GB2376618A

GB2376618A - Expandable plant container

Info

Publication number: GB2376618A
Application number: GB0115247A
Authority: GB
Inventors: William Nevil Heaton Johnson
Original assignee: Durand Technology Ltd
Current assignee: Durand Technology Ltd
Priority date: 2001-06-21
Filing date: 2001-06-21
Publication date: 2002-12-24
Also published as: GB0115247D0

Abstract

The container can be expanded progressively to accommodate increased root growth and/or soil content as the planted plant therein grows. The container may take various forms and, in a preferred embodiment, comprises a circumferential wall which is vertically pleated to allow for radial and circumferential expansion and/or a wall, or a wall part which is horizontally pleated or folded to allow for vertical expansion. The container may be provided with external decoration, for example a pictorial representation arranged to expand in apparent size and/or to change in appearance as the plant pot is expanded.

Description

PLANT POT THIS INVENTION RELATES to plant pots and, more particularly, to a expanding plant pot.

According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a plant pot which can be expanded progressively to accommodate increased root growth and/or soil content as a plant planted therein grows.

Preferably the plant pot can pack flat.

In one embodiment of the invention, the flat pack expandable plant pot may form part of or be attached to a greetings card, gift card, publicity card or the like, and, particularly in that context the flat pack may incorporate plant seeds or bulbs of other plant reproductive material for growing in the pot in an appropriate growing medium.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the expandable plant pot may be provided with external decoration, for example a pictorial representation arranged to expand in apparent size and/or to change in appearance as the plant pot is unfolded or expanded.

Preferably the form of the expandable plant pot is such that the user may initially place, for example, a seed together with small amount of growing medium in the pot, such that the external dimensions of the pot are initially relatively small, and as the plant grows, and water nutrients and further growth medium are added, the plant pot progressively expands. In this way, the capacity of the plant pot may keep pace with the growth of the plant so that, for

example, at least until the limit of expansion of the plant pot is reached, there is no need for the traditional"potting-on".

The pot may take various forms and may be of various materials. In some forms of the invention, the pot may be formed from a relatively stiff sheet material or sheet-like material which is initially folded to form the flat pack, with the folds progressively unfolding as the pot expands. Thus, by way of example, the plant pot may have a circumferential wall which is vertically pleated to allow for radial and circumferential expansion and/or a wall, or a wall part which is horizontally pleated or folded to allow for vertical expansion. Other arrangements are, of course, possible. For example, the pot may comprise overlapping scales or leaves which slide over one another somewhat after the fashion of a fan as the pot expands, or may comprise interlinked framework elements to pivotally interconnected at their ends, the framework containing, if necessary, a flexible liner of, for example plastic film Such framework elements may, for example, be themselves expandable, for example being of a spring-like (e. g. helical spring) configuration. In other variants, the pot may comprise, for example, resiliently or plastically stretchable elastomeric or plastics material.

In general, the arrangement is preferably such that expansion of the flower pot is partly or wholly occasioned by the natural growth of the roots of the root system of the plant (although it will be generally necessary to add, at intervals, additional growth medium such as compost, peat or the like).

The pot may contain, support, or be impregnated with fertiliser or plant nutrients and/or may be adapted to hold a supply of water, so that the plant pot is"self-watering". The structure of the pot may, additionally, incorporate internal stakes.

Figures 1 to 4 of the accompanying drawings illustrate some possible forms of plant pot in accordance with the invention. Thus, for example, Figure 2 illustrates a circular plant pot which may, for example, have a circular rigid base 10 in the form of a flat disk and a horizontally corrugated peripheral wall 12 as shown in Figures 1 and 2 so that the pot can expand upwards as the plant grows (as shown in Figure 2 as compared with Figure 1). If the base 10 is made radially expandable and the material of the corrugated circumferential wall 11 is made radially and circumferentially expansible (e. g. by being made of an elastomeric material), then the pot may be arranged to be both vertically and radially expansible.

Likewise, as illustrated in Figures 3 and 4, the plant pot may have a circumferential wall 14 which is vertically pleated to allow for radial and circumferential expansion (see Figure 4 as compared with Figure 3). In this case, of course, it is necessary for the base of the pot (not shown) to be radially and circumferentially expansible.

It will be evident to those skilled in the art that by adopting more complex folding structures a folding pot may be provided which will expand both circumferentially and vertically as adjoining panels of a folding structure progressively unfold.

As an additional feature, the external wall of the pot may be provided with a marking, pattern or illustration so that, for example, as the plant grows and the pot expands and (possibly) panels making up the wall of the pot unfold, a picture, for example, of an attractive girl, is made progressively visible, or a decorative pattern is revealed or progressively altered, or some written message or the like is revealed.

The plant pot may incorporate capsules containing fertiliser or the like plantencouraging or conditioning material, the capsules being so arranged as to release such material into the growing medium within the pot as the pot expands. For example, the capsules may be structurally connected to adjoining parts of the pot in such a way that, as the pot expands the walls of the capsules are stressed and caused to rupture. The arrangement may, in this case be such that some such capsules rupture at different times from others, so that a controlled release of the fertiliser or other medium is achieved as the pot expands.

In the present specification "comprise" means "includes or consists of'and "comprising"means"including or consisting of.

The features disclosed in the foregoing description, or the following claims, or the accompanying drawings, expressed in their specific forms or in terms of a means for performing the disclosed function, or a method or process for attaining the disclosed result, as appropriate, may, separately, or in any combination of such features, be utilised for realising the invention in diverse forms thereof.

Claims

CLAIMS 1. A plant pot which can be expanded progressively to accommodate increased root growth and/or soil content, or content of other growth medium as a plant planted therein grows.
2. A plant pot according to Claim 1 which can be packed flat.
3. A plant pot according to Claim 1 or Claim 2 which is provided with external decoration, for example, a pictorial representation, arranged to expand in apparent size and/or to change in appearance as the plant pot expands.
4. A plant pot according to any preceding claim which comprises a rigid base and a folded or pleated circumferential wall.
5. A plant pot according to any preceding claims which is arranged to be upwardly expansible from a base thereof.
6 A plant pot according to Claim 4 which has a circumferentially pleated peripheral wall adapted for upward expansion.
7. A plant pot according to Claim 4 has a vertically pleated circumferential wall adapted for circumferential and radial expansion.
8. A plant pot according to any preceding claim which is arranged to be circumferentially and radially expansible.

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9. A flat pack comprising a plant pot according to any preceding claim and c"e or more plant seeds, bulbs or other plant reproductive material.
10. The combination of a flat pack according to Claim 7 with a gift card, greetings card or the like.

H. A plant pot substantially as hereinbefore described.