The present invention relates to a garden tool rack according to the preamble of claim 1, as described in CA 2451544.
For cultivation of soil and taking care of a garden, a variety of garden tools may be used. Regular garden tools include dibble, rack, digging fork, mattock draw hoe, shears, hedge trimmers, garden trowel, cultivator, etc. These garden tools have different shapes and sizes for different purposes. When gardening, garden tools may be scattered over the ground, and the scattered garden tools may injure people accidentally. Further, it is inconvenient to carry a set of garden tools to the jobsite. After gardening, the user must spend a lot of time to collect the scattered garden tools.
The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances in view. It is the main object of the present invention to provide a garden tool rack, which is convenient for use to hold a set of garden tools on soil when working. It is another object of the present invention to provide a garden tool rack, which prevents interference of loaded garden tools with one another, for enabling the user to conveniently use garden tools.
To achieve these and other objects of the present invention, the garden tool rack comprises a rack body, the rack body comprising a plurality of plugholes vertically extended through top and bottom walls thereof and a plurality of bottom barrels respectively downwardly extended from the bottom wall around each the plughole; a plurality of tool holders respectively axially fastened to the plugholes of the rack body for holding garden tools; a plurality of end caps respectively fastened to the bottom barrels of the rack body; and a plurality of anchoring devices respectively coupled to the end caps and adapted for fastening the rack body to earth. The garden tool rack may further comprise a plurality of axial positioning structures adapted to stop the tool holders from axial movement relative to the plugholes of the rack body after insertion of the tool holders into the plugholes of the rack body, and a plurality of rotary positioning structures adapted to stop the tool holders from rotary motion relative to the plugholes of the rack body after insertion of the tool holders into the plugholes of the rack body.
Referring to FIGS. 1~3, a garden tool rack in accordance with the present invention is shown comprised of a rack body 10, a plurality of hollow cylindrical tool holders 20, a plurality of plug caps 30, and a plurality of anchoring devices 40.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 again, the rack body 10 is a hollow shell molded from plastics, comprising a vertical barrel 12 vertically disposed at the center for holding a tool handle 92, a plurality of plug holes 11 spaced around the vertical barrel 12, and a plurality of bottom barrels 111 downwardly extended from the bottom wall corresponding to the plug holes 11.
Referring to FIGS. 1~3 again, the tool holders 20 are respectively fastened to the plug holes 11 and adapted to hold a respective garden tool 90, each comprising a top holder body 21 for receiving the tool shaft 91 of a garden tool 90, a bottom mounting tube 25 for insertion into one plughole 11 of the rack body 10, and a skirt-like shoulder 29 provided between the top holder body 21 and the bottom mounting tube 25 and adapted to support the top holder body 21 above the top wall of the rack body 10. The bottom mounting tube 25 is insertable through one plughole 11 into the corresponding bottom barrel 111.
Referring to FIGS. 6, 7A and 7B, and FIG. 1 again, each bottom barrel 111 of the rack body 10 comprises an inside protruding block 14 protruded from the inside wall, and a longitudinal groove 15 formed in the inside protruding block 14. The bottom mounting tube 25 of each tool holder 20 comprises a vertical retaining spring leaf 26, and two horizontal retaining spring leaves 27 symmetrically disposed at two sides of the vertical retaining spring leaf 26. The vertical retaining spring leaf 26 has the free end (the bottom end) terminating in a protruded retaining portion 261. Each horizontal retaining spring leaf 27 has the free end terminating in a protruded retaining portion 271. The spring leaves 26, 27 are disposed at an offset position such that a space is defined for receiving the inside protruding block 14 upon insertion of the bottom mounting tube 25 into one bottom barrel 111 of the rack body 10. When inserted the bottom mounting tube 25 into one bottom barrel 111 of the rack body 10, the protruded retaining portion 261 is forced into engagement with the bottom side of the inside protruding block 14 to stop the respective tool holder 20 from axial displacement. At this time, bias the tool holder 20 to force the protruded retaining portion 27 of one horizontal retaining spring leaf 27 into engagement with the longitudinal groove 15. At this time, a part of the bottom mounting tube 25 around one retaining spring leaf 27 is stopped against the inside protruding block 14, and therefore the tool holder 20 is prohibited from rotary motion in the same direction. Therefore, after insertion of the tool holders 20 into the plugholes 11 of the rack body 10, the tool holders 20 can be respectively biased through a limited angle, preventing interference of the loaded garden tools 90 with one another.
Referring to FIGS. 5A and 5B, and FIGS. 1 and 6 again, the end caps 30 are substantially T-shaped hollow caps each comprising a cylindrical cap body 31 fitting the inner diameter of the bottom mounting tube 25, a cap head 32, a shoulder 37 connected between the cap body 31 and the cap head 32 and fitting the inner diameter of the bottom barrels 111, a center through hole 33 axially extended through the cap head 32 and the shoulder 37 and the cylindrical cap body 31, two longitudinal grooves 34 symmetrically disposed in the center through hole 33 at two sides and axially extended to the two ends of the respective end cap 30, and two locating notches 35 and two locating protrusions 36 alternatively disposed at the distal end of the cylindrical cap body 31 and equiangularly spaced from one another. Each end cap 30 has the respective shoulder 37 press-fitted into one bottom barrel 111, and the respective cylindrical cap body 31 press-fitted into the bottom mounting tube 25 of the corresponding tool holder 20, keeping the cap head 32 stopped at the bottom end of the corresponding bottom barrel 111 to hold the protruded retaining portion 261 of the vertical retaining spring leaf 26 of the respective tool holder 25 firmly in engagement with the bottom side of the respective inside protruding block 14, and therefore the respective tool holder 20 is locked to the rack body 10.
Referring to FIGS. 1, 3, 5A, 5B and 6 again, each anchoring device 40 comprises a cylindrical base 41, an anchoring tip 42 axially extended from one end of the cylindrical base 41, and two pegs 43 radially protruded from the periphery of the cylindrical base 41 at two sides. When inserting the cylindrical base 41 into the center through hole 33 of one end cap 30, the pegs 43 are respectively inserted into the longitudinal grooves 34. After the cylindrical base 41 has been completely inserted into the end cap 30, the. pegs 43 are respectively stopped against the locating protrusions 36 at one side outside the longitudinal grooves 34. At this time, the anchoring device 40 is biased in one direction through an angle to force the pegs 43 into the locating notches 35, and therefore the anchoring device 40 is locked to the respective end cap 30. On the contrary, when biasing the anchoring device 40 in the reversed direction, the pegs 43 are moved out of the locating notches 35 to the longitudinal grooves 34, and therefore the anchoring device 40 is unlocked and can be removed from the respective end cap 30.
Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4 again, there is provided a plurality of receiving structures adapted to receive the anchoring devices 40 in the bottom side of the rack body 10 after removal of the anchoring devices 40 from the end caps 30. Each receiving structure comprises a pair of lugs 16 downwardly extended from the bottom side of the rack body 10, and a rib 17 radially extended from the periphery of the vertical barrel 12 at the bottom side of the rack body. The lugs 16 each have a bottom notch 161.The rib 17 has a bottom notch 171. After removable of one anchoring device 40 from the respective end cap 30, the anchoring device 40 is fastened to one receiving structure in such a manner that the cylindrical base 41 is set in between the lugs 16 with pegs 43 respectively engaged into the bottom notches 161 of the lugs 16 and the anchoring tip 42 engaged into in the bottom notch 171 of the rib 17.
As indicated above, garden tools 90 can be respectively plugged into the tool holders 20 at the rack body 10. Plugging garden tools 90 into the tool holders 20 or removing garden tools 90 from the tool holders 20 does not cause axial displacement of the tool holders 20 relative to the rack body 10. After insertion of garden tools 90 into one tool holders 20, the loaded garden tools 90 can be respectively biased with the respective tool holders 90 relative to the rack body 10 within a limited angle to prevent interference of loaded garden tools 90 with one another. When in use, the anchoring devices 40 can be respectively plugged into the end caps 30 for fastening the rack body 10 to earth, keeping the rack body 10 firmly supported on earth. When not in use, the garden tool rack is removed from earth. Because the end caps 30 are respectively locked to the bottom barrels 111 of the rack body 10, pulling the garden tool rack away from earth does not cause the end caps 30 to fall with the anchoring devices 40 from the rack body 10. After removal of the garden tool rack from earth, the anchoring devices 40 are unlocked and detached from the end caps 30 and then respectively received in the respective receiving structures at the bottom side of the rack body 10.
A prototype of garden tool rack has been constructed with the features of FIGS. 1~7. The garden tool rack functions smoothly to provide all of the features discussed earlier.