STACKABLE PLANT CARRYING SYSTEM
Stackable plant trays may be sized with inside dimensions which are the same as conventional flats, but with sides that are substantially taller, thereby permitting plants to be protected when multiple trays of the present invention are stacked together. The sides of the trays may be formed in a lattice or mesh pattern, thereby allowing air and light to freely move through the tray, even with a second tray stacked on top thereof. The present invention provides an improvement over conventional plant trays, which may have sides that are just tall enough to hold the plant pots in place and would not allow for the stacking of one on top of the other.
This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application No. 60/828,932, filed Oct. 10, 2006.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention generally relates to a plant carrying system and more particularly, to a stackable plant carrying system for the transport of multiple plant flats.
A “flat”, as used herein, may refer to a lidless box or tray used for transporting trays of rooted seedlings, cuttings and young plants. Typical flats may have inner dimensions sized to hold, for example, sixteen (16) four-inch plant pots or six (6) industry standard pony packs. Such typical flats may have inner dimensions for example of 16 ¾ inches by 16 ¾ inches.
As shown in
The transport of conventional flats, for example, in a vehicle when a purchaser takes the plants home or in a garden cart, would not permit the stacking of the flats, as damage to the plants would probably occur.
As can be seen, there is a need for an improved plant carrying system that would permit the stacking of flats without damage to the plants within the flats.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn one aspect of the present invention, a carrying tray comprises a plurality of side walls that extend above the items to be carried in the tray; at least one of the side walls includes a configuration that allows air circulation inside the tray; at least one of the side walls includes a hand hold; and at least one of the side walls includes a nesting and locking component.
In another aspect of the present invention, a stackable plant tray comprises a plurality of side walls that extend above the plants carried in the tray; at least one of the side walls and the base of the tray includes a configuration that allows air circulation inside the tray; reinforcing hard points for transferring a weight load through the tray to the base of the tray; and at least one of the side walls includes a nesting and locking component.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, a plant transportation system comprises at least a first tray and a second tray, wherein each of the first and the second tray includes a plurality of side walls that extend above the plants transported in each of the first and second trays; at least one of the side walls of the tray includes a configuration that allows air circulation inside the tray; and at least one of the side walls includes a nesting and locking component.
These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following drawings, description and claims.
The following detailed description is of the best currently contemplated modes of carrying out the invention. The description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merely for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention, since the scope of the invention is best defined by the appended claims.
Broadly, the present invention provides trays for holding plants, the trays being stackable one on top of another. The trays may be sized with inside dimensions which are the same as conventional flats, but having sides that are substantially taller, thereby permitting plants to be protected when multiple trays of the present invention are stacked together. The sides of the trays may be formed in a lattice or mesh pattern, thereby allowing air and light to freely move through the tray, even with a second tray stacked on top thereof. The sides may be foldable approximately in half to create shorter sides, especially suitable for easy viewing on, for example, a garden center's sales counter. The sides may also be folded almost parallel with the base of the tray, thereby allowing convenient storage of the stackable trays when not in use.
Conventional plant trays may have sides that are just tall enough to hold the plant pots in place and would not allow for stacking. Such conventional plant trays, also referred to as flats, would require more surface area for transport from one location to another. For example, a flat containing sixteen 4-inch by 4-inch pots would require a surface area (for example, in a vehicle or a garden cart) of about 256 square inches to transport the sixteen pots. However, with the stackable plant trays of the present invention, multiple trays can be stacked on top of each other. For example, with 4 plant trays of the present invention stacked on top of each other, the same 256 square inches could transport 64 4-inch by 4-inch plant pots.
The stackable plant trays of the present invention may be beneficial to commercial and retail users, as well as growers. They could greatly simplify the transportation of flatted plant material in commercial landscaping and in home gardening. In commercial landscaping, the stackable plant tray of the present invention may contribute to a more efficient and easier transportation of flatted material to and on the job. For example, the time consuming protective procedure of loading flatted material on temporary plywood shelves in the contractor's truck could be avoided. The result may be a faster and more time efficient handling of plant material on the job.
In the home and hobby gardening field, customers are often limited as to the amount of plant material they can purchase at any one time by the amount of plant material they can load into their vehicle. With the stackable plant trays of the present invention, a customer can load two, three or even four times the amount of flatted material at each purchase. The costumer may save additional trips to the garden center, while the vendor may have an increased sales ticket.
The stackable trays of the present invention may also be useful for growers who may often wait until the plants are in bloom to deliver the products to the garden centers. Should a heavy rain storm occur while the plants are in bloom, the heavy rain may remove many of the plant's blooms, thereby requiring the grower to wait one to two more weeks for additional blooms to develop before delivering the products to the retail outlet. If the plants were in the stackable trays of the present invention, with the high sides, the grower may be able to lay a protective barrier, such as a plastic sheet, over the top of the stackable trays to prevent the rain from damaging the blooms on the plants.
Referring to
The sides 24 of the stackable trays 20 of the present invention may provide a protective offset for the foliage and flowers of the underlying plants 22 when the stackable trays 20 are nested one upon another while, for example, being transported.
Referring now to
The sides 24 of the stackable trays 20 may be formed of a lattice or mesh pattern as shown in
Hand holds 34 may be formed in the sides 24 of the stackable trays 20. Hand holds 34 may be formed in two opposite sides 24a, 24b of the stackable trays 20. Even more typically, hand holds 34 may be formed in each of the four sides 24 of the stackable trays 20, as shown in
Referring now to
In one embodiment of the present invention, the protrusions 40 and channels 42 may be located symmetrically on a portion of each side 24 of the stackable trays 20 as shown in
Referring to
Either alternatively or in addition to the extended side portion 46, an upper edge protrusion 50 may be formed along a least a portion of the upper edge 48 of the stackable trays 20. A base channel 52 may be formed along at least a portion of the base 32 of the stackable tray 20. The upper edge protrusion 50 and the base channel 52 may be formed in such a manner that the upper edge protrusion 50 may fit into the base channel 52 when the upper stackable tray 20b is stacked on top of the lower stackable tray 20a, as shown in
In one embodiment of the present invention, the upper edge protrusions 50 and base channels 52 may be located symmetrically on a portion of each upper edge 48 and base 32, respectively, of each stackable tray 20. For example, the upper edge protrusion may be formed in the upper edge immediately below the location of the protrusions 40 as shown in
The unique nesting and locking design, as shown in
Referring to
The sides 64 of the stackable tray 60 may have both corner reinforcing hard points 61b and central reinforcing hard points 61a, similar to the reinforcing hard points described above. The reinforcing hard points 61a, 61b may be separately formed on each of the upper side portion 66 and the lower side portion 68. When the stackable tray 60 is assembled (see FIG. 10), the reinforcing hard points may be capable of transmitting weight from a top of the tray to the base of the tray, similar to the reinforcing hard point described above with reference to
Tabs 74 may be present on one side of the upper side portion 66 and lower side portion 68. Tab receivers 76 may be present on the other side of the upper side portion 66 and the lower side portion 68. When assembled, as described in more detail below, the tabs 74 may fit into the tab receivers 76 to maintain the stackable tray 60 in an assembled state. Alternatively, the tabs 74 may be present on both sides of the upper side portion 66 and the lower side portion 68 of one side 64. The tab receivers 76 may be present on adjacent sides 64. In this configuration, sides 64 opposite each other may have tabs 74 on each end thereof while the other two opposite sides may have tab receivers 76 on each end thereof.
Referring now to
Referring to
As can be seen from
As can also be seen and appreciated from
The sides of the stackable tray 80 may have both corner reinforcing hard points 81b and central reinforcing hard points 81a, similar to the reinforcing hard points described above. The reinforcing hard points 81a, 81b may be separately formed on each of the upper side portion 84 and the lower side portion 86. When the stackable tray 80 is assembled, the reinforcing hard points may be capable of transmitting weight from a top of the tray to the base of the tray, similar to the reinforcing hard point described above with reference to
Referring now to
The sides of the stackable tray 90 may have both corner reinforcing hard points 91b and central reinforcing hard points 91a, similar to the reinforcing hard points described above. The reinforcing hard points 91a, 91b may be separately formed on each of the upper side portion 94 and the lower side portion 96. When the stackable tray 90 is assembled, the reinforcing hard points may be capable of transmitting weight from a top of the tray to the base of the tray, similar to the reinforcing hard point described above with reference to
In each of the designs above, and as shown specifically in
The stackable trays 20 of the present invention may be made from a plastic material, such as polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, polypropylene, and the like. The stackable trays 20 may be manufactured according to any conventional methods known to one skilled in the art.
It should be understood, of course, that the foregoing relates to exemplary embodiments of the invention and that modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.
Claims
1. A carrying tray comprising:
- a base;
- a plurality of side walls attached to the base and extending above the items to be carried in the tray;
- at least one of the side walls includes a configuration that allows air circulation inside the tray;
- at least one of the side walls includes a hand hold; and
- at least one of the side walls includes a nesting and locking component.
2. The carrying tray according to claim 1, wherein the items to be carried include plants.
3. The carrying tray according to claim 1, wherein each side wall has a mesh or a lattice configuration.
4. The carrying tray according to claim 1, wherein each side wall extends from about 6 to about 12 inches from a base of the tray.
5. The carrying tray according to claim 1, wherein the nesting and locking component includes a protrusion in at least a portion of an extended side portion extending from an upper edge of the tray.
6. The carrying tray according to claim 5, wherein the nesting and locking component includes a channel in at least a portion of the side walls of the tray, wherein when a first tray is stacked on top of a second tray, the protrusion fits into the channel.
7. The carrying tray according to claim 6, wherein the protrusion and the channel are placed symmetrically on each side of the tray.
8. The carrying tray according to claim 1, wherein the nesting and locking component includes an upper edge protrusion in at least a portion of an upper edge of the tray.
9. The carrying tray according to claim 8, wherein the nesting and locking component includes a base channel in at least a portion of a base of the tray, wherein when a first tray is stacked on top of a second tray, the upper edge protrusion fits into the base channel.
10. The carrying tray according to claim 1, wherein the nesting and locking component includes an extended side portion extending from at least a portion of an upper edge of the tray, wherein when a first tray is stacked on top of a second tray, the extended side portion prevents the first tray from sliding off the second tray.
11. The carrying tray according to claim 1, further comprising reinforcing hard points for transferring a weight load through the tray to a base of the tray.
12. The carrying tray according to claim 11, wherein the reinforcing hard points are located along each corner and the sides of the tray.
13. The carrying tray according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of side walls may have a first side wall height or a second, reduced side wall height.
14. The carrying tray according to claim 13, further comprising a flexible member extending across at least one of the plurality of side walls, the flexible member permitting the at least one of the plurality of side walls to be folded to the second, reduced side wall height.
15. The carrying tray according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of side walls may be moved from a disassembled state to an assembled state, the disassembled state being where the plurality of side walls are substantially parallel to the base of the tray and the assembled state being where each of the plurality of side walls are orthogonal to the base and to each adjacent one of the side walls.
16. The carrying tray according to claim 1, further comprising:
- at least one tab on one of the plurality of side walls; and
- at least one tab receiver on a second, adjacent one of the plurality of side walls, wherein
- the tabs fit into the tab receivers to hold each of the plurality of side walls with each adjacent one of the side walls.
17. A stackable plant tray comprising:
- a plurality of side walls that extend above the plants carried in the tray;
- at least one of the side walls and the base of the tray includes a configuration that allows air circulation inside the tray;
- reinforcing hard points for transferring a weight load through the tray to the base of the tray; and
- at least one of the side walls includes a nesting and locking component.
18. The stackable plant tray according to claim 13, wherein at least one of the side walls includes a hand hold.
19. The stackable plant tray according to claim 13, wherein the nesting and locking component includes a protrusion in at least one of a) a portion of an extended side portion extending from an upper edge of the tray, and b) an upper edge of the tray.
20. The stackable plant tray according to claim 15, wherein the nesting and locking component includes a channel in at least one of a) a portion of the side walls of the tray, and b) a portion of a base of the tray, wherein when a first tray is stacked on top of a second tray, the protrusion fits into the channel.
21. A stackable plant tray comprising:
- a base; and
- a plurality of side walls attached to the base and extending above the items to be carried in the tray, wherein
- at least one of the side walls includes a nesting and locking component; and
- at least one of the plurality of side walls may be changed between a first side wall height or a second, reduced side wall height.
22. The stackable plant tray according to claim 21, further comprising a flexible member extending across at least one of the plurality of side walls, the flexible member dividing the at least one of the plurality of side walls into an upper side wall portion and a lower side wall portion and permitting the upper side wall portion to be folded over the lower side wall portion to provide the second, reduced side wall height.
23. The stackable plant tray according to claim 22, further comprising a first hand hold formed in the upper side wall portion and a second hand hold formed in the lower side wall portion, wherein the first hand hold aligns with the second hand hold when the upper side wall portion is folded over the lower side wall portion.
24. The stackable plant tray according to claim 21, wherein the plurality of side walls may be moved from a disassembled state to an assembled state, the disassembled state being where the plurality of side walls are substantially parallel to the base of the tray and the assembled state being where each of the plurality of side walls are orthogonal to the base and to each adjacent one of the side walls.
25. The stackable plant tray according to claim 21, further comprising:
- at least one tab on one of the plurality of side walls; and
- at least one tab receiver on a second, adjacent one of the plurality of side walls, wherein
- the tabs fit into the tab receivers to hold each of the plurality of side walls with each adjacent one of the side walls.
Type: Application
Filed: Oct 9, 2007
Publication Date: Apr 10, 2008
Inventor: TIMOTHY A. DEVINE (Corona del Mar, CA)
Application Number: 11/869,494
International Classification: B65D 85/52 (20060101);