Patent Publication Number: US-6662879-B1

Title: Semi-automatic garden planter

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of Invention 
     The present invention generally involves the field of technology pertaining to a spring loaded mechanical garden tool for easily planting vegetables and bulbs into the soil. The same mechanical device may be used for either planting vegetables or as a bulb planter. Since bulbs may be planted at various depths, the device may be adjusted to the proper depth by means of depth dents on a housing or tubing as will be more fully described below. 
     While the structure and mechanical details are the same whether the device is being used as a bulb planter or as a vegetable planter, there is a difference in its operation. Further, only one depth dent is required when the device is being used as a vegetable planter, rather than the several dents used when the device is being used as a bulb planter. 
     When the device is being used as a bulb planter, a handle is pulled up vertically to a depth dent indicated on a housing or cylinder which may be of any depth, but normally, 3 inches, 4 inches, 5 inches, or 6 inches, and such movement of the handle to the appropriate depth dent simultaneously compresses a spring as will be more fully described below. 
     The user of this garden tool then places his or her foot on a foot rest extending horizontally across the lower end of the tubing or housing, thereby forcing a cylinder or plunger down into the ground, and a soil plug will fill the cylinder or plunger to the appropriate depth. 
     The device forming the subject matter of this invention is then removed from the ground, a bulb is inserted into the hole and the device is again placed over the hole, the spring is released, and the plug of soil is caused to be pushed from the cylinder or plunger and over the bulb. 
     When the device is to be used as a vegetable planter, a plunger plate is in its most downward position. The user of the device again places his or her foot on the foot rest, pressing the device downwardly, and the plunger or cylinder will dig into the soil. 
     This forces the plunger plate and shaft upwardly, vertically, into a tube until the plunger plate engages a plunger cylinder plate as will be described. The cylinder plate is the top or closed end of the cylinder or plunger. 
     As the plunger plate and shaft move upwardly an allen screw head will also move vertically up a grooved column formed in the tubing or housing, thereby compressing the spring. The handle is turned in the appropriate direction, and the allen screw head will engage a dent formed in the tubing or housing, thereby holding the plug of soil in the plunger or cylinder. 
     The device forming the subject matter of the invention is then removed from the ground, the handle is turned in the opposite direction, and the spring will move downwardly, since the allen screw will be disengaged from the dent, thereby causing the plug of soil to be discharged. 
     A plant can now be placed into the hole and the device is ready to be used in digging another hole. The plug of soil in the plunger or cylinder may either be discharged into the hole and over the planted vegetable or it may be discharged to another place. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     A search of the prior art has uncovered the following patents: Martinez, U.S. Pat. No. 4,585,072; Price, U.S. Pat. No. 4,986,588; Deane, U.S. Pat. No. 1,692,436; Rose, U.S. Pat. No. 2,531,297; Hus, U.S. Pat. No. 6,349,776; Ballmann, U.S. Pat. No. 3,444,938; Glynn, U.S. Pat. No. 3,210,112; Ober, U.S. Pat. No. 1,783,026; List, U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,339; Hoffinan, U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,638; and Gottfried, U.S. Pat. No. 3,273,930. 
     No single reference cited above and found during our search discloses all of the features of applicant&#39;s invention, although some of these prior art references do disclose some, but not all, of the elements of this invention. 
     It is believed that the closest of these prior art references to applicant&#39;s invention is the patent to Hoffman, 4,884,638, which does disclose a threaded locking knob along a vertical slot to adjust the device to a particular depth. One of the several primary and distinctive feature of applicant&#39;s device is the employment of an alien screw head, fitting into a horizontal slot or dent formed at the upper end of the vertical slot and the further use of a plurality of slots or dents to provide varying depths when required. 
     The Martinez patent 4,585,072, is a device for removing weeds and planting plugs of grass, wherein a handle is operated to push a plunger through a hollow chamber to dislodge a plug of soil and any weeds carried therewith. 
     It is not seen that any of the above cited references either taken singularly or in combination discloses the concept of applicant&#39;s invention as will be claimed below. Further, the brass spacer may be omitted and the circular knob handle may be attached to a shaft which extends coaxially with the hollow cylinder or tubing, and inside said housing or cylinder, by means other than a brass spacer and alien screw. 
     SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
     According to the present invention, there is provided a semi-automatic garden planter which may conveniently be used both as a vegetable and bulb planter. That is, one device can perform both functions. 
     In general, and as will be much more fully described below in detail, the invention comprises an open ended cylinder or plunger, preferably having serrated or jagged teeth at one end, and a solid plunger or cylinder plate at its other end which forms the closed end of the cylinder or plunger. A foot rest or depression member extends horizontally across the top of and is operatively associated with the plunger or cylinder plate. Plugs of plastic or any other suitable material may be inserted into either end or both ends of the foot rest. 
     A length of hollow tubing extends vertically upwardly from the plunger cylinder plate through the foot rest or depression member, and at its other or distal end, extends through a handle or gripping member, which is used by the operator to hold the device during use. 
     As will be more fully discussed and disclosed below in association with the drawings, further operatively associated with this distal end, is a combination of a generally circular knob handle having a compression collar, brass spacer, compression rubber ring, and a plurality of allen screws, as will be more fully described below. Further, such circular knob handle may be attached to a shaft by any other convenient means thereby eliminating the need for the brass spacer, compression rubber ring, and pluraty of allen screws. 
     Disposed within the vertically extending hollow tubing or cylinder and extending coaxial therein is a shaft having disposed thereabout a compression spring and spring collar. One end of this shaft, distant from the handle or gripping member and circular knob handle, is attached to the plunger cylinder plate by means of a trust allen screw. 
     The outer tubing or cylinder has a vertically extending groove formed therein which cooperates with an allen screw which moves up and down in the groove, responsive to the compression, and extension of the spring and wherein the allen screw then engages a depth dent thereby holding the plunger at the desired depth. The spring itself is responsive to the user pulling upwardly using the knob handle. When the user lets go of the knob handle, the spring is compressed between a spring tension collar and the allen screw, as will be more fully described below. 
     It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a combined bulb and vegetable planter. 
     It is another object of the invention to provide such a combined bulb and vegetable planter wherein bulbs may be planted at varying depths. 
     It is yet a further object of the invention to provide such a combined vegetable and bulb planter which is essentially operated by a spring disposed about a shaft. 
     It is still a further object of the invention, to provide such a combined vegetable and bulb planter wherein a shaft and spring are disposed within a vertically extending tubing or cylinder. 
     It is still a further object of the invention, to provide such a combined vegetable and bulb planter wherein a groove or slot is formed vertically in said tubing or cylinder and wherein an allen screw cooperates with the spring and moves vertically up and down in said vertical groove or slot responsive to the movement of a spring. 
     It is still a further object of the invention to provide such a combined vegetable and blub planter wherein one end of the spring carrying shaft is attached to and moves with a plunger plate inside a plunger or cylinder extending downwardly from a foot rest or depression member. 
    
    
     These and further objects, features and advantages of the invention shall become apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof when taken in conjunction with the drawings, wherein like reference characters refer to corresponding parts in the several views. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a vertical plan view of the invention in its assembled position. 
     FIG. 2 is a vertical cross section of the device shown in FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the device shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. 
     FIGS. 4A-4D are cross sectional views of the plunger, plunger plate, trust allen screw, and shaft with the plunger plate in various positions during the inventions operation. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     A spring actuated combined bulb and vegetable planter will now be described with reference to the drawings. 
     Shown at  10  is an assembled planter having an upper handle  11  and a lower foot rest or depression member  12  , both of which are attached to a vertical, hollow tubing or housing  13  by any well known means. Handle  11  and depression member  12  are disposed at opposite ends of the housing  13 . A hollow cylinder or plunger  14  is attached to depression member  12  and extends vertically downwardly therefrom. Plugs  15  may be inserted into the ends of depression member  12  and may be of any suitable material such as plastic, and the upper handle  11  may have handle covers  16  of plastic or any other suitable material. 
     The upper end of the hollow cylinder or plunger  14  has a plunger plate  17 , thereby closing this end of the plunger. 
     A shaft  18  extends vertically and coaxial with and is disposed in housing  13  and is spaced apart therein so that it may move vertically therein, either up or down. This shaft  18  is longer than housing  13  as will be more fully disclosed and discussed below. 
     Attached to and operatively associated with shaft  18  at one end near upper handle  11 , is a knob handle with may be rotated clockwise or counter clockwise as required. This knob handle may be attached to the shaft  18  by any one of several well known means, such as the brass plug  20  and screw  21  shown in the drawing. It must be understood that the brass plug and screw are not necessary, and that the handle may be attached to the shaft by other means. 
     Depending from knob handle  19  and attached to housing  13 , by means such as an alien screw is a spring tension collar  22  having disposed therein a compression ring  23  of rubber or any other suitable material. This collar  22  slidably receives one end of a spring  24  which is disposed about shaft  18  and therefore, moves with shaft  18  responsive to movement of knob handle  19 . Thus, when the knob handle is pulled up the spring will move up and be compressed into spring tension collar  22 . When the handle is released, as more fully described below, the spring will move downwardly or expand. This is due to the fact that the knob handle is attached to the shaft and the spring is attached to the shaft, while the housing  13  and therefore, spring tension collar  22  are stationary and affixed to each other. 
     A spring collar  25  is disposed about and attached to shaft  18  by any convenient means, such as, an allen screw. This collar  25  is vertically disposed below the spring tension collar  22  and below the lower end of spring  24 , such that spring  24  is disposed between this collar  25  and spring tension collar  22 . Thus, when the shaft moves up or down, the spring will compress or expand since one end is disposed in stationary spring tension collar  22 . 
     A slot  26  is formed in housing  13  intermediate its two ends, and between spring collar  25  and depression member  12 . An allen screw  27  or other similar pin or screw is threaded into shaft  18  such that it will move up or down in slot  26  as the shaft moves up or down in housing  13  responsive to movement of knob handle  19 . 
     Since bulbs may be planted at varying depths, it is necessary that the spring  24  move up or down and then fixed in place while the hollow cylinder or plunger  14  is inserted into the ground to the proper depth. A plurality of depth dents  28  are formed in housing  13 , along the length of slot  26 , at desired distances apart from each other. These depth dents  28  cooperate with slot  26  and allen screw  27 , such that when knob handle  19  is moved up or down, and therefore, spring  24  moves up or down, allen screw  27  will also move up or down. When the desired depth has been reached, knob handle  19  is rotated and with allen screw  27  aligned with the desired depth dent the screw  27  will slide into the depth dent, thereby securing the spring  24  and plunger  14  in a fixed position. 
     Movably attached to the lower end of shaft  18 , distant from knob handle  19 , is a plunger plate  29  attached by any well known means such as the trust allen screw  30  shown in the drawings. It should be obvious that when the shaft  18  is moved up or down, the plunger plate  29  will move up or down inside plunger  14 . It should also be obvious that the length an d diameter of the plunger  14  may vary depending upon what is being planted, bulbs or vegetables, and at what depth. 
     OPERATION OF THE INVENTION 
     When the device is to be used as a bulb planter and realizing that bulbs may be planted at various depths, the user must first pull knob handle  19  upwardly to the desired depth dent  28  along the length of slot  26 , thereby compressing the spring. The knob handle is then rotated until allen screw  27  engages the desired depth dent. The operator then steps on depression member  12  which presses the entire unit down into the soil until such time as a soil plug fills plunger  14  to the desired depth, at which time the unit is removed from the ground. The bulb is then inserted into the ground and knob handle  19  is rotated, thereby releasing the spring which causes the plunger plate  29  to move downwardly, thereby discharging the dirt over the bulb. 
     When the device is to be used as a vegetable planter, the plunger plate  19  is in its downward most position. The depression number is forced downwardly and the plunger  14  digs into the soil. This causes the plunger plate  29  and the shaft to move upwardly until the plunger plate nearly contacts the upper end of the hollow cylinder. This action causes the allen screw  27  to move up the slot  26 , thereby compressing the spring. The knob handle  19  is then turned and the allen screw  27  will engage one of the depth dents and a soil plug will be held in the plunger  14 . The unit is then removed from the ground, the knob handle is turned and the spring will therefore expand, thereby discharging the soil plug back into the ground. The plant may now be placed into the hole. 
     Though the invention has been described and illustrated with reference to a preferred embodiment thereof, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various changes and modifications in shape, size, composition and arrangement of parts, may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention or scope of the subjoined claims.