GB2387759A

GB2387759A - Horticultural cutting apparatus

Info

Publication number: GB2387759A
Application number: GB0209321A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Richard Joseph Rowley
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2002-04-24
Filing date: 2002-04-24
Publication date: 2003-10-29
Also published as: GB0209321D0

Abstract

A horticultural cutting apparatus including a housing 10, at least two handles 23, 24 rigidly attached to housing 10 by means of which a user may, lift and hold the apparatus. There is at least one rigid blade (14 figure 2) mounted for rotation within housing 10, and means (13 figure 2) to rotate the blade (14) about an axis. Housing 10 further including an opening (12 figure 2) adjacent to blade (14). The user may manoeuvre the apparatus to orient the axis of rotation of the blade (14) in a plurality of directions to bring blade (14) into contact with horticultural material to be cut, to perform cutting. There may be two switches 25, 26 which must both be activated for the blade (14) to rotate. There may be included a braking mechanism to prevent rotation of blade (14). A spirit level may be mounted on the housing. A cable 26 may be protected by a guide 27 in the form of a helical spring.

Description

Title: Horticultural Cutting Apparatus Description of Invention

This invention relates to an apparatus for cutting horticultural material, and more particularly but not exclusively to an apparatus for trimming bushes.

It is known to use a pair of shears to cut horticultural material, for example to trim a bush. This process is time consuming, however, and consequently can be tiring for the user. It is also known to use an electrical trimmer with a pair of elongate relatively moving blades. It takes less time to trim a bush using such a trimmer compared to using a pair of shears, but there a number of other disadvantages to using an electric trimmer. The electric trimmer has exposed blades which can run on when the power is turned off, and so is potentially dangerous. Owing to its size, it is inconvenient to store the trimmer particularly without either damaging the blades or without the blades damaging other items in the storage area. The trimmer is heavy and the elongate blades are difficult to manoeuvre, and the user can easily cut through the cable supplying power to the trimmer. There is no means of collecting the cutting debris and as the debris is not contained in any way, pieces may fly off the blade into the user's eyes.

According to one aspect of this invention we provide a horticultural cutting apparatus including a housing, at least two handles rigidly attached to the housing, and by means of which a user may, in use, lift and hold the apparatus, and there being at least one rigid blade mounted for rotation within the housing, and means to rotate the at least one blade about an axis, the housing further including an opening adjacent to the blade, whereby the user may manoeuvre the apparatus to orient the axis of rotation of the at least one

blade in a plurality of directions to bring the blade into contact with horticultural material to be cut, to perform cutting.

By virtue of this invention, an easily manoeuvrable apparatus capable of trimming bushes is provided. The apparatus is compact and the blade or blades are enclosed by the housing, so it is less dangerous and easier to store than the electric trimmer described above.

The apparatus may include a brake, which is operable to prevent rotation of the at least one blade when the at least one blade in not being rotated by the means to rotate the at least one blade.

At least two of the handles may include a switch means which is manually operable by the user, and which switch means stops power flow to the means to rotate the at least one blade when less than two of the switch means are being operated. In addition, at least two of the handles may include a switch means which is manually operable by the user, and which switch means release the brake when at least two of the switch means are being operated.

These features ensure that the blades only ever rotate when the user has both hands on the handles, thus reducing the possibility that the user can put his hand in the path ofthe rotating blades.

The housing may include a second opening through which cutting debris is ejected, and may be configured such that the cutting debris is conveyed out of the housing through the second opening. The horticultural cutting apparatus may also include a collection vessel which is connected to the second opening via a transfer means for transferring cutting debris from the second opening to the collection vessel. Thus the cutting debris is contained and the probability of pieces flying into the user's eyes is reduced. The transfer means may be pivotal about an axis passing through a point of connection with the housing, so that the collection vessel hangs generally vertically as the housing is rotated.

If the bush to be trimmed is significantly taller than the user, it is known for the user to stand on a chair or stepladder in order to reach the top of

the bush. This is potentially very dangerous, particularly if the user is holding a conventional electric trimmer.

Thus the housing may include a main part and a handle support part on which the handles are provided, the handle support part being extendable to alter the distance between the handles and the main part. Thus the user can trim tall bushes without having to stand on a step ladder, for example.

The horticultural cutting apparatus may include a cable by means of which power is supplied to the apparatus and a guide through which the cable passes and which reduces the probability of the cable contacting the at least one blade. It is thus more difficult for the user to cut through the power cable than it is with the electric trunmer described above. The guide may be a helical spring with the cable passing through the centre of said spring.

The horticultural cutting apparatus may include at least one spirit level mounted in the housing. The spirit level or levels may be used to aid the user is cutting along a horizontal and/or vertical plane.

According to a second aspect of the invention, we provide a method of cutting horticultural material, the method including bringing the blade of a horticultural cutting apparatus, as described in the preceding paragraphs, into contact with the material to be cut.

The invention will now be described with reference to the following drawings. Figure 1 is an illustrative plan view of a horticultural cutting apparatus according to the first aspect of the invention.

Figure 2 is an illustrative transverse section through the horticultural cutting apparatus illustrated in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an illustrative view of a horticultural cutting apparatus illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, in use.

Figure 4 is an illustrative view of a second embodiment of a horticultural cutting apparatus according to the first aspect of the invention, in use.

Figure 5 is an illustrative plan view of a third embodiment of a horticultural cutting apparatus according to the first aspect of the invention.

Referring now to the figures, the apparatus includes a housing 10, a first and second handle 23 and 24 rigidly attached to the housing 10, a rigid blade 14 mounted for rotation within the housing 10, and an electric motor means 13 connected by a drive shaft 15 to the blade 14.

The housing has a domed top 11 with an open, oviform base 12, the open base 12 providing a first opening through which material to be cut is passed. The first 23 and second 24 handles are attached to the outside of the housing 10 near the top of the dome and protrude generally at 90 to each other.

A user can thus hold the apparatus with one hand on each handle 23 and 24, as shown in Figure 3, and manoeuvre the apparatus over a bush in order to bring the branches into contact with the blade 14.

The blade 14 includes a first 16 and second 17 part, both of which extend at 180 to one another Tom a central point, where the drive shaft 15 of the motor means 13 is attached to the blade 14. The ends of the parts 16 and 17 each include a cutting edge 18 and 19. The ends of the parts 16 and 17 are bent away from the motor means 13 so that the cutting edges 18 and 19 lie in a plane below but parallel to the plane in which the rest of the blade 14 lies. The cutting edges 18, 19 are positioned on opposite sides of the parts 16 and 17, so that when the blade 14 is rotated about an axis of rotation between the two cutting edges 18 and 19, both cutting edges 18 and 19 can be positioned on the leading edges of the two parts 16 and 17.

The motor means 13 is held in the housing 10 by means of a motor support member 20 which extends from the top 11 of the housing 10 to the centre of the housing 10. The motor means 13 is positioned generally below

the peak of the domed top 11, such that the motor means 13 is enclosed by the domed top 11.

The blade 14 is attached to the motor means 13 via the drive shaft 15, such that when the motor means 13 is activated, the motor means 13 causes the blade 14 to rotate about an axis through the centre of the drive shaft 15. Thus, when the motor means 13 is activated to rotate the blade 14, any horticultural material such as a branch of a bush passing through the open base 12 is cut by the cutting edges 18 and/or 19.

A brake (not shown) is fitted inside the housing and is operable to stop rotation of the blade 14. Such a brake may include a stop and a spring, the spring being biased to maintain the stop in frictional engagement with the drive shaft 15, and a lever which is operable when electric power is supplied to the motor means 13, to act against the spring and to cause the stop to retract out of frictional contact with the drive shaft 1 S. The first 23 and second 24 handles each contain a switch means 25 and 26 respectively, which is manually operable by the user. The switch means 25 and 26 are connected to the motor means 13 so that if the user is not operating both switch means 25 and 26, the power supply to the motor means 13 is cut off. The releasing of any one of the switch means 25 or 26 also causes the brake to be applied.

A cable 26 along which the electrical current required to power the motor means 13 is connected to the motor means 13 and passes out of the housing 10 through a centre of the first handle 23. At the point where the cable 26 protrudes from the end of the handle 23, a helical guide 27 is wrapped around the cable 26 and extends along the cable 26. The guide 27 is sufficiently rigid to hold the cable away from the housing 10 and therefore reduce the probability of the cable 26 coming into contact with the blade 14.

However, the guide 27 is also sufficiently flexible to allow the apparatus to be manoeuvred over a bush easily.

The housing 10 also includes a second opening 21. The second opening 21 is positioned below a dividing wall 29, which is close to the base 12 of the housing 10 and isolates the motor means 13 from the blade 14. The blade 14 is configured so that cutting debris, is conveyed out of the housing 10 through the second opening 21. A collection vessel 22 such as a bag may be attached around the periphery of the second opening 21 to collect and contain the cutting debris. Two spirit levels (not shown) may be mounted in the housing 10, one aligned to indicate when the plane in which the cutting edges 18 and 19 rotate is horizontal and the other aligned to indicate when this plane is vertical.

Various modifications may be made to the apparatus without departing from the scope of the invention.

Although the housing 10 has been described as being dome shaped, it may be another shape, hemispherical, or pyramidal for examples. It may also include a flange extending outwards of the base 12 of the housing 10, which acts as a cutting guide to improve the cutting accuracy of the user.

The housing 10 may include an elongate handle support part 28 also rigidly attached to a main part of the housing 10 at the top of the dome, and on which support part 28 the two handles 23 and 24 are mounted, as shown in Figure 4. The handle support part 28 may be telescopically extendable, thus allowing the user to alter the distance between the main part of the housing 10 and the handles 23 and 24. By extending the handle support part 28, the apparatus can be used to trim tall bushes as shown in Figure 4. The elongate handle support part 28 may extend from the housing 10 generally parallel to the base 12, or alternatively, it may extend at an angle to the base 12. An apparatus in which the handle support part 28 extends from the housing 10 at an angle to the base 12, could be particularly useful for trimming a bush in a particularly overgrown area, as the user may stand at a distance from the bush to be cut and hold the apparatus out to cut the bush in front of him

The blade 14 need not be of the configuration described above. For example, the cutting edges 18, 19, rather than lying in a plane parallel to a plane in which the rest of the blade 14 travels, the cutting edges 18 and 19 may be angled with respect to the remainder of the blade 14 and possibly also with respect to each other.

In another embodiment, the blade 14 may have more than two cutting edges. For example, the blade may include three parts arranged at approximately 120 to each other, or four parts arranged at 9O to each other, each with a cutting edge. The blade parts and/or cutting edge need not be generally straight, but they may also be curved.

The brake may operate to stop the rotation of the blade in a different manner to that described. For example, the brake may include an electrical device contained within the motor means 13 which, for example, produces a magnetic field which opposes further rotation of the drive shaft 15 when one or

both of the switch means 25 and 26 is released.

The collection vessel 22 may be attached directly to the housing 10 as shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4, or it may be connected to the second opening 21 via a flexible tube, allowing the collection vessel to rest on the ground while the apparatus is in use.

The collection vessel 22 may be rigidly attached to the housing 10 as shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4, or it may be attached to the housing 10 by a transfer means 30 which is pivotal about an axis passing through a point of connection 31 with the housing as shown in Figure 5. The transfer means 30 includes a top opening 32 and a bottom opening 33. The top opening 32 fits loosely around the periphery of the second opening 21 and is shaped to channel cutting debris into the collection vessel 22. The collection vessel 22 is attached to the transfer means 30 around the bottom opening 33. Thus if the user holds the apparatus with the base 12 in a generally vertical plane, and rotates the apparatus about an axis normal to the base 12, the transfer means 30 pivots

I about the axis passing through the connection point 31 and the collection vessel 22 hangs generally vertically.

The guide 27 may not have the form of a helical spring, it may, for example, be a tube surrounding the cable 26, or a channel in which the cable 26 rests. 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

1. A horticultural cutting apparatus including a housing, at least two handles rigidly attached to the housing, and by means of which a user may, in use, lift and hold the apparatus, and there being at least one rigid blade mounted for rotation within the housing, and means to rotate the at least one blade about an axis, the housing further including an opening adjacent to the blade, whereby the user may manoeuvre the apparatus to orient the axis of rotation of the at least one blade in a plurality of directions to bring the blade into contact with horticultural material to be cut, to perform cutting.

2. A horticultural cutting apparatus as claimed in claim i wherein the apparatus includes a brake, which is operable to prevent rotation of the at least one blade when the at least one blade in not being rotated by the means to rotate the at least one blade.

3. A horticultural cutting apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein at least two of the handles include a switch means which is manually operable by the user, and which switch means stops power flow to the means to rotate the at least one blade when less than two of the switch means are being operated.

4. A horticultural cutting apparatus as claimed in claims 1,2 and 3, wherein at least two of the handles include a switch means which is manually operable by the user, and which switch means operate the brake when less than two of the switch means are being operated.

5. A horticultural cutting apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the housing includes a second opening through which cutting debris is

ejected, and the housing is configured such that the cutting debris is conveyed out of housing through the second opening.

6. A horticultural cutting apparatus as claimed in claim 5 including a collection vessel which is connected to the second opening via a transfer means for transferring cutting debris from the second opening to the collection vessel.

7. A horticultural cutting apparatus as claimed in claim 6 wherein the transfer means is pivotal about an axis passing through a point of connection with the housing.

8. A horticultural cutting apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the housing includes a main part and a handle support part, on which the handles are provided, the handle support part being extendable to alter the distance between the handles and the main part.

9. A horticultural cutting apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim including a cable by means of which power is supplied to the apparatus and a guide through which the cable passes and which reduces the probability of the cable contacting the at least one blade.

10. A horticultural cumin" apparatus as claimed in claim 9 wherein the guide is a helical spring and the cable passes through the centre of said spring.

11. A horticultural cutting apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim including at least one spirit level mounted in or on the housing.

12. A horticultural cutting apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.

13. A method of cutting horticultural material, the method including bringing the blade of a horticultural cutting apparatus, as claimed in any preceding claim, into contact with the material to be cut.

14. A method of cutting horticultural materials substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

15. Any novel feature or novel combination of features as herein described and/or shown in the accompanying drawings.