A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the growing of plants indoors, and in particular to a means and method associated with household type sinks such as those used in the kitchens, bathrooms, and other locations to assist with indoor plant growing and care.
B. Problems in the Art
Many persons have or desire to have plants inside their houses. A constant battle exists to provide such plants with appropriate light and water. It is difficult to find an adequate place to position and support plants in planter containers. Generally they need to be near a window.
If plants are placed on window sills, access to the windows can be a problem. A risk also exists that leakage or spillage from watering the plants will adversely affect the window sill. Drainage is also usually important for plant growth. Pots or planters with built in drainage increases the risk of seepage or spillage of water onto the sill.
Additionally, many window sills are not big enough to accommodate even the smaller planter containers or plants. Furthermore, it may not be appropriate or feasible to place them on the sill even if they fit. Some windows simply have no sill at all that could support even a several-inches-in-diameter planter or pot.
It is usually desirable to make it as convenient as possible to water indoor plants. The nearer to the water source the plants are, the better. Normally, watering requires filling a watering can or pot at a sink and carrying it to the plants. Otherwise, the plants can be carried to the sink. The former procedure for watering requires substantial manual work as well as the risk of spillage or leakage between the sink and the plants. The latter method requires the manual work of carrying the plants to the sink which again involves some risk of spilling.
There is no effective way to solve these difficulties and problems. The best system would provide indoor plants not only ready access to light (normally through a window) and ready access to water, but also access to virtually unlimited drainage with small risk of spillage and leakage, and potential resulting damage to furniture or window sills.
If plants or their containers were placed in conventional household sinks they would have access to water and drainage. It would preclude conventional use of the sink however.
Some sophisticated sinks can include two side by side basins, different shapes and sizes of the basins or more sophisticated fixtures such as an added sprayer hose or a second faucet. Some sinks even have a relatively smaller and shallower second basin for use to wash vegetables, fruits, or over which can be placed a cutting board, where the scraps on the cutting board can be conveniently moved to the sink.
While sizes, shapes, and configurations of present day household sinks are diverse, they all are related to conventional sink functions. In other words, they are used for washing things, such as dishes, clothes, hands, or food. A two basin sink generally extends from the front of the counter to the rear of the counter and allows selection between two sink basins, each with a separate drain. One perhaps can be hooked up to a garbage disposer unit. Sinks with multiple fixtures or fixture options are designed to enhance the use of the sink for cooking, washing, or other conventional sink purposes. Even sinks having unique and differently configured basins are most times directly related to making food preparation easier. All portions of the sink must be readily accessible and available to the user, and therefore, must be accessible unimpeded from the front of the sink, and generally must be reachable by at least some faucet of the sink fixtures.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a means and method for growing plants indoors which solves the problems and deficiencies in the art.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a means and method as above described which provides immediate access to water.
A still further object of the present invention is a means and method as above described which can provide not only immediate access to water, but virtually unlimited drainage.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a means and method as above described which can combine immediate access to water with placement at or near a window for light for the plants.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a means and method as above described which greatly reduces problems associated with spillage or leakage from house plants.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a means and method as above described which provides easy access to care of house plants.
These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent with reference to the accompanying specification and claims.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds