Composite plant cage with locking clips

• US 10,334,792 B2
• Filed: 07/11/2016
• Issued: 07/02/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alf Operating Partners, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Alf Operating Partners, Ltd.
• Inventors: Fakhari, M. John
• Primary Examiner(s): Chapman, Jeanette E
• Application Number:
  US15/206,398
• Publication Number:
  US 20180007843A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,086 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 9/12 Supports for plants; Trellis for strawberries or the like trellis-work for vines A01G17/06; stays for trees, props for vines A01G17/14

Abstract

A plant cage for supporting growing plants includes horizontal and vertical support rods connected by locking clips to form a cage of a desired size and shape. The locking clip includes a clamp at each end of an elongated body, with each clamp formed of two tabs extending outwardly at oblique angles, with an aperture formed in each tab for receiving a horizontal or vertical support rod. The outwardly extending tabs are resilient and flexible such that the tabs can be moved towards each other to a deflected position so that the apertures align and a support rod can be inserted, the resiliency of the material then biases the tabs away from each other when released so that the apertures become unaligned so that the inserted rod is frictionally captured by the clamp.

Claims

1. A plant cage, comprising:

at least one vertical support rod;

at least one horizontal support rod;

a locking clip configured to attach said at least one horizontal support rod to said at least one vertical support rod, wherein said locking clip comprises a main body with first and second clamps at opposite ends of said main body in orthogonal relationship to each other, said first and second clamps each comprising a pair of tabs extending outwardly from said main body, said tabs movable between a deflected position and a released position, wherein each of said tabs comprises an aperture formed therethrough, and wherein said apertures on said pair of tabs are aligned concentrically when said tabs are in said deflected position and are not aligned concentrically when said tabs are in said released position.

2. The plant cage of claim 1, wherein said at least one vertical support rod extends through a pair of apertures in a pair of tabs extending from a first end of said main body, and wherein said at least one horizontal support rod extends through a pair of apertures in a pair of tabs extending from a second end of said main body.

3. The plant cage of claim 2, wherein a portion of said tabs surrounding said apertures frictionally engage said corresponding horizontal and vertical support rods extending therethrough when said tabs are in said released position.

4. The plant cage of claim 1, wherein each tab of said pair of tabs extends outwardly at an oblique angle to the other tab of said pair.

5. The plant cage of claim 1, wherein each tab comprises a detent portion at a distal end comprised to receive a finger of a user for deflecting said tab.

6. A locking clip for a plant cage assembly, comprising:

an elongated main body;

first and second clamps at opposite ends of said main body, wherein each of said clamps comprises a pair of tabs extending outwardly from said main body and wherein said first and second clamps are arranged orthogonally to each other wherein each of said tabs comprises an aperture formed therethrough, and wherein said apertures on said pair of tabs are aligned concentrically when said tabs are in a deflected position and are not aligned concentrically when said tabs are in a released position.

7. The locking clip of claim 6, wherein each tab of each pair of tabs is comprised of a resilient material such that each tab is moveable between a deflected position and a released position.

8. The locking clip of claim 7, wherein a resiliency of each tab biases said tab towards said released position when not deflected by a user.

9. The locking clip of claim 6, wherein each tab comprises a detent portion at its distal end configured to allow a user to deflect said tab.

10. The locking clip of claim 6, wherein each tab of said pair of tabs extends outwardly at an oblique angle to the other tab of said pair.

11. The locking clip of claim 6, wherein said clip comprises a fiberglass reinforced polymer material, a polyvinyl chloride material, or combinations thereof.

12. A plant cage, comprising:

a plurality of vertical support rods;

a plurality of horizontal support rods; and

a plurality of locking clips comprising a main body having first and second clamps at opposite ends, said first and second clamps each comprising a pair of extending tabs configured to attach to a rod, wherein a first clamp of each locking clip is attached to at least one of said plurality of vertical support rods and wherein a second clamp of each locking clip is attached to at least one of said plurality of horizontal support rods, wherein each of said tabs comprises an aperture formed therethrough, and wherein said apertures on said pair of tabs are aligned concentrically when said tabs are in a deflected position and are not aligned concentrically when said tabs are in a released position.

13. The plant cage of claim 12, wherein said horizontal support rods, said vertical support rods, and said apertures are cylindrical in shape.

14. The plant cage of claim 12, wherein each tab of said pair of tabs extends outwardly at an oblique angle to the other tab of said pair.

15. The plant cage of claim 12, wherein tab of each pair of tabs is comprised of a resilient material such that the tabs of the pair are moveable towards each other to a deflected position.

16. The plant cage of 15, wherein a resiliency of each tab biases the tab towards a released position when not deflected by a user.