A device for guiding plants

Abstract

The invention consists of a reel (1) attached to a fixed support (2) for fastening a corresponding staking wire. A cord, secured by its loose end for hanging plants, is attached to a pin (8) at the base of the support (2) and wound around the reel (1) to allow the reel to move both axially and rotationally. The base of the support includes a pair of vertical arms (10) that define a locking mechanism for the reel (1). The base of the reel (1) includes two diametric, perpendicular recesses or grooves (7), which may or may not fit into the arms (10) at the base of the support (2) itself. Thus, the reel is always in a locked position that can be released by pressing the reel upward.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to a device for supporting plants with stakes, and specifically, to a device for supporting tomato plants with stakes, excluding other applications where similar functions are required.

[0002] The object of the invention is to provide a device for adjusting the height of a tomato plant relative to a wire to which the plant is attached by a cord that forms part of the device itself.

[0003] Therefore, the object of the invention is to provide means for easily adjusting the length of a cord that connects, for example, a tomato plant to a wire that supports the tomato plant, in order to facilitate the harvesting of the crop or to adjust the height according to the growth of the plant itself.

Background Art

[0004] In contrast to leaving the plants to grow naturally extending on the ground, in order to optimize tomato production, within the scope of the practical application of the invention and, as is already common knowledge, these plants are always connected to a horizontal wire by a string or cord that enables the plants to adopt a vertical position, keeping the plants away from the ground, avoiding potential high humidity conditions and insects, and improving the production conditions of the crop. Also, this optimizes the available space.

[0005] In any case, this staking technique is initiated by a cord or string that needs to adapt to a state that is prone to change as a result of the growth of the plant itself. Those plants can reach a considerable height and, naturally, since the tomatoes are harvested according to their maturity, not all tomatoes are harvested simultaneously. Therefore, the plants always need to remove the hook in order to access the ripe crops located at a position higher than the plants before hanging them again.

[0006] Therefore, the process of supporting with these stakes is initiated by tying and untying the cord until it adapts to the required length in any given time, which becomes a difficult and laborious task, especially in large areas where this process needs to be repeated many times. [Overview of the project] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0007] The device for supporting the plants with stakes provides a more effective and simpler solution to satisfy the aforementioned problems, making it convenient, fast, and simple to adjust the length of the cord connecting the plants to the horizontal wire that suspends the plants, without requiring complex operations. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] For this purpose, the device of the present invention consists of two parts, namely a reel and a fixed support, which are manually joined together to attach the two parts to a horizontal pile-driving wire.

[0009] More specifically, the reel has a hollow cylindrical tubular shape. This allows the cord to be secured to the plant being suspended by its untie end by winding the wire around its outside, and as mentioned above, the reel has a hollow interior, defining a means for rotating the reel.

[0010] On the other hand, the support consists of a base with a vertical cylindrical pin intended for attaching the reel, the base consisting of a pair of vertical arms, the vertical arms emerging from the ends and forming an open winding type of reel, the two vertical arms extending over the reel and terminating on the corresponding wire with two suspension hooks.

[0011] This ensures that the reel rotates relative to the wire fixing support to adjust the length of the cord and, consequently, the height of the plant associated with the cord, thereby allowing the cord associated with the reel to be unwound or wound in.

[0012] According to another feature of the present invention, the reel can be both locked and unlocked relative to the support to which it is connected by rotation. For this purpose, the reel terminates at a bottom with an annular base, the annular base having a diametrically oriented recess or groove with a width and depth corresponding to the arms of the wire base. Thus, due to the relative rotation between the elements during the rotation of the reel, and due to the effect of gravity or tension of the cord, the groove of the lower base of the reel coincides with and fits the arms of the base, preventing relative movement between the two elements. Thus, when the reel can move axially on the pin emerging from the base of the support, the grower can release the reel by pressing upward on the base of the reel, allowing the reel to rotate freely and the cord itself to stabilize completely so as to adjust the length of the cord wound on the reel. Thus, when the correct length is reached, the reel automatically locks. This occurs when the groove of the lower base of the reel coincides with the arms of the lower base of the support and when upward pressure is no longer applied. [Effects of the Invention]

[0013] Therefore, this makes it easier to create mechanisms that are both affordable and reusable, as well as relatively easy to adjust.

[0014] To complement the following description and to facilitate a good understanding of the features of the present invention, in accordance with preferred examples of practical application, a series of illustrative and non-limiting drawings shown below are attached as an integral part of this description. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0015] [Figure 1]A perspective view is shown of a reel that forms part of a device for supporting plants with stakes, made in accordance with the objectives of the present invention. [Figure 2] Figure 1 shows a perspective view of the support section for suspending the device from a horizontal wire to which the reel shown is attached. [Figure 3] A perspective view of the assembled device of the present invention is shown with the reel in a free rotation position with the lock released from the suspension support. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0016] Considering the diagrams shown above, the device for supporting plants with stakes consists of a reel (1) shown in Figure 1 and a support part (2) for attaching to a horizontal pile-driving wire shown in Figure 2, and it can be observed that the reel (1) and the support part (2) are interconnected, as can be seen in Figure 3.

[0017] Returning to Figure 1, the reel consists of a hollow cylindrical tubular body (3) including a disc-shaped upper base (4) with a hole (5) to stabilize the pile-driving wire wound externally on the surface of the cylindrical tubular body (3). The lower end of this tubular body terminates at an annular base (6) on its underside, which has two diametrically aligned and perpendicularly intersecting recesses or grooves (7).

[0018] According to Figure 2, the support (2) consists of a base with a hollow cylindrical vertical pin (8) intended for inserting the reel (1). The cylindrical tubular body (3) has an inner shaft (9) attached midway along the pin (8).

[0019] The base of the support (2) consists of two vertical arms (10), from the ends of the vertical arms (10) two vertical posts (11) emerge, forming an open winding shape for the reel, reinforced by rings (12) attached to all of the posts (11), two of which are able to extend over the reel and terminate with hooks (13) used for suspending the corresponding wire.

[0020] From this structure, and as can be observed in Figure 3, when the base of the reel is pressed upward so that the reel (1) can be displaced axially on the pin (8) at the base of the support (2), the reel is released from the arm (10) that locks the reel in place, allowing the reel to rotate and thus adjust the cord attached to the reel. When the reel is released, it tends to lock due to both the downward tension of the cord and gravity, and the arm (10) of the support locks into the groove (7) of the reel.

Claims

1. A device for guiding plants, consisting of a reel (1) and a fixed support (2) fixed to the wire, The reel (1) is composed of a hollow cylindrical tubular body (3), a cord is wound around the outside of the reel (1), and one end of the cord is fixed to the plant that is hung by the cord; The reel (1) can be displaced both in the axial direction of a vertical pin (8) provided at the base of the fixed support part (2) and in the rotational direction around the vertical pin, The base is made up of a pair of arms (10) perpendicular to each other, and vertical supports (11) emerge from both ends of each of the pair of arms (10) to form an open case that encases the reel. Two of the vertical struts (11) extend into the headspace of the sides of the reel and have hooks (13) used to hang the fixed support (2) on the wire; The reel (1) has an annular base (6) with a recess or groove (7) on the underside thereof, the recess or groove being diametrically intersecting the reel at a right angle; The device is characterized in that the recess or groove (7) can fit into and be removed from the arm (10) of the base of the fixed support (2), and the vertical pin (8) is hollow and comprises an inner shaft (9) attached to the center of the vertical pin (8) inside the hollow cylindrical tubular body of the reel (1).

2. A device for guiding plants as described in claim 1, characterized in that the reel (1) has a disk-shaped upper base (4) with holes (5) at the top of the reel to stabilize the cord.

3. A device for guiding plants as described in claim 1, characterized in that the fixed support part (2) includes a reinforcing ring (12) joined to the vertical support (11).

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