance in the night-time, to an adjacent, partitioned-off and heated area of the hothouse, thereby to realize saving of energy by concentration of the heat required to a small part of the premises. The plant tables are so designed as to allow being pushed into the heated area beneath each other or in side-by-side relation, with the plants thereon, and then being set out during the time of growth and in the daytime throughout the hothouse for care, harvesting and packaging.

Description: APPARATUS FOR BRINGING TOGETHER PLANTS IN A SMALL HEATED AREA OF A HOTHOUSE The requirements raised particularly during recent years for energy saving measures within most fields have led to the idea of saving energy also in the cultivation areas of hothouses. Hothouses of every kind are substan- tially heated by firing of oil and especially in northern countries where solar heat is rather sparce large amounts of energy are consumed to maintain a constant and rather high heating temperature in hothouses. With the aid of the present invention the applicant has considered it possible to save energy by heating only say half the space of a hothouse and bring together and keep the plants there during the darkest and coldest period of the day and night. Then when the solar heat and the higher outer temperature help to increase the heat in the hothouses, the plants are uniformly distributed over the entire interal hothouse space. Nowadays, according to known methods, the plants are usually placed in clay pots or containers of other material and are then set out closely spaced on benches or tables in the hothouses where they are rapidly forced into suitable sizes. The plant tables or benches are fixedly arranged along the internal spaces of the hot¬ houses in long rows with suitable passages between the rows of plant tables to leave the appropriate room for work and transport. In these known cases, the entire areas of the hothouses are exploited day and night and in order to attain good cultivation results the hothouses must be heated to a suitable and uniform temperature. The object of the present invention is, as will appear from the foregoing, to realize a large reduction of the consumption of heat energy by bringing together the plants by simple means and maintaining them within a partitioned-off and heated area of the hothouse during OMPI 2 the darkest and coldest period of the day and night. It is thus intended to use and heat in the night-time but half of the space of the hothouse and thus to cut the consumption of heat energy in half in each hothouse. Where the cultivation of potted plants is concerned the apparatus according to the invention comprises a plurality of posts driven into the ground on a straight line longitudinally of the hothouse and spaced a couple of meters apart, and an equal number of posts driven into the ground along a parallel line, all of said posts being provided with an upper and a lower, fixedly arranged rotatable wheel, each of said upper and lower wheels being adapted to carry a panel or plant table top and said plant table tops being longitudinally movable. The length of each panel or plant table top corresponds to - approximately half the length of the hothouse. The panels or plant table tops are driven and operated electrically in both longitudinal directions. The height distance beween the plant table tops corresponds to the heights of a full-grown pot-plant and can thus vary according to different plant species. When the two plant table tops have been moved to their very end positions, which are determined by the part of the hothouse to be heated in the night-time, and the lower table top lies with its entire length below the upper table top, the appara¬ tus having the two plant table tops is in the position in which the plants shall be kept during the dark and cold period of the day and night in the partitioned-off and heated part of the hothouse. In the daytime one of the plant table tops is moved over onto the unloaded post wheels until the plant tables are entirely separated and all plants will be in contact with solar heat. The desired effect of automatically moving the plants to¬ gether to a heated area of the hothouse during the cold period of the day and night and of having the possibility of setting out the plants over a larger hothouse area during the light and warn period of the day when the entire hothouse is heated by solar heat. Similar appa¬ ratuses are positioned in regular rows throughout the hothouse, appropriate passages being left open between each such apparatus according to the invention. Where the forcing of say tomato and cucumber plants is concerned, the procedure is rather similar to that described above, but since these plants will grow rather tall a simplified embodiment of the present invention with the same heat saving preconditions has been chosen for this cultivation system and instead of making use of double plant tables the same apparatus has been select¬ ed but with the use of but one plant table in each appara¬ tus. In this instance, use is made of alternately sta¬ tionary plant tables and movable plant tables according to the invention. This latter embodiment will be described in greater detail with reference to the drawings. In principle, the apparatus functions in this case in such a manner that every second row of plant tables is sta¬ tionary and placed within that half of the hothouse which is heated time and again by a system of tubes and say oil firing. Between each row of stationary plant tables there are provided at the so-called work passages posts carrying wheels. These posts are also arranged along straight parallel lines in the other half of the hot- house. These posts with their wheels carry the movable plant tables which in the daytime are stationed in one half of the hothouse, that is that part of the houthouse which is devoid of stationary plant tables. In the night¬ time the movable plant tables with the plants thereon are moved in between the stationary plant tables to bring the plants together in the heated part of the hothouse. Embodiments of the invention will be described in greater detail hereinbelow with reference to the accom¬ panying drawings, but it is understood that the invention is not limited to said embodiments but comprises within its scope various modifications also. O PI In the drawings: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an apparatus accord- ing to the invention, in which the two plant table tops are moved into superimposed relation and occupy the posx- tion which the plant table tops with the plants thereon shall occupy in the partitioned-off and heated hothouse area in the night-timey Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the plant table top in protracted position, in which the lower table top is entirely protracted to the position in which the apparatus shall function in the daytime; Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic plan view of the location of the plant tables in a hothouse where use is made of alternately stationary and movable plant tables. In the right-hand part of the hothouse, which is the heated part, the full lines designate stationary plant tables and the broken lines movable plant tables according to the invention. In the daytime the movable table tops are transferred to the other part of the hothouse, where they have been marked by full lines; Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view of the location of movable plant tables having upper and lower table tops according to the invention. The right-hand part shown by full lines represents the principle according to Fig. 1, the part shown by full lines together with the part shown by broken lines represents the principle according to Fig. 2. In Fig. 1, 3 designates the posts which shall prefer¬ ably be embedded in the cement floor of the hothouse. Said posts 3 shall be arranged in pairs in parallel rows throughout the inner hothouse area. The posts 3 are pro¬ vided with an upper movable wheel 4 and a lower, likewise movable wheel 6, which are secured to the posts 3 by the fastenings 5 and 7. These wheels 4 and 5 serve as movable holders for the table tops 1 and 2, the upper wheels 4 being holders for the upper table top 1 and the lower wheels 6 being holders for the lower table OMPI top 2. The table tops 1 and 2 extend longitudinally of the hothouse and are provided in the outer parts of their lower sides with parallel grooves 8 which serve as guides for the wheels 4 and 6 at the movements of the table tops 1 and 2 in the two longitudinal directions. The movements of the table tops 1 and 2 shall preferably be realized by means of electric motors and all plant tables are operated simultaneously by controls, if use is made of several different rows of such tables, but it shall also be possible for certain controls to operate each table top separately. The part of the hothouse to be heated in the night-time should suitably be parti¬ tioned-off with the aid of special Venetian blinds or like means. Fig. 1 shows the table tops 1 and 2 rolled to their end positions within the heated area of the hothouse, as shown by full lines in Fig. 4. 13 designates the spaces for work and transport passages. In Fig. 3, 10 designates the stationary plant tables which are placed within that area of the hothouse which is to be heated in the night¬ time. 11 designates the movable plant tables and 14 the spaces for work and transport passages. In the night-time the table top 11 is moved over to the heated part of the hothouse into the passage 14 to position 12, etc.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. An apparatus for bringing together groups of plants in a hothouse within a smaller space which is heatable in the night-time and, respectively,- for moving the groups of plants apart at times when heat in suffi- cient amount is supplied from outside, c h a r a c ¬ t e r i s e d in that one or more supporting units in the form of elongated, rigid and substantially planar panels (1, 2, 11) each of which is adapted to carry a number of plant units planted in pots, containers or the like, are arranged in. horizontal position -with their undersides at the extreme edges of the longitudinal pa¬ nel sides resting on wheels (4, 6) mounted on posts (3)- which are embedded in the hothouse floor preferably pair- wise in opposite relation in two parallel straight rows for each panel positioned on a certain level, such that the longitudinal outer edges of each movable panel are supported at essentially regular intervals by a mounted wheel (4, 6), guides (8) being provided for centering each panel relative to the supporting wheels (4, 6). 2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, c h a r a c ¬ t e r i s e d in that all posts (3) in the two rows of posts which carry the wheels (4, 6) required for mov¬ ing a panel (1, 2, 11) from the specially heated space to the other space or vice versa, are equipped with two wheels (4, 6) mounted on the post (3) at different heights, said wheels being spaced such a vertical distance apart that two panels (1 and 2) can be arranged simultaneously such that one panel (1) rests on the upper wheels (4) and the lower panel (2) rests on the lower wheels (6) and such that the panels can be moved together to a re¬ lative position in which the lower panel (2) is covered by the upper panel (1) , the vertical distance between the panels being sufficient for accommodating plant units of moderate height on the lower panel in the moved-together position of the panels. OMPI 3. An apparauts as claimed in claim 1, c h a r a c ¬ t e r i s e d in that pairwise parallel rows of posts are arranged laterally of stationary elongated tables (10) positioned in said heated space, each post (3) car- rying mounted supporting wheels (4, 6) and said rows extending to the other space which preferably for the most part receives heat from outside during the light and hot hours of the day so that the panels (11) posi¬ tioned on the wheels (4, 6) together with plant units placed on said panels, are readily moved to either of their extreme positions, work and transport passages (14) for the care of the plants being porvided when the panels (11) are located in the not speifically heated area. 4. An apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, _ c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that the panels (1, 2, 11) are arranged to be moved between their different positions with the aid of electric motors coupled such and provided with such controls that the panels can be moved either individually or all at the same time. OMPI

Inventors: JOHANSSON RUNE
Applicants: HULTMAN LEIF GOERAN, JOHANSSON RUNE
Application year: 1981
Main classification: A01G9
IPC codes: A01G9