IMPROVEMENTS IN FLOWER POTS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ferdinand Carl August Von Levetzow, Director
of the Post Office of Kiel, Kingdom of Prussia, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FLOWER POTS."
Scaled the 19th September 1871, and dated the 8th April 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ferdinand Carl August
Von Levetzow at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 8th April 1871.
I, FERDINAND CARL AUGUST VON LEVETZOw, Director of the Post
Office of Kiel, Kingdom of Prussia, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FLOWER POTS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvement in the construction of
flower pots, the object being to supply the roots of the plant with
sufficient moisture from a reservoir, and also to afford a free ventilation
or circulation of air.
I propose to form the pot (which is to contain the plant) of a porous
baked clay of such nature as while it admits of the penetration of damp-

page_text: ness is sufficiently proof against the filtration of water. This pot is
made with four or other number of tubes, channels, or pipes descending
from its rim down to about half an inch or an inch of the bottom where
they enter the pot. They may be contained within semicircular or oval
projecting vertical ledges formed on the outer surface of the pot. The
clay of which they are made should be more porous than that of the
pot, so as to enable a small quantity of moisture to pass through, and
cause a drop or drops of water to accumulate at the lowermost part of
the pipe at its cutrance to the pot; but these pipes are not for the
purpose of being filled with water, they are to serve as air channels, as
hereafter described.
The porous pot is to be contained in a larger pot of glazed pottery;
it is to be cemented to the bottom of such pot, so that no communication
shall exist between the two at the point of junction; but an opening
is made through both pots in the centre of their bases for the ingress of
air and drainago of moisture, a circular ledge or border being made
around the outer pot to elevate the base from the flower stand, such
ledge containing apertures for the inlet of air, which will thus travel
upwards through the central aperture, and through the roots to and
through the pipes. The outer pot has an aperture at the lower portion
of the side for the purpose of cumptying the water; this aperture is closed
by a cork, stopper, or plug.
By this construction of flower pot the space between the inner and
outer pots being filled with water, there will be a constant but limited
supply of moisture to the plant, so that all necessity of watering the
upper part of the earth will be avoided, and the plants may be left
unattended for many days without risk of perishing for want of
water.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Ferdinand Carl August Von Levetzow in the 30
Great Seal Patent Office on the 7th October 1871.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Ferdinand Carl August Von Levetzow,
Her special licence, that I, the said Ferdinand Carl August Von
Levetzow, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Ferdinand Carl Augustus Von Levetzow, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FLOWER POTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Ferdinand Carl August Von Levetzow, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and scals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Ferdinand Carl August Von
Levetzow, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
In the annexed Drawing the flower pot B destined to receive the
plant is so adjusted to the bottom of the second pot A, which is two
inches wider in circumference, as to exclude all communication between
the space D destined for the reception of water and the interior of the
pot B, and the outlet C in the mutual bottom communicates only with
the pot B. Four pipes E, F, pass through the space D formed round
the walls of the pot B by the exterior pot A, which pipes are attached
to the outer side of the pot B and terminate at the upper edge of the
latter, and are open at either end, they communicate at F % or 1 inch
above the bottom of the pot with the interior space of the pot B; G is
an opening admitting of a cork to let the water out of the space D;
His a projecting edge of the pot A lest the outlet C should stand
direct upon the flower stand. The edge is supplied with a slope J to

page_text: produce a circulation of air F, C, F, E. The exterior pot may be
formed of any substance through which water will not penetrate, the
flower pot B must be made of baked clay. The efficacy of the pot is
chiefly dependent on the porousness of the clay. The clay applied for
the walls of the flower pot B must not be so porous as to allow the
inner side, the reservoir D being filled with water, to show a more than
scarcely perceptible dampness as if breathed upon, clay that allows a
powerful dampness in the form of drops to pass through is unfit for
this purpose as the earth will be perfectly soaked, and such clay can
scarcely be reduced to the requisite degree of porosity by glaze. On the
other hand the penetration of a scarcely perceptible dampness is although
not absolutely necessary yet very beneficial for the growth of the plants
and a sign of a good and practical make.
The clay for the pipes must be more porous yet not in too high a
degree. It must be so porous that the air inside the pipes ever remains
damp, and that out of the lower opening of the pipes a slight precipi-
tation is formed on the bottom of the flower pot. This precipitation
must not be stronger than that it shows a small drop of water in the
lower opening of each pipe without there being a perceptible flow.
Difficult as it may appear on first sight to regulate the degree of porosity
yet it may be easily produced with suitable clay. The reservoir D which
must never be so full as to cause the water to overflow into the upper
openings of the pipes exhibits from the top an open level. So much for
the pot, the make of which is considerably facilitated when the exterior
pot and the flower pot are cach formed separately, and the latter sub-
sequently connected to the bottom of the former by any perfectly water-
proof cement. To explain the purpose of the above construction it will
become necessary to describe beforehand the method of planting the
flowers in the pot. The outlet C is covered by a very hollow fragment
and care must be taken for good drainage by hollow pieces of broken
pots. On such drainage straight before the lower openings F of the
pipes, yet so loose as in no way to impair the circulation of air, thero
comes a layer inch high (in larger pots higher) half of vegetable
charcoal and half of animal charcoal. To meet any stoppage of the
openings of the pipes by the soil which is put in later the charcoal is
covered by turf coarsely ground fibre-like but free of iron, and on the
latter loose earth is scattered, not finely seived but specially adapted for
the plant to be grown in which are plants in the usual way but without
pressing too firmly.

page_text: The construction of the pot and the mode of planting above described
will fulfil for any flower thus inserted all the conditions requisite for a
healthy and fertile growth, plants growing in common pots being much
inferior.
These pots oppose every obstacle, dust excepted, that other-
wise impair a healthy growth in rooms and enable persons who are not
well acquainted with horticulture to adorn their flower stands with
pretty and thriving plants. They finally offer persons who are frequently
prevented by business from attending to and nursing their flowers
regularly, the inestimable advantage that they may at any time quit
their plants without fearing any danger, and even if absent for months
may safely confide them to the care of inexperienced servants. The
truth of this assertion is easily to be tested, which proof will at the same
time clearly shew the advantages of this pot when compared with the
pots hitherto in use.
1. The fundamental condition of the thriving growth of a plant is frec
admission of air to the roots, which in common pots is sought by making
the walls very porous and occasionally loosening the surface of the earth.
As a plant in my flower pot is never watered from above except in the
event of vegetation not appearing to be strong enough the earth which
is not swamped together by daily watering will always retain a loose
texture, and the admission of air through the loose soil in connection
with the pipes, which moreover always furnish the roots with a damp
air, is secured in a way that can never be the case in common pots.
2. By the evaporations ascending from the reservoir the plant will
ever be encircled in a moist atmosphere, and the dry air of rooms is thus
subdued.
3. The fine sucking roots at the sides of the pot cannot suffer, even
on stands most exposed to a burning sun, as they are protected by the
surrounding water or by the exterior pot.
4. Plants that do not bear the soil being loosened on account of the
fine tender roots crossing the surface of the soil, obtain the necessary air
by the pipes at the roots.
5. Plants in these pots are in the fortunate position that they can
always find and take the requisite moisture for their nourishment in the
measure they want it without having to make head against any com-
pulsory surplus as is ever the case under the ordinary system of watering
from the top. The layer of charcoal before the pipes will suck up the
damp air and precipitation out of the pipes and bind the moisture until

page_text: absorbed by the roots of the plant as required. Any surplus is avoided
by the drainage and circulation of air F, C, F, E. The above process
is repeated as long as there is any water left in the reservoir. As thic
water in the reservoir D requires at least 5 or 6 days, even in hot weather,
and sometimes upwards of 8 days for total evaporation, it results that the
plants may be left alone for a long time without apprehending any harm,
or they may be entrusted to the care of inexperienced domestics who
have simply to fill the reservoir.
Let me finally observe that the flower pot invented by me is essentially
different from the double pot formerly used. The latter purposed
keeping up a continually regular moisture of the soil by water penc-
trating through the sides of the pot, which system under the hands of a
novice would inevitably lead to sour soil and rottenness of the roots, and
even if handled corrcotly is merely applicable for single classes of plants.
Whereas my pot intends supplying the plant with dry soil (if not watered
intentionally from above), and thus to protect the earth even under
inexpert treatment from becoming sour. No moisture is conveyed to
the soil through the walls of the pot, the plant is nourished in a peculiar
way by the pipes, which peculiar arrangement is totally missing in the
ordinary pots. Then the latter likewise lack the evaporation of water
towards the top, which is so very necessary for the plant to thrive, as
the double pots above-mentioned have water reservoirs closed at the
top, a small hole excepted for filling them with water.
Having thus explicitly described the nature of my Invention and the
exact mode of using the same, I claim the following parts as entirely
new and original.
1. The constructing of a pot for the cultivation and rearing of indoor
and other plants, consisting of two separate parts adjusted one in the
other.
(a.) Immediately beneath the outer pot A is a rim or edge II with
cuttings on the side for the direct reception of the water, which can also
be allowed to run off through the hole G. There are also openings in
both pots so as to form a central communication with the rim which is
glazed so as to be perfectly water-tight.
(b.) The inner pot is formed of porous clay and has a number of
pipes E, F, on the sides as described above for the double purpose of

page_text: conducting the water, allowing it to trickle gently to the roots of the
plant, and so assist the circulation of the air through the mould and the
outer pot.
2. The singular formation of the pipes F and their relative degree of
porousness to that of the walls of the pot, which latter must be so
slightly porous as to admit only of the formation of a slight dampness
on the inner wall, or the porosity of the walls B can be entirely dispensed
with.
3. The arrangement of a certain drainage at the bottom of the pot
through pieces of broken pots which are laid over the central hole C and
the entire bottom of the pot.
4. The utilizing of the circulation of the air in the direction of the
letters F, C, F, E, round the roots which is necessary if you will have a
strong healthy plant.
5. The use of a inch layer consisting of equal portions of vegetable
charcoal and animal charcoal to assist the circulation of the air and
for the partial disinfecting of the mould, and of a layer of loose turf
free from iron particles, and coarsely sieved earth above exactly in
the same manner and for the same purpose as given in the above
description.
6. The entire construction of the pots as shown in the accompanying
Drawing and explained above without confining myself to any given
form or size.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ferdinand Carl August Von
Levetzow, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth
day of September, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and seventy-one.
FERDINAND CARL AUGUST VON LEVETZOW. (L.S.)