GB2434071A

GB2434071A - Lawn edging apparatus

Info

Publication number: GB2434071A
Application number: GB0600784A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Keith Toule
Original assignee: Blackmoor Developments Ltd
Current assignee: Blackmoor Developments Ltd
Priority date: 2006-01-17
Filing date: 2006-01-17
Publication date: 2007-07-18
Anticipated expiration: 2026-01-17
Also published as: GB2434071B; GB0600784D0

Abstract

Apparatus for defining and maintaining the edge of a lawn or the like, comprises an elongate body (1) having a front face (2) which, in use, extends substantially in a plane forming an obtuse angle with the lawn surface. The front face (2) rests on an oblique edge surface of the lawn, and a lower substantially horizontal face (4) has a plurality of recesses (5) spaced apart therealong. A plurality of anchoring pegs (9) are driven into the ground, one for each recess, each peg having a head portion (10) which is a close fit in the recess (5). In this way, the body is held in position along the lawn edge by engagement with the head portions of the pegs, but may be lifted off the pegs and replaced on them to trap plant matter (14) growing outwardly from the lawn edge.

Description

LAWN EDGING APPARATUS

Field of the Invention

This invention relates to apparatus for defining and maintaining the edge of a lawn or the like.

Background to the Invention

In Patent No GB2357416 the inventor disclosed and claimed a lawn edging device which consisted of an elongate body having an angled front face which in use rests on a correspondingly angled lawn edge. The body is pivo-tally mounted on an anchorage member so as to be capable of being lifted and lowered to trap straggling grass beneath the angled front face of the body, where it would simply rot away. In this manner, the lawn edge can be kept tidy without the need to cut the excess grass straying over the edging strip.

The body and the anchorage member were designed to be formed as plastics extrusions, with the result that the cost of the device was relatively high, and choice of colour was limited by the need to produce relatively large quantities in any one colour. In addition, the fixing of the anchorage members required care to ensure that the mounting of the body remained level, and ac-commodating curves in the lawn edge was difficult.

The present invention seeks to provide an improved lawn edging sys-tern.

Summary of the Invention

According to the invention, there is provided apparatus for defining and maintaining the edge of a lawn or the like, comprising an elongate body having a front face which, in use, extends substantially in a plane forming an obtuse angle with the lawn surface, the front face resting on an oblique edge surface of the lawn, and a lower substantially horizontal face, a plurality of recesses being provided in the lower face and spaced apart therealong, and a plurality of an-choring pegs driven into the ground, one for each recess, each peg having a head portion which is a close fit in the recess, whereby the body is held in posi-tion along the lawn edge by engagement with the head portions of the pegs, but may be lifted off the pegs and replaced on them to trap plant matter grow-ing outwardly from the lawn edge.

Preferably, there is a vertical bore extending from each recess to open in an upper face of the body, the bore having a diameter smaller than that of the associated recess. The bores facilitate installation by enabling the body to serve as a jig for the formation of guide holes, by means of a rod driven there-through into the ground, for installation of the pegs. Each peg may then be provided with a plug portion extending upwardly from head portion to fill the as-sociated bore and to assist in retaining the body on the pegs.

While the material from which the elongate body is formed is not critical to the invention, a particularly suitable material is wood, especially wood pres-sure-treated with preservative in conventional manner. The use of wood has a number of advantages: the high capital cost of plastics extrusion equipment is avoided, as ordinary woodworking techniques and tools are suitable; it may be painted or stained to suit the user's requirements, and may be readily re-coloured when required; shaping the edging around corners and curves does not require specially moulded plastics components -instead, simple mitre cuts from standard lengths of the edging body may be used; and since wood is a natural material, its appearance not only fits in with other natural materials in a garden, it also weathers naturally to provide a gradually changing appearance along with other changes in the garden with time.

The pegs may be formed as plastics injection mouldings, but are suitably formed from hardwood treated with preservative, and conveniently present a cruciform section which is straight over a significant part of the length, in order to ensure that the peg is held firmly in the ground, and with tapering or reducing point. A central core corresponds broadly to the diameter of the rod used to form the guide holes. The recesses in the lower face of the elongate body are suitably conical, and the head portions of the pegs are correspondingly conical, so as to ensure that the body is centrally located on the pegs. The ground-engaging cruciform section part of the peg is preferably wider than the head portion so as to limit the penetration of the head portion into the recess, thereby avoiding the risk of splitting the edging body, and also to transmit the loading on the edging body evenly to the pegs when the pegs are being driven into the ground by applying pressure to the body. The edging body will typically lie with its upper surface level with the adjacent lawn surface.

In use, to tidy the lawn edge, the body is simply lifted off the head por-tions of the pegs by a sufficient distance to allow any grass or other plants growing over the edging body to drop under the body. The body can then sim- ply be lowered back into position to trap the grass underneath it, where it sim- ply dies and decays. The lawn edge is thus left tidy. The body may be pro-vided with lifting slots in the upper surface thereof, into which lifting handles may be temporarily inserted and engaged to facilitate the lifting operation.

Brief Description of the Drawing

In the drawings, which illustrate an exemplary embodiment of the inven-tion: Figure 1 is a part sectional view showing the edging body at the prelimi-nary installation stage, prior to installation along a garden border or the like; Figure 2 shows the second installation stage, but with the body along-side a concrete drive; Figure 3 shows the next stage of installation following on from that shown in Figure 2; and Figure 4 shows the edging operation.

Detailed Description of the Illustrated Embodiment

Referring first to Figure 1, the lawn edging apparatus includes an elon- gate edging body 1 formed of wood and having a front face 2 which lies gener-ally in an oblique plane which makes an acute angle to the upper surface 3.

The lower surface 4 is generally horizontal. The front face 2 is flat, but may be incurved to a small degree. The lower surface 4 is provided with a number of recesses 5 equi-spaced therealong, the recesses 5 being conical in shape. A bore 6 whose diameter is smaller than that of the recess extends vertically from the recess 5 to open at the upper surface 3. In the installation of the apparatus, the first step is to dig a small trench 7 along the lawn edge, with a front face which extends at an oblique angle to the lawn surface. The oblique front face is formed by positioning the edging body upside down along the lawn edge at the desired position from the edge, such that the front face 2 serves as a guide for an edging tool, for example a spade or a knife 20. Rods 8 are passed through the bores 6 to hold the edging body in place while the knife 20 is used to cut the angled edge to the lawn. In Figure 1, the lawn edge is shown abut-ting a cultivated border or the like, while in the remaining Figures, it is shown abutting a solid surface 21, such as a concrete drive or concrete curbing.

The edging body 1 is then turned over and positioned in the trench 7, and while it is held in position, one of the rods 8 is pushed through each of the bores 6 in turn and into the soil below to form a guide hole for the peg, as shown in Figure 2. The body I is then removed.

As shown in Figure 3, pegs 9 are then pushed into the soil, using the guide holes for positioning and to guide the pegs in straight. The edging body I is placed on to the pegs to facilitate driving them accurately into the ground.

Each peg 9 has a solid head portion 10, which corresponds in shape to the re-cess 5, and has a tapering point 11 with a reducing cruciform cross-section and a central core 12 corresponding generally to the guide hole. The core 12 serves to guide the point 11 into the ground as the cruciform members cut into the ground to anchor the peg firmly. The head portion is provided with a plug portion 13 extending vertically upward therefrom to fit into the bore 6, further locating and guiding the body I onto the pegs and also serving to plug the bores 6, when the body is located on to the pegs, as shown in Figure 3. The body I may be levelled to its final position by simply tapping at its elevated end to drive the relevant pegs into the ground more firmly. The body is ideally lo-cated with its upper surface level with the lawn surface so that a lawn mower may be run partly on the edging and partly on the lawn to cut the edge of the lawn evenly to the same level as the remainder of the lawn.

In time, the grass will tend to grow outwardly over the upper surface of the edging, producing an untidy appearance. To tidy the edge without the need for cutting tools, it is simply necessary to raise the edging, as shown in Figure 4, sufficiently for the straggling grass 14 to drop beneath the body I, and then lower it again on top of the straggling grass to trap it between the sloping ground and the oblique front face 2 of the body I. The trapped grass, being deprived of light, eventually dies back and decays. The lawn edge is immedi-ately returned to a tidy appearance. The body 1 is lifted and lowered by means of temporary handles (not shown), which are inserted into keyhole slots ma-chined into the upper surface 3 of the body 1 at suitable intervals, or perhaps just adjacent each end thereof. Alternatively, the temporary handles may en-gage slots in the rear face of the body, or plastics inserts may be provided to engage with the handles. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that other means for temporarily lifting the body may be employed without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims

CLAIMS

1. Apparatus for defining and maintaining the edge of a lawn or the like, comprising an elongate body having a front face which, in use, extends substantially in a plane forming an obtuse angle with the lawn surface, the front face resting on an oblique edge surface of the lawn, and a lower substantially horizontal face, a plurality of recesses being provided in the lower face and spaced apart therealong, and a plurality of anchoring pegs driven into the ground, one for each recess, each peg having a head portion which is a close fit in the recess, whereby the body is held in position along the lawn edge by engagement with the head portions of the pegs, but may be lifted off the pegs and replaced on them to trap plant matter growing outwardly from the lawn edge.

2. Apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein a vertical bore extends from each recess to open in an upper face of the body, the bore having a di-ameter smaller than that of the associated recess.

3. Apparatus according to Claim 2, wherein each peg is provided with a plug portion extending upwardly from head portion to fill the associated bore.

4. Apparatus according to Claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the elongate body is formed of wood.

5. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the plugs comprise a ground-engaging portion with a cruciform cross-section with a cen-tral core.

6. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the re-cesses in the lower face of the elongate body are conical.

7. Apparatus according to Claim 6, wherein the head portions of the pegs are conical and conform with the shape of the recesses.

8. Apparatus for defining and maintaining the edge of a lawn or the like, substantially as described with reference to, and/or as shown in, the draw-ings.