WO2002001021A2

WO2002001021A2 - Movable garden fence

Info

Publication number: WO2002001021A2
Application number: PCT/US2001/019173
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ileana Sisson
Original assignee: Ileana Sisson
Priority date: 2000-06-23
Filing date: 2001-06-14
Publication date: 2002-01-03
Also published as: WO2002001021A3; AU2001266933A1

Abstract

A movable garden fence has hook poles (1) with foot-press stakes (3, 17) for penetrable-ground positioning and loaded bases (4, 5, 19) for hard-surface positioning to hold top edges (7) of mesh sheets (6) of preferably plastic material having predetermined separation of fibers to allow desired visibility. Edges of the mesh sheets are hemmed or otherwise reinforced for bordering where support eyes (8) or other support orifices are positioned for support by horizontal rods (23) to prevent sagging as needed between poles. Bottoms also can be staked down to deter some small animals from underneath entrance. End edges (9, 10) are hemmed or otherwise reinforced for end-to-end attachment of the sheets with hook and loop fastening material (11, 12) or other quick-release fasteners. Spacing of poles without undue sagging for most purposes is seventy-to-eighty inches and spacing of the top-support orifices is two-to-three feet. In addition to straight fencing, curved, arcuate and circularly shaped movable fencing can be provided for special plant and garden configurations by positioning the hook poles where and as needed.

Description

MOVABLE GARDEN FENCE

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to fences and more particularly, a garden fence that is movable for changing garden shape, size, plants and offers protection from wild animals and pets that eat and trample garden plants.

Fences for gardens are well known. None are known, however, to be installable and movable conveniently, to be protective effectively, to allow vision of garden beauty without distraction and to complement garden attractiveness in a manner taught by this invention.

Currently, there are few options for people who want to keep deer, chickens, pets, and other animals away from their gardens. Present product alternatives include using sprays that once applied to the plant will inhibit deer from wanting to eat it. These products are generally made from the urine of animals that the deer would want to stay away from. However, in order to acquire the urine, these creatures have to be trapped, confined and subjected to inhumane treatment that frequently results in their death.

Whether the product is made of chemicals or animal urine, they require frequent reapplication as they wear off. Also, although they may keep some animals away from the plants or garden, it may not deter others from damaging or eating the plants. In the long run, it is a costly and time-consuming project with costly consequences if one forgets to reapply at a proper time.

Another option is a plastic or wire mesh sold in most home and garden stores. This mesh is usually very narrow and has small openings to secure it to stakes made of wood or metal that are hammered into the ground after being woven through the small openings. This creates a permanent fence. It is not easy to take down, readjust, move, or reconfigure to size and conditions of garden changes. Wooden stakes are hard to drive into the ground. They shift and fall frequently when being hammered and splinter into slivers that stick in hands when being held to hammer or handle. In order to get into a garden, one must jump over the fence or leave an area open where animals also can go through, or take the stake out at one corner and replace it for each access time. In addition, these fences are unsightly and defeat objects of a desirably beautiful garden.

Permanent high fencing can be installed, but does not meet changing needs of a garden. It conflicts with plant beauty and fades unsightly unless painted with yet more coloring conflict. They are costly and large deer will still jump over them and wreak havoc with a garden.

Examples of related known but different fences are described in the following patent documents. U.S. Patent Number 6,014,837, issued to Morgan on Jan. 18, 2000, described a bendable screen for positioning over and around individual plants as a shield supported on bendable rods. U.S. Patent Number 4,236,698, issued to Conipte on Dec. 2, 1980, described a rail fence supportable on hooks positioned on posts . U.S. Patent Number 4 , 067 , 547 , issued to Peters on Jan. 10, 1978, described a feed-lot fence made of prefabricated fence panels. U.S. Patent Number 4,301,996, issued to Holyoak on Nov. 24, 1981, described a snake-snare fence. U.S. Patent Number 962,632, issued to Frost on Jun. 28, 1910, described angle-iron posts to which hooks were fastened to support fence fabric. French Patent Number 2 458 992 issued to Mochidlover, et ah on Jan. 9, 1981 described hooks for fruit trees to support fences. French Patent Number 2 254 273, issued to Variat on Jul. 11, 1975, described rolled plastic screen having pole-attachment orifices for being positioned around or over plants.

Other known garden fences are variously permanent with wooden stakes or posts to which strips of plastic mesh are attached. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Objects of patentable novelty and utility taught by this invention are to provide a movable garden fence which: is easy to install and uninstall; can be adapted easily to any size and shape of garden; can be positioned around a single garden plant; takes only minutes to be put up or repositioned around a garden; does not put slivers into hands; provides quick and easy access with mere hooking and unhooking; uses decorative metal or plastic poles that can be foot-pressed into ground while being hand-held in a standing position; provides permanency or quick-change use as desired; humanely resists deer, pets, chickens and other animals; does not restrict water spray for sprinkler irrigation without removing a fence; does not restrict sunshine, air and rain for plant health; allows visibility of garden beauty; does not obstruct mowing and weeding; can be used in any location or terrain conditions; is adaptable to aesthetic structural design for garden beauty; is adaptable to use on concrete, brick or rock areas with base- loaded poles; and is particularly effective because of human-structure fear it appears to convey to animals. This invention accomplishes these and other objectives with a movable garden fence having hook poles with foot-press stakes for penetrable-ground positioning and loaded bases for hard-surface positioning to hold top edges of a mesh sheets of preferably plastic material having predetermined separation of fibers to allow desired visibility. Top edges of the mesh sheets are hemmed or otherwise reinforced for bordering where hook eyes, button holes or other top- support orifices are positioned for support by horizontal top rods to prevent sagging as needed between poles. Bottoms also can be staked down to deter some small animals from underneath entrance. End edges are hemmed or otherwise reinforced for end-to-end attachment of the sheets with hook and loop fastening material or other quick-release fastener. Spacing of poles without undue sagging for most purposes is seventy-to-eighty inches and spacing of the top-support orifices is two-to-three feet. In addition to straight fencing, curved, arcuate and circularly shaped movable fencing can be provided for special plant configurations by positioning the hook poles where and as needed.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention should become even more readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the following detailed description in conjunction with the drawings wherein there is shown and described illustrative embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS This invention is described by appended claims in relation to description of a preferred embodiment with reference to the following drawings which are explained briefly as follows:

FIG. 1 is an end view of a mesh sheet suspended from a hook pole having a single foot-press treadle for two foot-press stakes; FIG. 2 is a top view of the FIG. 1 illustration taken from section line 1 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an end view of a mesh sheet suspended from a hook pole having a plurality of foot-press treadles for a plurality of foot-press stakes;

FIG. 4 is a top view of the FIG. 3 illustration taken from section line 3 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged end view of a mesh sheet suspended from a hook pole having a top-end hook with a cupped hook jaw;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged end view of a mesh sheet suspended from a hook pole having a top-end hook with a U-shaped leg attached to a tip of the hook pole;

FIG. 7 is an end view of a mesh sheet suspended from a hook pole having a weighted platform as a loaded base for positioning of a hook pole uprightly on a hard surface such as cement or brick walkways;

FIG. 8 is a top view of the FIG. 7 illustration taken from section line 7 of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is an end view of a mesh sheet suspended from a hook pole having a liquid-container platform as a loaded base for positioning of a hook pole uprightly on a hard surface such as cement or brick walkways;

FIG. 10 is a top view of the FIG. 9 illustration taken from section line 9 of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a side elevation view of a mesh sheet having ends that are connected with hook and loop fastening material;

FIG. 12 is a side elevation view of a mesh sheet having ends that are connected with hooks and eyes and having bottom attachment orifices;

FIG. 13 is a top view of a movable garden fence with four hook poles and two mesh sheets that are joined between the hook poles; FIG. 14 is a top view of a movable garden fence with a plurality of hook poles arranged to surround one garden plant with one mesh sheet that is joined at opposite ends; and

FIG. 15 is a top view of a movable garden fence with ends of mesh sheets joined between pluralities of top-end hooks on the hook poles.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Listed numerically below with reference to the drawings are terms used to describe features of this invention. These terms and numbers assigned to them designate the same features throughout this description.

1. Hook pole 14. Hook teeth

2. Top-end hook 15. Ground

3. Foot-press stake 16. Press treadles

4. Weighted platform 17. Treadle stakes

5. Liquid-container vessel 18. Cement

6. Mesh sheet 19. Weighted spokes

7. Top edge 20. Fastener orifices

8. Support eyes 21. Orifice-engagement fasteners

9. First-end edge 22. Pass-through loop

10. Second-end edge 23. Horizontal rod

11. First sides of hook and 24. Bottom eyes loop fastening material 25. Bottom edge

12. Second sides of hook and 26. Single plant loop fastening material

13. Hook jaws

Reference is made first to FIGS. 1-10. Hook poles 1 shown in FIGS. 1- 10 and 13-15 have top-end hooks 2 proximate top ends and selectively foot-press stakes 3 shown in FIGS. 1-4 for ground-penetration positioning and loaded bases such as weighted platforms 4 shown in FIGS. 7-8 and liquid-container vessels 5 shown in FIGS. 9-10 for hard-surface positioning of the hook poles 1 uprightly. The hook poles 1 are preferably metal or plastic.

At least one mesh sheet 6, shown in FIGS. 1-15, that hangs on the hook poles 1 can be metal or other fabric but is preferably plastic material having netting lines with predetermined size and separation for desired transparent visibility of plants, although visible to animals with an animal-scaring appearance of structure by humans. A top edge 7 of the mesh sheet 6 has support eyes 8 spaced predeterminedly proximate and intermediate a first-end edge 9 and a second-end edge 10. The first-end edge 9 has first-end fasteners which preferably are first sides of hook and loop fastening material 11 and the second- end edge 10 has second-end fasteners which preferably are second sides of hook and loop fastening material 12 in matched fastener positions as shown in FIG. 11.

The hook poles 1 include the top-end hooks 2 which have hook jaws 13 that are orthogonal to the hook poles 1 and hook teeth 14 that are parallel to the hook poles 1. The top-end hooks 2 are U-shaped with one of the legs of the U-shapes attached to tip portions of the hook poles 1. Attachment to the tip portions of the hook poles 1 is preferably with the hook jaws 13 being cupped as shown in FIG. 5, with attachment appendages for side attachment as shown in FIG. 6, or with hook jaws 13 that are lateral being attached to tops of the attachment legs of the U-shapes in a "lazy-S" shape that is similar to a shepherd's hook as shown in FIGS. 1, 3, 7 and 9.

The foot-press stakes 3 for penetrable positioning uprightly in ground 15 include press treadles 16 extended orthogonally and radially from bottom portions of the hook poles 1. Preferably, the press treadles 16 include treadle stakes 17 which are optional foot-press stakes extended parallel to the foot-press stakes 3 shown in FIGS. 1 and 3.

As shown in FIGS. 7-10, the loaded bases for hard-surface positioning of the hook poles 1 on cement 18, brick, compact walkways or other hard surfaces can include weighted spokes 19 extended radially outward from the bottom portions of the hook poles 1. The weighted spokes 19 are optional to or can be used in addition to the weighted platform 4 and the liquid-container vessel 5.

Referring further to FIGS. 11-12, the top edge 7, the first-end edge 9 and the second-end edge 10 of the mesh sheet 6 are preferably reinforced with fold- over hemming and predeterminedly dense and flexible material such as transparent plastic. The support eyes 8 are preferably rigid metal grommets or flexible tough material grommets. The first-end fasteners can include fastener orifices 20 and the second-end fasteners can include orifice-engagement fasteners 21, such as hooks and eyes, snaps, zippers, lacing and buttons with button holes.

Referring further to FIGS. 1, 3, 5-7, 9, and 11-12, a pass-through loop 22 vertically above the support eyes 8 in the top edge 7 can be provided for receiving a horizontal rod 23 to prevent sagging between hook poles 1 which are positioned uprightly proximate predetermined distances apart. The horizontal rod 23 can rest on a bottom of the pass-through loop 22 as depicted in FIG. 3 or, as depicted in FIGS. 6 and 9, the horizontal rod 23 can rest on the hook jaws 13 of the top-end hooks 2 to support the mesh sheets 6 and the top of the pass- through loop 22 rests on the horizontal rod 23.

As shown in FIG. 12, bottom eyes 24 can be provided in the bottom edge 25 for vertical reversibility, for bottom staking and for bottom horizontal-rod 23 stiffening in possible combination with closely spaced hook poles 1 for a movable garden fence that is particularly restrictive to both high-jumping and small animals without detraction from garden beauty. Bottom hooks, weights and tethering to the hook poles 1 also can be provided.

Referring to FIG. 13, the plurality of hook poles 1 are positioned uprightly at three or more surrounding corners of a ground area encompassed by two or more of the mesh sheets 6 that are hung vertically from the top-end hooks 2 positioned in support eyes 8 shown in FIGS. 11-12. For this particular movable garden fence, the first-end edge 9 and the second-end edge 10 are depicted as being joined with first sides of hook and loop fastening material 11 and second sides of hook and loop fastening material 12 between hook poles 1 having pluralities of press treadles 16 and singular top-end hooks 2. Referring to FIG. 14, the plurality of hook poles 1 are positioned uprightly at three or more surrounding corners of a ground area encompassed by one or less than one mesh sheet 6 that is hung vertically from the top-end hooks 2 to fence a single plant 26.

Referring to FIG. 15, a plurality of top-end hooks 2 on single hook poles 1 for plural corners of the mesh sheets 6 of the movable garden fence provide joining of first-end edges 9 and second-end edges 10 at the corners.

A new and useful movable garden fence having been described, all such foreseeable modifications, adaptations, substitutions of equivalents, mathematical possibilities of combinations of parts, pluralities of parts, applications and forms thereof as described by the following claims and not precluded by prior art are included in this invention.

Claims

CLAIMS Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A movable garden fence comprising: a plurality of hook poles with top-end hooks proximate top ends and selectively foot-press stakes proximate bottom ends for ground-penetration positioning and loaded bases proximate the bottom ends for hard-surface positioning of the hook poles uprightly; at least one mesh sheet of preferably plastic material having predetermined size and separation of netting lines; the mesh sheet having a top edge, a first-end edge, a second-end edge and a bottom edge; the top edge, the first-end edge and the second-end edge being reinforcement-bordered ; support eyes in the top edge; the support eyes being spaced predeterminedly proximate and intermediate the first-end edge and the second-end edge; the first-end edge having first-end fasteners; and the second-end edge having second-end fasteners that are matched to the first-end fasteners.

2. The movable garden fence of claim 1 wherein: the hook poles include top-end hooks with hook jaws orthogonal to the hook poles and hook teeth parallel to the hook poles.

3. The movable garden fence of claim 2 wherein: the hook jaws are cupped for attachment to tip portions of the hook poles.

4. The movable garden fence of claim 2 wherein: the hook jaws include attachment appendages for side attachment to tip portions of the hook poles.

5. The movable garden fence of claim 1 wherein: the top-end hooks are U-shaped with an attachment leg of the U- shapes attached to the tip portions of the hook poles.

6. The movable garden fence of claim 1 wherein: the top-end hooks are U-shaped; and the tip portions of the hook poles include lateral hook jaws attached to tops of the attachment legs of the U-shapes in a "lazy-S" shape that is similar to a shepherd's hook.

7. The movable garden fence of claim 1 wherein: the foot-press stakes for penetrable-ground positioning uprightly include foot-press treadles extended orthogonally from bottom portions of the hook poles.

8. The movable garden fence of claim 7 wherein: the foot-press treadles include treadle stakes extended parallel to the foot-press stakes.

9. The movable garden fence of claim 1 wherein: the foot-press stakes for penetrable-ground positioning uprightly include pluralities of foot-press treadles extended orthogonally and radially from bottom portions of the hook poles.

10. The movable garden fence of claim 9 wherein: the foot-press treadles include treadle stakes extended parallel to the foot-press stakes.

11. The movable garden fence of claim 1 wherein: the loaded bases for hard-surface positioning uprightly include weighted spokes extended radially outward from the bottom portions of the of the hook poles.

12. The movable garden fence of claim 1 wherein: the loaded bases for hard-surface positioning uprightly include weighted platforms positioned radially outward from the bottom portions of the of the hook poles.

13. The movable garden fence of claim 1 wherein: the loaded bases for hard-surface positioning uprightly include liquid- container vessels positioned radially outward from the bottom portions of the of the hook poles.

14. The movable garden fence of claim 1 wherein: the predetermined size and separation of the netting lines of the mesh sheet allow predetermined transparency for visibility of plants, passage of sprinkler spray, rain and sunshine through the mesh sheet; and the mesh sheet is visible to animals as a human structure.

15. The movable garden fence of claim 1 wherein: the netting lines include plastic material.

16. The movable garden fence of claim 1 wherein: the netting lines include metal wire strands.

17. The movable garden fence of claim 1 wherein: the top edge, the first-end edge and the second-end edge are reinforcement-bordered with fold-over hemming.

18. The movable garden fence of claim 1 wherein: the top edge, the first-end edge and the second-end edge are reinforcement-bordered with predeterminedly dense and flexible material.

19. The movable garden fence of claim 1 wherein: the support eyes are rigid metal grommets.

20. The movable garden fence of claim 1 wherein: the support eyes are flexible grommets.

21. The movable garden fence of claim 1 wherein: the first-end fasteners are first sides of hook and loop fastening material; and the second-end fasteners are second sides of hook and loop fastening material.

22. The movable garden fence of claim 1 wherein: the first-end fasteners include fastener orifices; and the second-end fasteners include orifice-engagement fasteners.

23. The movable garden fence of claim 1 wherein: the plurality of hook poles are positioned uprightly at three or more surrounding corners of a ground area encompassed by one or less than one mesh sheet that is hung vertically from the top-end hooks positioned in the support eyes in the top edge of the mesh sheet.

24. The movable garden fence of claim 1 wherein: the plurality of hook poles are positioned uprightly at three or more surrounding corners of a ground area encompassed by two or more of the mesh sheets that are hung vertically from the top-end hooks positioned in the support eyes in the top edges of the mesh sheets.

25. The movable garden fence of claim 1 and further comprising: a pass-through loop vertically above the support eyes in the top edge of the mesh sheet for receiving a horizontal rod.

26. The movable garden fence of claim 1 and further comprising: at least one horizontal rod that is sized and shaped to be positioned in the pass-through loop to prevent sagging between hook poles which are positioned uprightly proximate predetermined distances apart.

27. The movable garden fence of claim 1 and further comprising: a plurality of the top-end hooks on the hook poles for plural corners of mesh sheets of the movable garden fence.

28. The movable garden fence of claim 1 and further comprising: bottom eyes in the bottom edge for vertical reversibility, for bottom staking and for bottom horizontal-rod stiffening of the mesh sheets selectively.