Composite plant cage with locking clips
First Claim
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.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
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.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A plant cage, comprising:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A locking clip for a plant cage assembly, comprising:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A plant cage, comprising:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15)
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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.
Specification