GB2244198A - Improved plant pot - Google Patents

Abstract

A plant pot 11 incorporates a water channel 12 which surrounds at least a part of the periphery of the pot adjacent the pot edge. Preferably the channel extends substantially all the way around the pot periphery so that its benefits in use are maximised. Advantageously the pot wall is perforated within the area bounded by the channel. Specifically there may be two channels incorporated, one adjacent the top edge of the pot, the other around the base region of the pot. There are disclosed means whereby water can be injected into the channel as well as - or instead of - being poured in through the substantially open top of the ring. <IMAGE>

Description

IMPROVED PLANT POT Field of the Invention The invention relates to plant pots, and the term Zplantt pot is intended to include pots for holding flowers, specifically, as well as plants generally.

Review of Art known to the Applicant Plant pots as a class are overwhelmingly wellknown. Traditionally they were made from earthenware. Nowadays they are most likely to be moulded from plastics materials which, whilst relatively brittle, are much lighter in weight and can be more easily stacked whilst taking up less space than the earthenware predecessor.

It is common practice to stand plant pots in a saucer in order to irrigate the pot contents. The base of the pot is conventionally perforated to allow passage of water from the saucer into the pot. But this does not fulfil a hitherto unrecognised need for the atmosphere around the base of the stalk of the plant also to be kept relatively moist.

Summary of the Invention The invention is based on the concept of incorporating into a plant pot a water channel which surrounds at least a part of the periphery of the pot adjacent the pot edge.

With such an arrangement, the channel will tend to retain any water poured into it, and the atmosphere around the edge of the pot - and hence around the base of the plant stalk and the plant leaves - will remain relatively moist for as long as the water level in the channel is periodically replenished to counteract natural evaporation.

Preferably the channel extends substantially all the way around the pot periphery, so that its benefits in use are maximised.

Advantageously, the pot wall may be perforated, within the area bounded by the channel, so that a limited amount of the water poured into the channel will seep through the perforations and enhance the irrigation of the pot contents. In any such arrangement, of course, the perforations will be so sized and spaced that the channel continues to fulfil its primary function of maintaining a water ring adjacent the pot top edge.

In any pot modified to embody the invention, the top-edgeadjacent ring may be combined with another ring elsewhere on the pot - for example, around the base region of the pot - with the said other ring providing the primary or the sole source of irrigation for the pot contents.

In a case such as that just outlined, however, the said other ring could (instead of or in addition to the top-edge-adjacent ring) enshroud perforations in the pot wall as well as - or instead of - the pot base.

Any embodiment of the invention may be so constructed as to incorporate, in the top-edge-adjacent ring, means whereby water can be ejected into the ring as well as - or instead of - being poured in through the substantially open top of the ring.

Brief Description of the Drawings There are four Figures in the accompanying drawings and they show, by way of example only, different forms which the invention might take in practical embodiments. All the drawings are drawn to approximately the same scale and they show pots, each embodying the invention, in diagrammatic sectioned side elevation.

Description of the Preferred Embodiments In Figure 1, an otherwise conventional frusto-conical open-topped plastics plant pot 11 has moulded around substantially its entire outer peripheral surface a ring 12. The ring 12 forms a channel which is concentric with the pot and surrounds the pot, and is open-topped adjacent the peripheral edge 13 of the pot.

The pot 12 and channel 12 are fused together during the moulding process around their common base 13. The wall of the pot 11 is perforated, as shown, and it will be appreciated that with these perforations there is no need to perforate the base 13 of the pot. Water poured into the open-topped channel ring 12 will automatically seep through the perforations to irrigate the pot contents.

The size and spacing of the pot wall perforations are, however, such that only a relatively small amount of this water seeps through into the pot. The remainder of it stays in the opentopped channel 12 and the channel 12 is kept substantially full to the brim, by regular replenishment, as illustrated.

In Figure 2, the ring 12 is moulded onto the outside of the pot 11 and extends as shown around only a relatively small extent of the height of the pot. The pot base is perforated in the conventional way to irrigate the pot contents. The pot wall is not perforated, and the channel 12 tends to retain virtually all of its water other than that lost my natural evaporation throughout the day and night. It will therefore need less replenishment than the channel 12 of Figure 1.

In Figure 3, a similar arrangement is provided with the intention that the pot 11 will - like the pot of Figure 2 - be stood in a saucer or other receptacle to provide its main irrigation water. Here, however, a fine mesh 14 caps the normally open top of the ring 12 to prevent dust and debris from settling on the surface of the water contained within the channel 12.

And a one-way valve 15 is provided in the wall of the ring 12 to allow water to be injected into the ring rather than having to be poured over the mesh 14 with consequent high probability of spillage by deflection over the sides of the ring.

Finally in Figure 4 the concepts of perforating the wall of the pot to provide seepage for irrigation, rather than perforating the base, and providing the necessary ring 12 to keep the pot edge region atmosphere moist, are combined with the provision of two separate rings 12 and 16. Each of these rings is filled separately with its own water for its own respective purpose.

The pots and their surrounding rings will of course be sized appropriately. Suitable dimensions have been worked out, and could be given, but they are not essential to the disclosure of the invention at this stage.

In a currently preferred embodiment, the channel 12 and the inner pot 13 are of substantially identical wall height (similar to the pot shown in Figure 1); they are made as one integral pottery, not plastics, unit; there are no perforations of the kind that are illustrated in Figure 1; and, in use, a conventional brown or green plastics plant pot fits inside the inner pot 11 of the earthenware double-pot 11, 12.

Claims (6)

CLAIMS:

1. A plant pot incorporating a water channel, the channel surrounding at least a part of the periphery of the pot adjacent the pot edge.

2. A plant pot according to claim 1 and in which the channel extends substantially all the way around the pot periphery.

3. A plant pot according to claim 1 or claim 2 and in which the pot wall is perforated, within the area bounded by the channel, to allow a limited amount of the water poured into the channel in use to seep through the perforations and enhance the irrigation of the pot contents.

4. A plant pot according to any of the preceding claims and in which the channel comprises separate rings, one adjacent the top edge of the pot, another around the base region of the pot.

5. A plant pot according to any of the preceding claims and in which there are incorporated into the channel means whereby water can be injected into the channel as well as - or instead of - being poured in through the substantially open top of the channel.

6. A plant pot substantially as described herein with reference to and as illustrated in any appropriate combination of the accompanying drawings.