Abstract: A plant packaging system comprising a combination of a protective sleeve portion and a decorative cover portion having a base and skirt for packaging a potted plant. The protective sleeve can be detached from the decorative portion of the package system once the protective function of the sleeve has been completed, thereby exposing the decorative cover and allowing the skirt portion to extend angularly from the base. The protective sleeve and decorative cover components may comprise a unitary construction or may comprise separate components which are attached together by various bonding materials.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for providing a decorative cover for a flower pot. The method includes the steps of (a) providing a sheet of material having a design indicia bearing portion and an opening adapted to receive a lower portion of a flower pot wherein the opening is offset from a central portion of the sheet of material in a direction generally away from the indicia bearing portion of the sheet of material; (b) disposing a lower portion of a flower pot in the opening in the sheet of material; and (c) forming the sheet of material into a decorative cover about the flower pot such that the indicia bearing portion of the decorative cover extends above the remainder of the decorative cover and thereby enhances the visual aesthetic effect of decorative cover.

Abstract: The present invention is a modular system for packaging articles for shipment. In particular, a potted plant is sorted according to a grade, placed in a decorative cover, then automatically deposited into a protective sleeve. The potted plant thus packaged is ready for containment within a shipping carton. Various components of the system may be adapted for various packaging needs and circumstances.

Abstract: A floral sleeve having an upper portion, a lower portion and a medial portion. The floral sleeve can be placed about a plant container such as a potted plant such that the lower portion contains the pot, and the upper portion surrounds the plant. When desired, the upper portion and lower portion can be detached, leaving the medial portion which can be attached to the pot forming a skirt extending from the upper end thereof.

Abstract: A sticky element, comprising a sticky element having an insect-attracting color and an insect-attracting scent, the sticky element comprising sufficient sticky qualities to cause an insect to become permanently attached to the sticky element when any portion of the insect contacts with the sticky element, the sticky element adaptable to being disposed upon a surface. The surface may comprise a wrapping material, a flower pot cover, a flower pot, a floral arrangement, or other surface. When the sticky element is disposed on a wrapping material, the wrapping material is used to wrap a floral arrangement or decoratively cover a flower pot.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for providing a decorative cover for a flower pot. The method includes the steps of (a) providing a sheet of material having a design indicia bearing portion and an opening adapted to receive a lower portion of a flower pot wherein the opening is offset from a central portion of the sheet of material in a direction generally away from the indicia bearing portion of the sheet of material; (b) disposing a lower portion of a flower pot in the opening in the sheet of material; and (c) forming the sheet of material into a decorative cover about the flower pot such that the indicia bearing portion of the decorative cover extends above the remainder of the decorative cover and thereby enhances the visual aesthetic effect of decorative cover.

Abstract: Compositions having improved stability which, when applied to a variety of substrates and cured, form transparent coatings having superior abrasion resistant properties. The coating compositions are aqueous-organic solvent mixtures containing a mixture of hydrolysis products and partial condensates of an epoxy functional silane and a tetrafunctional silane and a multifunctional compound selected from the group consisting of multifunctional carboxylic acids, multifunctional anhydrides and combinations thereof.

Abstract: A wrapper for a floral grouping wherein the wrapper is a sleeve or sheet of material having a cinching tab or strip of bonding material or both and a detaching means such as perforations for detaching a portion of the sleeve or sheet of material. The floral grouping is placed on the sheet of material which is wrapped thereabout, or the floral grouping is disposed in the interior space of the sleeve. The cinching tab is attached near one end of the sheet or sleeve. The cinching tab has a bonding material disposed thereon which, when the cinching tab is pulled tightly about the wrapper, causes the wrapper to be crimped and tightly bound about the stems of the floral grouping.

Abstract: A plant package, comprising a floral grouping having a bloom portion and a stem portion wherein the stem portion may have a bonding material thereon and a flexible sleeve optionally having a bonding material thereon, the sleeve being positioned about the floral grouping and the sleeve substantially surrounding and encompassing the floral grouping, forming a plant package attached to the stems of the floral grouping, of using the wrapper.

Abstract: A fluid collection device having a primary container and a secondary container and a two stage fixation system for facilitating and controlling the fixation of cells in a sample of a biological fluid such as urine. The primary container generally comprises a plastic cup having a filtering apparatus disposed within it for filtering cells from the fluid. The primary container may contain a first stage fixative. The device further comprises a cover comprising a pressurizing chamber for forcing fluid through the filter and fixative delivery chamber for dispensing a fixative into the primary container. The filtered fluid may be reserved within a secondary container attached to the primary container. The filter having the cells retained on its surface is removable from the primary container for the purpose of laboratory analyses of the cells.

Abstract: A packaging material comprising a plurality of flexible strips of material integrally interconnected to one another along one end thereof so as to form a unitary mass and so that the strips of material are intertwineable with one another to form a resilient tuft. The strips of material interconnected via a border have a bonding material disposed thereon for bondingly connecting the packaging material to a container.

Abstract: A covering for a flower pot with a floral grouping disposed therein and extending a distance above an upper end of the flower pot wherein the flower pot has a lower end and an outer peripheral surface. The covering includes a sheet of material having an upper surface, a lower surface and an outer peripheral edge with a sheet extension connected to the outer peripheral edge of the sheet of material and extending a distance from the outer peripheral edge of the sheet of material. The sheet of material is formed about the flower pot to a position wherein the sheet of material extends about substantially the entire outer peripheral surface of the flower pot to provide a decorative covering and the sheet extension is formed about the floral grouping to a position wherein the sheet extension extends about a substantial portion of the floral grouping to provide a protective covering.

Abstract: A fusion sequence having a carrier protein which is preferably an E. coli protein having a predicted solubility probability of at least 90% fused to a target heterologous peptide or protein, and a host cell (especially E. coli) transformed with, or having integrated into its genome, a DNA sequence comprising a DNA encoding a carrier protein as defined herein fused to the DNA sequence of a selected heterologous peptide or protein. This fusion sequence is under the control of an expression control sequence capable of directing the expression of a fusion protein in the cell. An objective of the present invention is to improve the purification process of recombinant fusion proteins by avoiding the initial expression of these fusion proteins in E. coli as insoluble inclusion bodies.

Abstract: A decorative flower pot cover and method for producing same is disclosed wherein the decorative flower pot cover is provided with a multi-layered upper portion formed of a plurality of sheets of material wherein each sheet of material is provided with an opening therein adapted to receiver a lower potion of a flower pot such that, upon positioning the lower end of the flower pot through the openings in the sheets of material, a portion of the sheets of material are connected to a portion of a sidewall of the flower pot and the sheets of material forming the multi-layered upper portion of the decorative flower pot cover extend substantially independent of one another in an upwardly and outwardly angular direction from the sidewall of the flower pot so that an open upper end of the flower pot remains substantially uncovered by the decorative flower pot cover.

Abstract: A method for making decorative grass from an optical effect material having a holographic design which imparts at least a portion of an optical effect to the decorative grass. The optical effect material may include printed matter and/or an embossed pattern to provide at least a portion of the decor of the decorative grass. The method includes slitting the sheet of optical effect material to provide strips; and chopping the strips of optical effect material into segments of a predetermined length to provide the decorative grass.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for semi-automatically forming a sheet of material into an article, such as a flower pot cover, is provided. The apparatus includes a male die, a female die, a presence sensing assembly, and a control assembly. The presence sensing assembly is positioned for sensing the presence of an operator in a sheet feeding zone which is located between an operator's station and a zone of operation of the male die and the female die. The control assembly initiates an article forming sequence, wherein the male die and the female die are moved from a discharge position to a forming position to form the article from the sheet of material and subsequently returned to the discharge position, in response to the operator clearing the presence sensing assembly subsequent to the operator breaking the presence sensing assembly while positioning a sheet of material between the male die and the female die via the sheet feeding area.

Abstract: A plant packaging system comprising a combination of a protective sleeve portion and a decorative cover portion having a base and skirt for packaging a potted plant. The protective sleeve can be detached from the decorative portion of the package system once the protective function of the sleeve has been completed, thereby exposing the decorative cover and allowing the skirt portion to extend angularly from the base. The protective sleeve and decorative cover components may comprise a unitary construction or may comprise separate components which are attached together by various bonding materials.

Abstract: A covering for a flower pot with a floral grouping disposed therein and extending a distance above an upper end of the flower pot wherein the flower pot has a lower end and an outer peripheral surface. The covering includes a sheet of material having an upper surface, a lower surface and an outer peripheral surface with a sheet extension connected to the outer peripheral surface of the sheet of material and extending a distance from the outer peripheral surface of the sheet of material. The sheet of material is formed about the flower pot to a position wherein the sheet of material extends about substantially the entire outer peripheral surface of the flower pot to provide a decorative covering and the sheet extension is formed about the floral grouping to a position wherein the sheet extension extends about a substantial portion of the floral grouping to provide a protective covering.

Abstract: A sticky element, comprising a sticky element having an insect-attracting color and an insect-attracting scent, the sticky element comprising sufficient sticky qualities to cause an insect to become permanently attached to the sticky element when any portion of the insect contacts with the sticky element, the sticky element adaptable to being disposed upon a surface. The surface may comprise a wrapping material, a flower pot cover, a flower pot, a floral arrangement, or other surface. When the sticky element is disposed on a wrapping material, the wrapping material is used to wrap a floral arrangement or decoratively cover a flower pot.

Abstract: An emergency discharge control system for use with a cargo tank motor vehicle and a primary storage tank for remotely terminating the flow of product from the cargo tank of the cargo tank motor vehicle and the storage tank in an emergency situation is provided. The system includes a cylinder having a piston rod connected to a cable assembly of the cargo tank motor vehicle and a cylinder having a piston rod connected to a cable assembly of the primary storage tank for actuating the respective cable assemblies and closing the vapor valves and the liquid valves of the cargo tank and the primary storage tank. The piston rod is extended by passing pressurized fluid into the cylinder. A valve is interposed between the cylinder and a source of the pressurized fluid for controlling the flow of the pressurized fluid to the cylinder.