Patent Publication Number: US-2016235016-A1

Title: Soft plant pot

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a plant pot for cultivating a plant and, more particularly, to a soft plant pot for cultivating a plant. 
     A plant pot is a vessel including a bottom having holes for draining excessive water to avoid poor growth or even death of the roots of a plant cultivated in the plant pot due to excessive water. Plant pots include rigid plant pots, soft plant pots, and shallow planters. Soft plant pots are generally used for planting seedlings of plants, because the seedlings can easily be removed from the soft plant pots during transplantation. 
     With reference to  FIGS. 5 and 6 , a plant is generally planted in a plastic, soft plant pot to allow easy transplantation in the future. A typical soft plant pot includes a body  2  having a peripheral wall  21  and a bottom wall  22 . The peripheral wall  21  is tubular and includes two open ends. The lower edge of the peripheral wall  21  is connected to the periphery of the bottom wall  22 . Thus, the peripheral wall  21  and the bottom wall  22  together define a receiving space  23  for receiving a plant to be cultivated. Since the body  1  is made of a soft material, a plurality of ribs  211  is provided on the peripheral wall  21  to support the body  2 . The bottom wall  22  includes a drain hole  221  for draining water. However, the inner face of the bottom wall  22  is plane and, thus, in intimate contact with the plant in the body  2 , resulting in poor permeation to air and a poor water draining effect. Thus, the body  2  can not drain water in time after watering the plant, such that the air permeability in the environment in the body  2  is poor, resulting in rotting of the roots of the plant. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     To solve the above disadvantages, the present invention provides a soft plant pot including a body having a receiving space with an upper opening. The receiving space is adapted to receive a plant. The body includes a bottom wall having a drain hole for draining water. An annular ring is formed on an inner face of the bottom wall and surrounds the drain hole. The annular ring includes a notch to define an arc-shaped section. The arc-shaped section has a height above the inner face of the bottom wall to create a gap between the bottom wall and the plant. The notch and the gap are adapted to allow gas and fluid to flow therethrough. 
     Preferably, the body includes a peripheral wall extending upward from a periphery of the bottom wall. The bottom wall and the peripheral wall together define the receiving space. The peripheral wall includes a first annular ring for maintaining the upper opening. 
     Preferably, the peripheral wall includes an upper portion having an annular groove. The annular groove includes an upper edge adapted to serve as a reference line for a height of the plant in the body. The annular groove further includes a lower edge adapted for preventing roots of the plant from growing to an outside of the body. 
     Preferably, a height of the first annular ring of the peripheral wall above the bottom wall is larger than a height of the annular groove of the peripheral wall above the bottom wall. 
     Preferably, the peripheral wall further includes a plurality of inverted triangular recessed portions spaced from each other. Each of the plurality of inverted triangular recessed portions extends downward and inward from the lower edge of the annular groove and defines a space in communication with a space defined by the annular groove. Each of the plurality of inverted triangular recessed portions includes a wall adapted for preventing the roots of the plant from growing to the outside of the body. 
     Preferably, the peripheral wall further includes a plurality of ribs spaced from each other. Each of the plurality of ribs protrudes outward from an outer face of the peripheral wall and forms a guiding groove in an inner face of the peripheral wall. The gas and the fluid are adapted to flow through a gap between the plant and each of the plurality of ribs. 
     Preferably, each of the plurality of ribs extends downward from the lower edge of the annular groove or the wall of one of the plurality of inverted triangular recessed portions to the bottom wall along the peripheral wall. 
     Preferably, the peripheral wall further includes a second annular ring having a plurality of sections. Each of the plurality of sections of the second annular ring extends between two adjacent ribs. 
     The present invention will become clearer in light of the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments of this invention described in connection with the drawings. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a top, perspective view of a soft plant pot according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a bottom, perspective view of the soft plant pot according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view of the soft plant pot of  FIG. 1 , with a portion of the soft plant pot cutaway to show inverted-triangular sections. 
         FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the soft plant pot of  FIG. 1 , with a portion of the soft plant pot cutaway to show a cross section of a rib. 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view of a conventional soft plant pot. 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective view of the conventional soft plant pot, with a portion of the soft plant pot cutaway. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     With reference to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a soft plant pot according to the present invention includes a body  1  including a receiving space  13  having an upper opening. The receiving space  13  is adapted to receive a plant to be cultivated or to be transplanted in the future. The body  1  includes a bottom wall  12  having a drain hole  121  for draining water. An annular ring  124  is formed on an inner face of the bottom wall  12  and surrounds the drain hole  121 . The annular ring  124  includes a notch  123  to define an arc-shaped section  122 . The arc-shaped section  122  has a height above the inner face of the bottom wall  12  to create a gap between the bottom wall  12  and the plant. In the embodiment shown, the annular ring  124  has four notches  123  to define four arc-shaped sections  122 . Each section  122  has a width of 0.5±5% cm and a height of 0.2±5% cm. The notches  123  and the gaps are adapted to allow gas and fluid to flow therethrough. 
     Due to the height of each arc-shaped section, a gap exist between the plant (such as, but not limited to a water plant) in the receiving space  13  and the bottom wall  12 . Since the arc-shaped section  122  are annularly arranged, the arc-shaped sections  122  can be in surface contact with the plant such that formation of the gap between the bottom wall  12  and the plant is easier, providing excellent permeation to air in the interior of the body  1 . In the embodiment shown, a notch  123  is provided between each two adjacent arc-shaped sections  122 . Thus, water can pass through each notch  123  and then drain out of the body  1  via the drain hole  121 . Thus, water will not accumulate in the body  1 . As a result, the interior of the body  1  provides an environment with an excellent water draining effect and excellent permeation to air, which is suitable for a plant requiring an environment with good air permeation and good water draining effect. 
     With reference to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , in addition to the bottom wall  12 , the body  1  further includes a peripheral wall  11  extending upward from a periphery of the bottom wall  12 . The bottom wall  12  and the peripheral wall  11  together define the receiving space  13 . Since the body  1  is a thin, soft body made of a plastic material, a first annular ring  113  is provided on an upper portion the peripheral wall  11  for maintaining the shape of the upper opening of the body  1 . Since cultivation and transplantation are carried out by manual operation nowadays, watering has a certain standard in order to achieve normalization and standardization under mass production. Thus, the first annular ring  113  can serve as a reference line for watering. 
     With reference to  FIGS. 1, 3, and 4 , to achieve normalization and standardization of planting, the upper portion of the peripheral wall  11  includes an annular groove  114 . In the embodiment shown, the annular groove  114  has a width of 0.4±5% cm and a depth of 0.2±5% cm. The annular groove  114  includes an upper edge  115  adapted to serve as a reference line for a height of the plant in the body  11 . 
     With reference to  FIGS. 1, 2, and 4 , the annular groove  114  further includes a lower edge  116  adapted for stopping roots of the plant and, thus, preventing the roots of the plant from growing to the outside of the body  1 . To avoid the roots of the plant from accumulating on the lower edge  116  and, thus, becoming too dense (which would result in poor air permeation of the roots and adversely affect the growth), the peripheral wall  11  further includes a plurality of inverted triangular recessed portions  117  spaced from each other. Each inverted triangular recessed portion  117  extends downward and inward from the lower edge  116  of the annular groove  114  and defines a space in communication with a space defined by the annular groove  114 . In the embodiment shown, each inverted triangular recessed portion  117  has a depth of 0.2±5% cm. Each inverted triangular recessed portion  117  includes a wall  118  adapted for preventing the roots of the plant from growing to the outside of the body  1 . Furthermore, the roots of the plant will disperse to the wall  118  of each inverted triangular recessed portion  117  rather than dense distribution on the lower edge  116 . 
     With reference to  FIGS. 1 and 3 , in addition to providing the gap between the plant in the receiving space  13  and the bottom wall  12 , the arc-shaped sections  122  on the bottom wall  12  also avoid the roots of the plant from growing to the outside of the body  1  via the drain hole  121 . 
     With reference to  FIGS. 1 and 3 , since the first annular ring  113  is the reference line for watering and since the upper edge  115  of the annular groove  114  is the reference line for the height of the plant, a height of the first annular ring  113  of the peripheral wall  11  above the bottom wall  12  is larger than a height of the annular groove  114  of the peripheral wall  11  above the bottom wall  12  to assure that the plant can obtain sufficient water. 
     Since the body  1  is a thin, soft body made of a plastic material, the peripheral wall  11  further includes a plurality of downwardly extending ribs  111  for supporting the body  1 . The ribs  111  are spaced from each other. In addition to the support from the ribs  111 , the peripheral wall  11  further includes a second annular ring  119  including a plurality of sections. Each section of the second annular ring  119  extends between two adjacent ribs  111 . By the vertically extending ribs  111  and the second annular ring  119  extending in the circumferential direction and intersecting the ribs  111 , the body  1  is firmer. In the embodiment shown, the peripheral wall  11  includes two second annular rings  119  on a lower portion thereof to make the body  1  firmer. 
     With reference to  FIGS. 1-3 , since the lower edge  116  of the annular groove  114  and the wall  118  of each inverted triangular recessed portion  117  avoid the roots of the plant from growing to the outside of the body  1 , the roots of the plant mainly grow inside the body  1 . Thus, the air permeation and water drainage of the body  1  are critical to the growth of the plant. Therefore, each rib  111  protrudes outward from an outer face of the peripheral wall  11 . In the embodiment shown, each rib  111  has a width of about 0.3-0.4 cm and a height of 0.2±5% cm. Furthermore, each rib  111  forms a guiding groove  112  in an inner face of the peripheral wall  11 . The gas and the fluid are adapted to flow through a gap between the plant and each rib  111 . Preferably, each rib  111  extends to the bottom wall  12  such that the gap between the plant and each rib  111  extends to the bottom wall  12  to provide better air permeation and better water drainage, providing an environment suitable for the growth of the plant. 
     With reference to  FIGS. 1-4 , each rib  111  extends downward from the lower edge  116  of the annular groove  114  or the wall  118  of one of the inverted triangular recessed portions  117  to the bottom wall  12  along the peripheral wall  11 , maintaining the integrity of the lower edge  116  of the annular groove  114  and the wall  118  of each inverted triangular recessed portion  117  to avoid the roots of the plant from growing to the outside of the body  1 . 
     Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described, numerous modifications and variations are still possible without departing from the scope of the invention. The scope of the invention is limited by the accompanying claims.