GB2290056A - Garden trolley - Google Patents

Abstract

The trolley includes a body (12, figure 1) with a strap for retaining the handles of gardening implements and a closable compartment 14. The lower part of the body has a storage compartment closable by door 17, and a receptacle 16 for seeds or other small items such as plant ties etc. The body is removably mounted on a barrow 13, which can also be used to carry a sack 34 and a container 28. Several other embodiments are described involving removable containers. <IMAGE>

Description

A PORTABLE OR TRANSPORTABLE HOLDER FOR GARDEN USE The present invention relates generally to a portable or transportable holder for garden use.

Gardening is one of the most popular of outdoor pursuits.

It involves a wide range of different activities which involve the use of a considerable number of different garden implements or tools. On any one occasion the gardener may variously make use of a spade, fork, rake, hoe, garden shears, pruners or loppers or any one of a wide variety of other implements. If the site at which the activities take place is any distance from the implement store this activity involves a considerable amount of toing and froing and fetching and carrying which all consumes time which might otherwise be spent in the primary activity.

It is well known to make use of a garden wheel barrow to carry material from place to place, and garden implements may also be placed in the upwardly open receptacle of a wheel barrow for transport. Once arrived in place, however, the implements must be removed from the wheel barrow and left lying around on the ground if the wheel barrow is to be used for any other purpose.

The present invention seeks to provide a multi-purpose portable or transportable holder for garden use which will enable the transport of loose material such as grass clippings or soil, and at the same time can be used to carry and retain a wide range of garden implements and other items which may be required by the gardener in a given session.

According to one aspect of the present invention a portable or transportable holder for garden use has a body with at least one closable container, means for receiving and supporting a plurality of garden implements, and means for releasably retaining a removable collector.

According to another aspect of the invention a portable or transportable holder for garden use comprises a body (which may be a framework of frame elements) having at least two ground wheels and means for receiving and trtaining a plurality of garden tools or implements.

According to a further aspect of the present invention a portable or transportable holder for garden use comprises a body or frame carried on ground wheels and a removable container having at least one opening closable by a closure member.

The present invention aalso comprehends a portable or transportable holder for garden use comprising a body or frame carried on ground wheels and a container which is upwardly open in the position of use and has a discharge opening closable by a closure member extending over at least a part of the container.

The present invention may also be seen as a portable or transportable holder for garden use comprising a body or frame carried on ground wheels and a removable flexible bag or sack for garden refuse and the like as herein defined.

By using the portable or transportable holder of the present invention it is thus possible for the gardener to carry all the tools, implements and other equipment likely to be required during gardening, and for these to be retained by the holder whilst the container component is nevertheless utilised for carrying bulk material such as compost or soil, or the collector is used for collecting weeds, grass clippings or the like.

The portable or transportable container of the present invention may be so constructed that the body is adapted to be releasably attached to a barrow having groundengaging wheels and handles for manipulation thereof.

Alternatively, however, the said body may be provided with ground-engaging wheels.

The wheels themselves may be removable to allow the holder to stand in an upright orientation, or the holder may be provided with a suitably shaped base for this purpose. Likewise, the body may have handles for manipulation, and such handles may themselves be removable.

The removable collector referred to above may be a flexible bag or sack or may be a rigid upwardly open vessel. The container itself may be rigid or flexible, and may have an upwardly open mouth with a secondary opening at a low level for easy discharge of material.

The secondary opening is, naturally, provided with closure means by which it can be selectively closed.

The whole body of the structure is preferably made of water resistant material so that the holder can be allowed to remain outside in all weather conditions, and the closures are preferably water tight so that any items which are not weather resistant, such as seeds or the like, will be protected by the holder when placed in the container.

According to another aspect the invention provides apparatus for garden use comprising a body having an upwardly open hopper or receptacle, means for retaining a plurality of garden tools or implements in at least substantially fixed positions on the body, and means by which the said body is transportable from place to place.

Said latter means may be wheels or skids but preferably are wheels. Said wheels may be permanently or removably mounted on the body or on a further part of the apparatus to which the body may be mounted or connected. The body may have additional compartments with closure members for closing them.

Various embodiments of the invention will now be more particularly described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of an assembled transportable holder formed as a first embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 is a front view of the holder component of the embodiment of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a front view of the barrow component of the embodiment of Figure 3 showing a removable sack in place; Figure 4 is a rear view of the barrow component illustrated in Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the present invention; Figure 6 is a rear perspective view of a part of the embodiment of Figure 5; Figure 7 is a perspective view of a further embodiment of the invention showing the removable container spaced from the body; Figure 8 is a perspective view of another embodiment in which the removable container is of smaller size and mounted on the front of the body; Figure 9 is a perspective view of another embodiment in which the removable container is mounted on the rear of the body; Figure 10 is a perspective view from the front and one side of a further embodiment; Figure 11 is a perspective view from the rear and other side of the embodiment of figure 10; Figure 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating another embodiment made in sections; Figure 13 is a rear perspective view of a different embodiment; ; Figure 14 is a schematic perspective view of a frame-assembled container suitable for use with embodiments of the present invention; and Figure 15 is a perspective schematic view of a frame-assembled container suitable for use with embodiments of the present invention.

Referring now to the drawings, the holder shown comprises a first or transportable tool holder portion generally indicated 12 and a second or barrow portion generally indicated 13.

The holder portion comprises a generally rigid rectangular body divided in to three compartments. An upper compartment 14 of which is closable by a hinged flap or lid 15, an intermediate compartment of which houses a drawer 16, and a lower compartment of which is closable by a side door 17.

At the front of the holder 12 is a lower rack 18 for receiving the lower ends of garden implements generally indicated 19 in Figure 1, which are held in place by a guide strap 20 which may be a flexible strap for retaining the handles.

The barrow part 13 has a generally flat planar contact wall 21, two ground-engaging wheels 22 and upwardly projecting handles 23 by which the barrow can be manipulated. A lower forwardly projecting platform 24 extends from the bottom edge of the wall 21. In use the holder 12 may be placed on the platform 24, and retained in position by two hooks 26 which engage over fixed loops 27 on the barrow.

At its rear the wall 21 has hooks 33 for receiving and supporting a small rigid rectangular upwardly open container 28 having an opening 29 at the top closable by a lid 31.

As can be seen from Figure 1, in use of the holder of the invention, a range of garden implements 19 may be placed in the rack 18 and held in place by the strap 20. Other implements may be placed in the cupboard closed by the door 17 and/or the drawer 16 or upwardly open receptacle 14. These may also be used for seeds, or any other small gardening items which may be required such as plant ties, stakes, staples, twine, garden string, pegs, plant markers or the like all of which can be readily contained in one convenient location which, nevertheless can be moved from place to place with the gardener.

Figure 3 illustrates the sack barrow component 13 showing it separate from the holder 12 and having a flexible sack 34 of mesh material engaged on the hooks 27 thereby allowing an increase in the carrying capacity of the barrow part for moving materials from place to place.

An alternative embodiment is illustrated in Figures 5 and 6. In this embodiment the barrow component is substantially the same as in the embodiment of Figures 1 to 4, and the relative components will therefore be identified with the same reference numerals. The holder 12, however, is different in that the rack 18 formed as a flexible strap in the embodiment of Figures 1 to 4, is in this embodiment formed as a rigid tray 118 whilst at an upper level on the holder 12 is formed a guide 120 having a plurality of openings 121 through which individual handles may be introduced in order to retain them fixedly in position. Otherwise the embodiments of Figures 5 and 6 follows closely the lines of that of Figures 1 to 4.

The embodiment illustrated in Figure 7 has a different container from that in the embodiment of Figures 5 and 6, which comprises an upwardly open container body 32 having an opening 33 at its upper end spanned by separators 34 which define a plurality of tool-locating spaces. On the rear of the container body 32 are downwardly projecting hooks 35 and 36 which engage in shaped openings 37, 38 on the main body 39.

This main body is carried on wheels 40 and manipulated by a handle 41.

In the embodiment of Figure 8 the main body is identified by the reference numeral 42, and this has an upwardly open form spanned by separators 43 so that the tool partitions are formed in this rather than in the removable container as in the embodiment of Figure 7. A removable container 44 having a closable lid 45 is removably carried on hooks 46 on the front of the body 42. A handle 47, adjustable as shown by the broken outline alternative position, projects upwardly from the container body 42.

The embodiment of Figure 9 is similar to that of Figure 8, but in this embodiment a removable container 48 is mounted on hooks 49 on the rear of a body 50 otherwise similar to that of the embodiment of Figure 8. A pulldown stand 51 aids in maintaining the body 50 upright when not being manipulated by the handle 52.

In the embodiment of Figures 10 and 11 a removable container 53 has partitions 54 for defining toolreceiving openings, and as can be seen from Figure 11, a grid 55 covers an opening at a low level to the rear of the body 56, whilst a second removable container in the form of a small tool box is mounted on the rear side of the body 56 and identified with the reference numeral 57.

In Figure 12 is shown an alternative embodiment in which the main body is assembled from frame elements 60 and wheels 61 are removable to allow the body to stand upright. In this embodiment the handle is formed as two upright handle supports 62, 63 spanned by a transverse handle bar 64.

The embodiment of Figure 13 has a similar handle arrangement, identified with the same reference numerals as in the embodiment of figure 12, but here the body 65 is a resin or plastics moulding and a rear opening 66 occupies the whole of the rear face and is closable by a hinged rear door 67. A removable (or permanent) tool holder 68 is fitted to the front of the body 65 and carries tools generally indicated 69 in Figure 13.

Figure 14 illustrates a frame-assembled removable container generally indicated 141 which could be used as a tool box for small items, whilst Figure 15 illustrates a frame assembled larger container 151 for larger garden implements, which can be removably mounted on the holder of any appropriate embodiment described hereinabove.

Claims (10)

CLAIS

1. A portable or transportable holder for garden use comprising a body with at least one closable container, means for receiving and supporting a plurality of garden implements, and means for releasably retaining a removable collector.

2. A portable or transportable holder as claimed in Claim 1, in which the body is carried on ground wheels and the said container is removable.

3. A portable or transportable holder for garden use as claimed in Claim 1 of Claim 2, in which the said removable collector and/or the said removable container has at least one opening closable by a closure member.

4. A portable or transportable holder aa claimed in any on claims 1 to 3, in which the body is formed as a framework of frame elements.

5. A portable or transportable holder as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4, in which the container is upwardly open in the position of use and has a discharge opening closable by a closure member extending over at least a part of the container,

6. A portable or transportable holder for garden use comprising a body or frame carried on ground wheels, a removable container for garden refuse or the like, and means for receiving and supporting one or more garden implem.nte.

7. A portable or transportable container as claimed in Claim 6, in which the body is adapted to be releasably attached to a frame having ground-engaging wheels and handles for manipulation thereof.

8. A portable or transportable container as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the wheels are removable to allow the holder or container to stand in an upright orientation.

9. A portable or transportable container as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the removable collector is a flexible bag or sack or a rigid upwardly open vessel.

10. A portable or transportable container for garden use as defined in any statement in the preamble to this specification.