Patent GB-361445-A (GB)
Title: An improved form of pan or tray for propagating plants from seeds or cuttings with adjustable means for shading or screening the plants
IPC: A01G9/14
Filed: 1930-08-28
Abstract: 361,445. Receptacles and shelters for growing plants ; plant protectors. HOPKINS, C. T., 30, Grove Road, Walthamstow, London. Aug. 28, 1930, Nos. 25690, 27125, and 33111. [Class 6 (ii).] Apparatus for shading, screening, and protecting plants comprises a frame provided with attachments for securing glass or other material and adjustably secured to the sides of a support, which may consist of a propagating pan or tray having a removable bottom and independent sections forming side walls on which the glass or other material may rest. The adjustable frame consists of a wire or strip a, Fig. 1, of sheet, bar, or rod metal, in one or more pieces, cranked or bent in two places at right-angles and at equal distances from the ends. It is pivoted on two screws in the box frame or support d and is adjustably secured by tightening the screws. Adjustably attached by screws to the frame a is a metal strip b fitting over the tops of two glass plates g, the lower edges of which rest against inclined projections on clips k on the frame d. To allow of ventilation spring clips may be attached to the strip b to hold the glass plates. The ends of these plates may rest on sheet-metal supports f, Fig. 2, attached to the frame a. A single pane of glass may be secured between the strip b and frame a. Endplates c of glass may rest on recessed sections e forming inner walls of the propagating box or pan, their upper edges being secured by sliding clips j of bent sheet-metal. The bottom l of the wooden pan rests on metal ledges h, and the wall sections e are secured by the screws on which the frame a is pivoted. The ledges h comprise pieces of bent metal nailed or screwed to one part of the frame d and provided with teeth for driving into the other part. The bottom l and box-frame d may be of metal, pottery material, china, glass, plaster, celluloid, fibre, cement, &c. ; and the bottom may be perforated and flat, corrugated, or curved. The frame d may be recessed in places to facilitate removal of the glass, and the sections e may be perforated. The frame a may be made of strip metal folded as shown in Fig. 11 to form a groove to receive an alternative form of clip formed by bending sheet-metal to form an upper hook and a lower projecting spur to engage the glass sheet c. An alternative support for the glass sheets g is shown in Fig. 15. It consists of a strip of sheet-metal bent as shown to support the glass and to fit into a sleeve on the frame a, the sleeve being secured by a set-screw. Horizontal or other sheets of glass &c. may rest on the sections e or frame d. The glass may be roughened, coloured, coated with paint &c., or provided with lines, dots, or patches of transparent glass interrupting a coating film. Two or more pans or trays may be placed in line with spaces between them and with the horizontal parts of the frames a fastened to a connecting bar or wire. The frames of the pans may be connected together by material like them. The bottom of the pan may be dispensed with. Specification 5145/04, [Class 6, Agricultural appliances for the treatment of land &c.], is referred to.