Collapsible and/or erectable floral containers

Abstract

A collapsible and / or erectable shape-sustaining container having a substantially erect condition and substantially collapsed condition. The collapsible and / or erectable shape-sustaining container is provided with at least one condition modifying element to facilitate erecting and / or collapsing the container.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] The present application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 10 / 932,355, filed Sep. 1, 2004; which is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 10 / 434,141, filed May 8, 2003; which claims benefit under 35 USC 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60 / 212,572, filed Jun. 20, 2000. The present application claims benefit under 35 USC 119(e) of Provisional Application Ser. No. 60 / 663,640, filed Mar. 21, 2005. All of the above-referenced applications are hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT [0002] Not applicable. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] 1. Field of the Invention [0004] The present invention relates generally to collapsible and / or erectable containers, and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a collapsible and / or erectable flower pot, vase or flower pot cover that has at least one condition modifying element to facilit...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

While clay or ceramic flower pots are both aesthetically pleasing and effectively serve the purpose of containing plant material and a growing medium, inefficiencies are nevertheless experienced in shipping and storing such containers due to the their bulkiness and susceptibility to breakage.

More specifically, ceramic flower pots are rigid but at the same time are quite fragile.

Because of their rigidity, a large volume of space is required for both shipping and storing ceramic flower pots which results in high shipping and storage costs.

Their inflexibility further results in increased losses due to breakage.

To prevent breakage, large amounts of dunnage material is required, which also results in higher costs.

While breakage is not so much a problem with plastic flower pots, plastic flower pots nevertheless require a significant amount of space for storage and shipment.

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