Spring-Type Spacer Member with Stationary Hook for Vine Rows
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing spring-type spacer members for vine shoots require cumbersome manual operation to clamp them back to poles, especially in dense vine growth, often necessitating two operators to navigate through thick vegetation to engage and hook arms together.
Innovation Solution
A spring-type spacer member with a stationary support arm featuring hooks that allow flexible arms to engage and clasp easily, eliminating the need to reach through vegetation and enabling single-operator convenience by positioning hooks on the same side as the arms.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If prior-art spacer members with free arms are used, then the structure is simple, but the operator must navigate through dense vegetation to engage and hook arms together, requiring two operators
Solution Approach 1:
The stationary support arm with hooks enables the spacer member to be self-servicing by automatically engaging the flexible arms when pushed toward the pole, eliminating the need for operators to manually navigate through vegetation to engage arms. The hooks on the stationary arm catch the flexible arms automatically, making the clamping operation serviceable by a single operator.
Solution Approach 2:
The stationary support arm acts as an intermediary element between the flexible arms and the pole. It provides fixed hooks that mediate the engagement process, allowing flexible arms to be easily captured and held in the clamped position without requiring operators to reach through dense vegetation to connect arms directly.
2Productivity
If flexible arms are pushed towards the pole to clamp shoots, then the spacer member can restrain growing shoots, but operators must push arms through dense vegetation which is time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The stationary support arm with pre-positioned hooks performs the preliminary action of preparing the engagement point before the flexible arms arrive. The hooks are already in position to catch the flexible arms, eliminating the time-consuming manual navigation through vegetation and allowing operators to simply push the flexible arms toward the pole for automatic engagement.
3Ease of operation
If hooks are positioned on the opposite side of the pole, then the structure is symmetric, but operators must reach through vegetation to engage arms
Solution Approach 1:
The stationary support arm features asymmetric hook positioning, with hooks located on the same side of the pole as the flexible arms. This asymmetric configuration optimizes operational ease by allowing operators to engage arms without reaching through dense vegetation, sacrificing structural symmetry for functional efficiency.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enhances usability by allowing single-operator clamping without navigating through dense vine growth, improving efficiency and reducing the need for dual operators, especially as vine shoots grow and arms tend to open apart.
Implementation Method 1
an elastic coil or circlet - join into a stationary support arm
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention refers to an improved spring-type spacer member, in particular for vine or similar rows, that is characterized in that the component parts thereof are specially conformed so as to enable the spacer member itself to be most easily and conveniently switched over from an open configuration, in which the support wires for the vine-shoots are spaced apart from the respective support poles, to a closed or clamped position, in which the wires are brought back near the poles. More particularly, the spacer member according to the present invention comprises one or two side arms that can be opened apart, and that have - at the free end thereof - an eyelet provided to enable the support wires of the vine-shoots to pass therethrough, wherein such arms - on the opposite side thereof and via an elastic coil or circlet - join into a stationary support arm to be applied to the pole, which carries - in the upper portion thereof - a hook or similar contrivance enabling the free end portion of the spring arm to be quickly, easily and conveniently hooked up there when said spring arm is pushed by the operator towards the pole, to eventually retain it in this position.