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EP-4739089-A1 - PLANT POT

EP4739089A1EP 4739089 A1EP4739089 A1EP 4739089A1EP-4739089-A1

Abstract

In a plant pot (1) made of thin-walled plastic material and of a generally frustoconical shape, the wall (3) of the pot is reinforced by a shoulder (2) the annular face (10) of which has a number of axially protruding bulging portions and/or indentations (11, 12) which are mutually interspaced in the circumferential direction (U), and the axial deviation (a) of the annular face (10) is smaller or equal to the stacking distance (s) of the plant pot.

Inventors

  • Orschulik, Günther

Assignees

  • Pöppelmann Holding GmbH & Co. KG

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20240702

Claims (6)

  1. 1. Plant pot (1) made of thin-walled plastic in a generally truncated cone shape with a pot wall (3) stiffened by at least one flared shoulder (2), an upper outwardly projecting pot rim (4) and a pot base (7) with at least one drainage hole, characterized in that the annular surface (10) of the at least one shoulder (2) has a plurality of axially projecting protrusions and/or indentations (11, 12) spaced apart from one another in the circumferential direction (U), the axial deflection (a) of the annular surface (10) being less than or equal to the stacking distance (s) of the plant pot.
  2. 2. Plant pot according to claim 1, characterized in that the annular surface (10) is wavy in the circumferential direction (U).
  3. 3. Plant pot according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that a first pot wall part (13) above and a second pot wall part (14) below the shoulder (2) are delimited by the shoulder (2), wherein at least the second pot wall part (14) has at least three indentations and/or bulges (21) distributed over the circumference and running in the longitudinal direction.
  4. 4. Plant pot according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that a third pot wall part (15), which adjoins the pot bottom (7), has a plurality of indentations and/or recesses (22) extending substantially parallel to the longitudinal direction.
  5. 5. Plant pot according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that a second shoulder is formed in the pot wall at a distance from and below the at least one shoulder, the annular surface of which is axially deflected in a wave-like manner in the circumferential direction.
  6. 6. Plant pot according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the plant pot is thermoformed from a thin plastic film.

Description

plant pot The present invention relates to a plant pot according to the preamble of claim 1. Such a plant pot is known from EP 1422993 A1. The plant pot, which is thermoformed from a thin plastic film, has a slightly conical, stackable basic shape, with the stacking distance defined by two ledges formed in the pot edge, which at least partially overlap in plan view and are axially spaced apart. The pot wall connected to this has a shoulder that extends radially outwards at a distance from the pot edge, which serves to stiffen the pot wall against lateral loads. The larger part of the pot wall below the shoulder is kept free of stiffening elements and can be provided with a label or print. For machine processing, plant pots must have a certain degree of compression strength so that the plant pot does not collapse when the substrate is pressed downwards during potting. Tall plant pots, also known as containers, with a pot height greater than 85% of the pot diameter are problematic, as the film thickness in the area of the pot wall is greatly reduced during thermoforming. From US 5026268 A a plant pot is known, the pot wall of which consists of a plurality of concave-convex ribs running in the longitudinal direction, which even at low The thickness of the pot wall ensures sufficient compression strength. However, the corrugated pot wall cannot be decorated, especially not printed on. US 5459960 A discloses a plant pot which has radially projecting bulges in the middle section of its pot wall, which run vertically and are open towards the bottom. The bulges redirect the spiral and circular root growth, aerate the nutrient medium and prune the roots (air pruning). In order to enable nesting of identical plant pots, the bulges taper downwards in relation to their width in the circumferential direction of the pot wall at a larger angle than the general conicity of the pot wall. The profiling of the middle section of the pot wall can also be described by the shoulder between the upper and middle sections of the pot wall having several axially downward projecting bulges. The object of the invention is to develop a decorative plant pot which has a low wall thickness but sufficient compression strength for mechanical potting. The object is achieved by a plant pot according to claim 1. Advantageous embodiments of the invention can be found in the subclaims referring back to this claim and in the following description of advantages and figures. According to the invention, the annular surface of the at least one shoulder has a plurality of axially projecting recesses and/or indentations spaced apart from one another in the circumferential direction, wherein the axial deflection of the annular surface is less than or equal to the stacking distance of the plant pot. A simple shoulder previously provided on a plant pot is a radially protruding step on the pot wall, which is uniformly designed all the way around the rotationally symmetrical plant pot and is also referred to as a ledge. The axially protruding projections and/or indentations now provided are deflections of the ring surface of the shoulder in the axial direction along the longitudinal center axis, i.e. upwards and/or downwards in the case of a standing plant pot. The projections and/or indentations preferably run radially in the ring surface of the shoulder. The axially protruding protrusions and/or indentations of the shoulder significantly increase the crush resistance of the plant pot. On the one hand, the buckling lengths between the pot edge and shoulder and the shoulder and the pot base are reduced. On the other hand, a shoulder stiffened in this way prevents a shoulder that is several millimeters wide from buckling or flanging, especially in very thin-walled plant pots. In addition, the pot wall areas adjacent to the shoulder are even better stiffened against lateral loads than with a simple circumferential shoulder. Overall, there is no need to profile the adjacent pot wall sections, so that, depending on the height of the shoulder in the pot wall, pot wall sections below and/or above the shoulder can be decorated. The fact that the axial deflection of the ring surface is less than or equal to the stacking distance of the plant pot has the advantage that the plant pots can be easily stacked inside each other without being rotationally aligned with each other. The range of axial deflections, in short the axial deflection as the maximum axial distance between the protruding and/or indented ring surface sections is 0.5 to 20 mm, preferably 3.0 to 10 mm, in the embodiments described below 6 mm. The mutual distance of the protrusions and/or indentations in The circumferential direction is 4.0 to 50 mm, preferably 5.0 to 20 mm, in the exemplary embodiments 14 mm from wave trough to wave trough. The radial offset of the at least one shoulder is 0.5 to 10 mm, preferably 0.5 to 5.0 mm, in the exemplary embodiments 0.8 mm. The wall thickness of the pot wall is