Scrolling down the page will quickly show how varied and wide-ranging the projects are.
Introduction
In this column, there's text relating to my submission to the United States Patent and Trade Mark Office (USPTO). This New Vineyard / Orchard / Polytunnel Growing System is an invention which was awarded a Patent Pending in the United States by the United States Patent and Trade Mark Office (USPTO) in December, 2022.
The material here is based on the text and drawings I sent to the Patent Agents who have acted on my behalf and the modified text written by one of their Patent Agents. It's only in the section 'Detailed description' that the two show significant differences. For the time being, I omit the 'Detailed description' section, which contains, of course, the detailed information about how the invention is constructed, how it works, how to operate it in its various functions.
I'm completely willing to supply enquirers with much fuller information, including the information in the 'Detailed description' section, as well as helpful information on the drawings not provided here. For example, I can supply the identity of components labelled in the drawings with numbers. I want to be as helpful as I can, if I think that enquirers can understand my circumstances. There's disclosure of the invention now, after filing, but in the United States, my interests are protected by a year by the status of the invention 'Patent Pending.' To protect my interests beyond that point, I have to convert the patent into a non-provisional patent by supplying new documents, which are subjected to the complex process of patent examination and the result depends upon USPTO.
In countries other than the United States, my interests aren't protected. Patent documents are intended to make it possible for a hypothetical person with skill in the particular art to construct the device or system. Even so, realistically, constructing a device or system successfully so that it works in an optimal way, often needs supplementary information. I'm in a position to supply the information but it's reasonable to expect something in return, in countries where the system isn't protected by patent law - all countries except for the United States.
Sections
Invention title
Background of the invention
Summary of the invention
The drawings
Detailed description (not provided here)
Invention title
Integrated
dual layer structure and structure-group system with modifiable
components and configurations for growing, protected cropping, protected
working, materials handling, water collecting and water conservation for use
in vineyards and orchards and as a polytunnel substitute for growing
tomatoes and a range of other crops.
Background of the invention
In vineyards, protected cropping is usually conspicuous by its absence, although there are sometimes inconsequential interventions, such as draping some horticultural fleece over some of the rows or parts of rows.
The overwhelmingly common trellising systems for grape vines make use of wires supported by posts, tension being maintained by various methods. These wires have the function of supporting the grape vines and positioning the vines for the essential tasks of a vineyard, including pruning and harvesting of the grapes. The wires making up the trellising system are almost exclusively for support of the grape vines, even if they do have some subsidiary uses: the draping of horticultural fleece, the support of irrigation pipes, the support of pipes conveying water to the vines not for irrigation but, by freezing of the water, for attempted prevention of frost damage.
Effective protected cropping is impossible in the established - almost universal - systems of vine trellising, as well as in marginal systems of vine trellising.
Established systems are many and varied and sometimes have distinct advantages and disadvantages. For example, there are 'single curtain' trellis systems and 'double curtain' trellis systems, such as the Geneva Double Curtain, which manages a dense canopy by dividing it in two, so that more sunlight can reach the renewal zone. However, this system can be more costly to establish than other systems and needs careful maintenance.
Whatever benefits and disadvantages a particular trellising system may have, all, without exception, have the disadvantage that they fail to provide protection for grape vines, except for marginal benefits in some cases, and fail to provide adequate protection for workers who tend the vines.
Again, and again, the effects of frost damage in grape-growing regions are documented. The buds on the vines are sometimes entirely destroyed by Spring frosts, so that there is no crop at all that year, sometimes the damage is partial, of different degrees of severity. Very severe damage to buds may occur at this time in areas which generally have a mild climate, such as the Bordeaux area of France, or vineyards in California.
The methods which are employed in an attempt to combat frost damage all have marked disadvantages. For example, the use of water which freezes has not only the disadvantage of being expensive to install but the disadvantage of using large volumes of water, very problematic at a time when problems of water supply have become acute. Another method of (supposed) prevention relies upon open fires or very large candles, an inefficient form of heating in the open air and again, expensive to implement.
The best, most realistic form of protection would be to make us of the plastic sheets which are used in polytunnel protection, but in existing trellising systems satisfactory support of these sheet materials is not possible.
Plastic sheets are the best, most realistic form of protection against frost and some problems other than frost, such as impairment of the quality of grape vines by excessive water at harvesting time.
They would also be the best, most realistic form of protection for vineyard workers, who are expected to prune in the cold of winter and to harvest grapes in downpours of rain in the autumn - or to delay their work until conditions become more favourable.
Work at the height of summer would be more pleasant, grape vines would have a lower risk of damage from excessive solar heating if it were possible to install solar netting easily, but again, existing systems make this all but impossible.
However, the lack of provision for installation of sheet materials, in particular plastic sheeting but also solar netting, does at least preserve the aesthetic appeal of vineyards, for most of the people who work there, visit or have an interest in the subject. Unlike polytunnels, vineyards generally enhance the appearance of the countryside.
Provision for material handling is lacking in existing vineyard trellising systems. Workers are often expected to carry very heavy loads, leading to muscular and other problems. In industry, sophisticated techniques of bulk handling make the avoidance of these and other dangers far less likely.
The advantages and disadvantages already outlined for vineyards apply, mutatis mutandis, to apple orchards. Many commercial orchards are made up of individual trees which are quite widely separated from each other. The trees may be in rows or may be in a scattered configuration. It is possible to protect individual trees with horticultural fleece but not realistic to protect most of the trees in this way.
Another method of apple production relies upon wires similar to the trellises of vineyard production. Here, the trees are small and trained to grow on the wires.
The advantages and disadvantages of this orchard system are the advantages and disadvantages of any of the vineyard trellising systems in use, although in some cases, the possibility of frost damage can be largely discounted: the buds of apples grown for cider production generally appear after the risk of frost is over. However, whatever the kind of apple, there is the disadvantage of potentially harvesting the apples in very adverse weather conditions, even with early maturing apples. Cider apples are likely to be harvested at a time when the risk of adverse weather is much greater. Whether the apples are cider apples, dessert apples or cooking apples, the established systems used in orchards, like the systems used in vineyards, often do little or nothing to alleviate the physical demands of the work. The supposition that they cannot be alleviated or that they are necessary is quite common.
One advantage of the orchard trellising systems shared with the vine growing systems is the aesthetic advantage. This form of apple growing, like the one which relies upon more widely separated apple trees not grown on trellises, is generally agreed to enhance the appearance of a locality, not to detract from it.
Polytunnels are used on an enormous scale for the commercial growing of
crops - strawberries, lettuces, raspberries, tomatoes and many others. This
form of protected cropping has many advantages.
One obvious advantage is that the increase in internal temperature by the
greenhouse effect can effectively protect crops against frost damage in very
many conditions if not all. The shelter provided by polytunnels can protect
crops against moisture-related fungal diseases, such as botrytis, downy
mildew and blackspot, reducing the need to spray with fungicides. It is
claimed that the enclosed environment of the polytunnel increases the
effectiveness of any pesticides used and reduces the risk of spray drifting
away from the targeted crop and causing non-intended damage to plants other
than the targeted crop.
Polytunnels offer substantial benefits to agricultural workers, who are able to carry out pruning, harvesting and other essential work whilst being protected from very cold and windy weather.
In the 'table top' system, often used in the growing of strawberries, the growing medium (eg coir) is in gutters or other containers at a convenient height, often of the order of 1.1 metre. This method can only be realistically used in systems of protected cropping.
Polytunnels do have substantial disadvantages, however, including these:
Extreme weather conditions have become more and more common. These include temperatures which are in excess, often greatly in excess, of the optimal temperatures for growing (typically of the order of 26 - 30 Celsius, although different crops have different requirements.) When the environmental temperature reaches 35 Celsius, 40 Celsius or even higher, then the temperature inside a poytunnel will be considerably higher. More often than not, polytunnels have inadequate provision for ventilation which would mitigate these conditions, which can lead to substantially impaired growth or even the death of plants. Installing protective shading is very often far from easy.
The frame of polytunnels and the method of attachment of the plastic insulating material have great strength in well-designed polytunnels but the strength may well be insufficient to prevent damage from strong winds and accumulation of snow: polytunnels tend to have weaknesses in shedding snow.
The plants in a polytunnel have to be irrigated to survive. These irrigation methods are expensive to implement. It is possible to collect water from the roofs of polytunnels and to use the collected water to irrigate the plants, but arrays of polytunnels are not well adapted to collect and conserve the water which falls on them. Furthermore, the plants growing in polytunels are unable to make use of the benefits of natural precipitation.
It is generally recognized that polytunnels have few - or no - aesthetic merits. People in communities which have large commercial polytunnel complexes nearby often resent the fact. Proposed development of polytunnel growing near to a community is often strongly opposed.
The covers of polytunnels can be and often are removed outside the growing season but the design of polytunnels makes removal and installation of the plastic covers an arduous and time-consuming task.
Summary of the Invention
The Integrated Growing Structure is intended to bring very substantial
benefits in the growing of
vineyard crops: grapes; orchard crops: apples and pears; many crops commonly
grown in polytunnels: low growing crops, eg strawberries, lettuces and some
taller crops, eg summer-fruiting and autumn- fruiting raspberries, tomatoes;
crops which can be harvested at different heights, eg Oriental vegetables
such as Komatsuna. Not all the crops grown in polytunnels are suitable for
growing in this structure, owing to Its dimensions, in particular its width.
The invention can offer a very high level of functionality in the matter of water collection and conservation, a matter of immense importance in a world where many, many regions face water shortages during prolonged periods during the year, very often amounting to severe drought conditions. When arrays of these new growing structures are in place, the surface area available for water collection will be very substantial. Arrays of these new growing structures offer substantial opportunities to collect and conserve water, lessening dependence upon mains water and supplying water in places where mains water is unavailable.
In essentials, the new trellising system takes the form of two structures in the shape of (isosceles) triangular prisms, the inner and outer layers. The outer layer provides support for sheet materials (principally plastic sheeting, but also including solar protection sheeting for very hot conditions and netting for protection of crops against pests, particularly birds.) It also comprises equipment for bringing the sheet material into position when the sheet material is needed from a storage / dispensing drum, and the means to return the sheet material to the drum when the sheet material is not needed or it would be inadvisable to leave it in position, as when very severe winds are forecast.
With the essential addition of a drum for storage and a mechanical means of moving the sheet into position and the replacement of the curtain rail by a very strong wire running the length of a row, this is a system with similarities to the domestic curtain-on-a-curtain rail system.
There are two faces of sheet material in the sheet layer, making up the two sides of the triangular prism. Both expanses of sheet material are suspended from the upper sheet wire, the topmost of the three wires at or near the apex of the structure. The base of the sheet material of the two faces are secured to the lower sheet wires, which are very near to ground level. The distance between upper and lower sheet wires will be sufficient for introducing a degree of tension to the sheet material, preventing it from flapping in the wind, but is not the only method of introducing tension.
The objective of multi-functionality has been followed wherever possible and desirable. So, plastic sheet material in this system has the function of insulation, making frost damage less likely and increasing the growth rate of the crop, but is also important as a water collecting surface. The water collected from this sloping roof surface is diverted to gutters at ground level and from there to suitable storage containers, by gravity if the containers are below ground level, otherwise by pumping.
When the sheet materials are retracted, then aesthetic objectives are achieved - the unfortunate appearance of plastic materials is present no longer than necessary, or not so long as to give rise to strong objections. There are also important practical benefits. In established protected cropping systems, the crops can generally not be watered by natural precipitation. In this new growing structure, this is perfectly possible.
The sheet layer has components which make provision for minimizing the effect of wind. The structure can withstand winds of moderate force or somewhat greater but retracting the sheet will protect the integrity of the sheet and the integrity of the structure before damage by destructive winds.
The growing layer inside the sheet layer has the function of supporting the wires which are used for training the crop, if the plants are quite tall (vines, apple and pear trees, tomatoes, raspberries) and supporting the crop load. The upper growing trellis support wire is a main wire, above head height, running the entire length of a row, from which are suspended sloping support wires intersected by three horizontal support wires which may or may not run the full length of a row. A row may be interrupted by shelters or openings, which have multi-functionality: they provide ventilation and the means to enter a row or leave a row, perhaps to go from one row to another, without having to go to the end of a row, which is a necessity in established systems of trellising. They can also be used as temporary storage places for the crops harvested within the row.
The growing layer is also the site of material handling. An overhead conveyor wire runs the full length of a row, again, above head height, and can support containers suspended from it. These containers can be moved by hand or, more often, by a winch, the winch wire connected to one container or, more often a container-group.
The detailed description provided refers to the growing of single rows of crops, the single row structure but also gives information about multi-row structures, formed by combining two or more rows at a single site. Particular configurations of rows can have substantial advantages in certain circumstances.
The components which make up the
structure, eg wires with various functions, fixings, sheet materials, belong
to one or more structure-groups.
These are the structure-groups:
(1) The core structure-group. These groups are of two kinds: growing units, which will form the great majority of units, and non-growing units.
Growing units
These are made up of two layers. Each of
these layers takes the form of a long isosceles triangular prism, with the
same length but different widths and heights.
(1a) The inner layer is the growing
and material handling layer. At the apex of the inner layer is the
trellis support wire, which supports horizontal and sloping vertical wires -
these in turn support the crop, eg climbing grape vines, apples - grown as
espalier crops, not as widely spaced bushes or trees - tomatoes. In the
detailed description section, some alternative uses of the horizontal and
vertical wires are explained in connection with the use of the system as a
polytunnel substitute. The inner layer also comprises the overhead
conveyor wire for transfer of materials along the layer to
a collection area or from a distribution area to a particular place in
the growing area. The materials include, eg, harvested grapes / apples /
tomatoes as well as prunings from vineyard / orchard activities, biomass
which can be used for heating.
(1b) The outer layer, the sheet and
sheet support layer. At the apex is the upper
sheet support wire and very near to ground level is the lower
sheet support wire. These wires support sheet materials with various
functions, eg, when polythene or other suitable sheeting is put in place,
raising the internal temperature of the growing volume to protect
crops from frost, to increase the growth rates of plants or to enable a
wider range of crops to be grown (such as grape varieties which without
protection could not be grown in a cool climate). Other advantages to be
gained by the use of this sheeting: enhancing the well-being of
workers, collecting water for the purposes of water conservation. The
water collected can be used for irrigation of the crops, decreasing reliance
upon mains water. (When the sheet material is removed, the crop is
watered by natural precipitation.) Netting material can be used to protect
the crops inside the structure from pests.
Non-growing units
These have various possible functions. One is provision of shelter for employees of the operation and visitors to the operation. Shelter is provided in the growing areas which make up most of the rows, but shelter in non-growing areas is convenient and useful. Space is limited in these units - they have the same height and width as the growing units - but more spacious facilities for the same purposes can be provided outside the rows.
Non-growing units also provide a means for going from one side of a row to
the other without the need to go to the end of a row. The facility can be
used by people on foot as well as by mechanized transport, provided the
transport is small enough to use the facility.
(2) Tensioning connectors. Some of the wires which run
the length of the core structure group (the trellis support wire, the upper
and lower sheet wires) do not themselves extend beyond the triangular
prism structure in one variant of the design but are connected to ratchet
straps, which extend from the triangular prism structure to the
ratchet mechanisms, the means of exerting tensioning forces on the
wires to which they are connected.
(3) Anchorage structures. The
ratchet mechanisms are connected to anchorage
structures, strong, heavy structures capable of
withstanding any forces imposed upon them indirectly by the wires indirectly
linked with them. The anchorage structures may have one function,
withstanding the applied forces, or may be multi-functional, combining this
function with others - eg storage, places for the work of the operation,
supports for climbing plants with aesthetic benefits. Small buildings with a
variety of functions, eg storage of harvested produce, plant propagation
facilities, large water storage containers, gabions.
(4) Spools for storage of sheet materials, which are dispensed when needed
and taken back into the spool when not needed.
