A New or Improved Stay or Support for Plants, specially applicable for use with Flower Pots.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 11th Sept., 1897-Accepted, 23rd Oct., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Stay or Support for Plants, specially applicable
for use with Flower Pots.
I, DOUGLAS ALBERT ALLEN, of 47, Bargates, Christchurch, in the County of
Hants, Railway Signal Fitter's Assistant, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:—
My invention relates to a new or improved stay or support for plants (specially
though not exclusively applicable for use with flower pots) by means of which
certain advantages are obtained.
My invention consists essentially of three main parts, which for the purposes
of this specification I shall hereinafter term respectively the standard, the crossing
and the hooks.
The standard may consist of a loop, hoop or arch of wire or other suitable
material whose free extremities may be sharpened if desired for ready insertion
in the earth. The crossing consists of one or more wires, laths or the like which
cross from one part of the standard to another in any convenient manner and so as to
constitute a lattice, trellis or the like. The hooks may be of wire metal strip
or the like bent into any convenient hooked form and may be secured either to
the standard or to the crossing and when desired they may be made integral with
the said standard or with the said crossing.
Having now described my invention in general terms and so as to define its
scope, I shall, in order that it may be more readily understood, proceed to describe,
by way of a type or example, one form thereof. This form I illustrate in the
accompanying drawings in which:-
Figure I is a front elevation,
Figure II a detail shown on an enlarged scale, and
Figure III a modification of said detail.
The said form is designed chiefly for use with flower pots. In this form the
standard 1 consists of a single length of stout galvanized iron wire bent in a form
somewhat resembling the letter U in an inverted position as shown. The two
limbs 2, 2 of the standard are inclined towards one another from above down-
wards, that is to say from the arch 3 of the standard towards the free
extremities 4, 4* thereof. The crossing in this form of my invention consists of
a single length of wire 5 of finer gauge than that composing the standard and
arranged so as to cross from one limb of the standard to the other, the wire taking
a hend round the standard at each place where it changes its direction. The
hooks 6 in this form are shaped somewhat like the hook of an ordinary hook-and-
eye employed in womens' dresses and they are made integral with the wire of the
crossing, the said wire being suitably bent at any convenient part for the purpose.
Such a support may be used in the following manner. The free extremities 4, 4*
of the standard, which may when desired be sharpened for the purpose, are thrust
into the earth close to the stem of the plant. The branches of the said plant
may then be conveniently attached to the standard by means of raffia or the
•

page_text: like in the following manner. A turn of the raffia is taken round a branch of the
plant and the free ends are then thrust into the hooks and these latter pressed
tight so as to grip the raffia and avoid the necessity of tying knots. Or if the
hooks are made sufficiently tight in the first place the subsequent pressing of the
same after the insertion of the raffia is rendered unnecessary.
In Figure II I show more clearly the method of bending the crossing wire to
form a hook.
It will be noticed by reference to Figure I that all the hooks are single, and
also that they are bent so as to be on one side of the plane of the standard. In
Figure III however I shew the employment of a double set of hooks.
It is obvious that the hooks, whether arranged singly or in pairs, may be on
either side of the plane of the standard, and when arranged in pairs that one
hook of each pair may be on one side of the plane of the standard and the other
hook of each pair on the other side of the plane of the standard.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The new or improved stay or support for plants substantially as set forth.
2. In a stay or support for plants, the combination of a standard, a crossing
and one or more hooks substantially as set forth.
ated this 11th day of September 1897.
J. G. LORRAIN, M. Inst. E.E., M.I. Mech. E.,
Norfolk House, Victoria Embankment, London, W.C.,
Chartered Patent Agent.