Vegetation drying tray and rack system

Abstract

A vegetation tray includes a base. The base is formed from a thin wall having a plurality of spaced peaks and valleys. A plurality of apertures are in the base. The apertures enables passage of air for drying vegetation on the tray. A boundary wall extending from the base.

Claims

1. A vegetation tray comprising: a base, the base formed from a thin wall having a plurality of spaced peaks and valleys; a plurality of apertures in the base, the apertures being disposed along the peaks and valleys and the apertures enabling passage of air for drying vegetation on the tray; and a boundary wall extending from and surrounding the base, a distal end of the boundary wall defining an open end of the vegetation tray; a lip comprising a substantially planar surface and projecting substantially perpendicularly from the distal end of the boundary wall; an indexing member disposed on the lip and configured to receive a second vegetation tray in an inverted orientation relative to the vegetation tray, and in a stacked arrangement upon the vegetation tray such that the lip of the vegetation tray and a second lip of the second vegetation tray are positioned next to one another.

2. The vegetation tray of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of apertures in the boundary wall.

3. The vegetation tray of claim 1, wherein the indexing member includes a projection or recess for mating with a respective indexing member of the second vegetation tray for enabling the inverted and stacked arrangement of the second vegetation tray upon the vegetation tray.

4. The vegetation tray of claim 1, wherein the peaks are spaced from one another with a distance between apexes being from ¼ to 3 inches.

5. The vegetation tray of claim 1, further comprising an identification feature communicating a status of the vegetation tray.

6. The vegetation tray of claim 5, wherein the identification feature comprises a plaque including one or more visual indications including at least one of color orientation or physical configuration indicating the status.

7. The vegetation tray of claim 1, further comprising a receptacle on the lip for receiving an identification feature communicating status of the vegetation tray.

8. A vegetation drying rack system comprising: a frame, one or more tray receiving receptacles on the frame; and one or more vegetation trays according to claim 1.

9. A method of drying vegetation comprising: providing a rack including a plurality of tray receiving receptacles; providing an equal plurality of trays according to claim 1 in the plurality of tray receiving receptacles; placing vegetation on the plurality of trays; removing the plurality of trays from the rack; manipulating the plurality of trays; reorganizing the vegetation by the manipulations to enhance drying of the vegetation.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising identifying a status of the vegetation in the plurality of trays positioned on the rack.

11. The method of claim 10, further identifying the status of the plurality of trays after the step of manipulating the plurality of trays.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of manipulating the plurality of trays further comprises rotating, inverting or shifting the plurality of trays.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein during inverting, positioning a like tray lip to lip and moving the vegetation from one tray to the like tray.

14. The vegetation tray of claim 1, wherein a plurality of trays are stackable one on top of another with adjacent bases nesting with one another.

15. The vegetation tray of claim 1, further comprising an antimicrobial additive associated with the vegetation tray.

16. The vegetation tray of claim 1, further comprising a vegetation verification member on the boundary wall.

17. The vegetation tray of claim 1, wherein the vegetation tray includes indicia for providing a status of the tray to a user.

18. The vegetation tray of claim 17, wherein the indicia may include symbols, writings, color, cutouts, or plaques.

19. The vegetation tray of claim 1, wherein the boundary wall includes one or more channels, each channel including opposing sidewalls and a web connecting the sidewalls.

20. The vegetation tray of claim 19, wherein the web includes an aperture.

21. The vegetation tray of claim 19, wherein the one or more channels has a triangular configuration.

22. A vegetation tray comprising: a base, the base formed from a thin wall, the base having a configuration devoid of horizontally planar sections; a plurality of apertures in the base, the apertures being continuous along a plurality of peaks and valleys in the base and the apertures enabling passage of air for drying vegetation on the vegetation tray; and a boundary wall extending from the base, a lip projecting from an extending end of the boundary wall wherein an additional like vegetation tray can be stacked on the vegetation tray in an inverted orientation relative to the vegetation tray such that the respective lips of the vegetation tray and the like vegetation tray are positioned next to one another.

23. The vegetation tray of claim 22, wherein the base provides line or point contact with vegetation on the base.

24. The tray of claim 22, wherein the base includes a plurality of peaks and valleys.

25. The vegetation tray of claim 22, further comprising a receptacle on the lip for receiving an identification feature communicating a status of the vegetation tray.

Description

DRAWINGS

(1) The drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes only of selected embodiments and not all possible implementations, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

(2) FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the vegetation tray.

(3) FIG. 2 is a longitudinal cross-section of FIG. 1.

(4) FIG. 3 is a partial enlarged perspective view of FIG. 1 (Circle 3);

(5) FIG. 4 is a partial enlarged perspective view of FIG. 1 (Circle 4);

(6) FIG. 5 is a partial enlarged exploded perspective view of FIG. 1 (Circle 5);

(7) FIG. 6 is a partial enlarged perspective of FIG. 1 toward the sidewall;

(8) FIG. 7 is a cross-section of FIG. 6 along line 7-7;

(9) FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the trays stacked;

(10) FIGS. 9(a)-(c) are perspective views of trays with vegetation with the tray being inverted;

(11) FIGS. 10(a)-(c) are perspective views in racks with various position of trays; and

(12) FIGS. 11(a)-(e) are cross-section views of various tray configuration.

(13) FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a prior art tray.

(14) Corresponding reference numerals indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(15) Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(16) FIG. 12 illustrates a prior art tray. Here, the base is flat (i.e., horizontal) or planar and includes perforations. Thus, the vegetation is subjected to be positioned on the flat surface entirely in contact with a planar surface of the base. Also, the airflow, at best, at the vegetation is on its top surface and below the surface of the tray base.

(17) Turning to the figures, a vegetation tray is illustrated and designated with the reference numeral 20. The tray includes a base 22 and a boundary wall 24 with a projecting lip 26. The trays 20 are dimensioned to fit into conventional racks 30. The racks 30 include a frame 32 as well as tray support or guides 34. Thus, the trays 20 nest in a receptacle and can be slid in and out of the rack 30. The rack 30 may also have wheels 36 enabling movement of the rack 30 in the drying facility.

(18) The base 22 is defined from a thin wall 28. The wall 28 has a configuration with one or more peaks 40 and valleys 42 within the boundary wall 24. Additionally, the thin wall 28 includes a plurality of apertures 44. The peaks 40 and valleys 42 may be in a random or continuous pattern across the base 22. The peaks 40 and valleys 42 provide a line or point contact with the vegetation 25. The wall configuration eliminates the entire planar contact of the vegetation with the planar surface as illustrated in the prior art.

(19) The apexes 46 of the peaks 40 are generally positioned at a desired distance with respect to one another. The distance is generally between ¼ to 3 inches inches. Preferably, a spacing of ¼ to 2 inches is preferred. The peak 40 and valley 42 configuration enables airflow to flow under the peaks 40 and valleys 42 as well as on top of the peaks 40 and valleys 42. Additionally, airflow is created between the peaks 40 and valleys 42 inside the tray underneath the vegetation as illustrated in FIG. 7. Thus, the peak 40 and valley 42 configuration creates more airflow than the prior art trays.

(20) The boundary wall 24 surrounds the base 22. The boundary wall 24 includes one or more channels 48 formed in the wall. The channels, having a triangular configuration, are defined by opposing sidewalls 50, 52 and web 54. The web 54 connects the sidewalls 50, 52 with one another. An aperture 56 is formed in the web 54. The aperture 56 enables air to pass through the boundary wall 24. Thus, airflow can enter the tray 20 via the boundary wall 24, base 22 or in the opening between the boundary wall 24. The channel configuration provides for single direction molding of the tray 20. This eliminates the need for two directional molding. Thus, the tray is able to be formed on a single direction two-piece mold.

(21) The lip 26 projects from the boundary wall 24. The lip 26 provides a surface substantially perpendicular to the boundary wall 24. This enables various features to be added to the tray 20. The lip 26 includes a recess 60 and a projection 62. The recess 60 and projection 62 act as an indexing mechanism to enable the trays to be stacked and inverted with one another. The recess 60 and projection 62 enable trays 20 to be positioned one on top of the other. The lips are positioned. When stacked (FIG. 8), the projections 62 insert into the hollow void of the adjacent projection 62 one on top of the other. When inverted, the projection 62 extends into the recess 60, as seen in FIG. 9A-9C, to enable the rotation and inversion of the vegetation 25 within the tray 20. The recesses 60 are positioned at diagonal corners on the tray 20. Likewise, the projections 62 are positioned in the opposite diagonal corners of the tray 20. The inverting of the tray will be discussed later.

(22) The lip 26 includes a receptacle 64 to receive a plaque 66. The plaque 66 that can be positioned within the receptacle 64 to determine the phase of the drying process of the vegetation 25. The receptacle 64 is a slot formed in the lip 26. The receptacle 64 is generally rectangular having an outer wall 68 and sidewalls 70. The plaque 66 is sized so that it is maintained within the receptacle 64. However, upon flipping or rotating of the tray 20, via gravity, the plaque 66 falls from one tray receptacle 64 to the other depending upon which tray is under or on the bottom of the other. Thus, the plaque 66 could be color coded or have different type of indicia to indicate to the user, the drying phase of the vegetation.

(23) The outer wall 68 provides a generally planar surface 72. This planar surface 72 can be utilized to receive a bar code sticker 75 or the like indicia to provide verification of the vegetation 25 within the tray 20. Some jurisdictions require that the vegetation 25 in the tray 22 be accounted for from seed to sale. Thus, the vegetation 25 must be verified or tracked from point to point to point along the growing and processing stages until the vegetation is sold. Accordingly, the outer wall 68 surface 72 can receive various labels to verify or identify the vegetation 25.

(24) The tray 20 is generally formed from plastic during an injection molding process. As explained above, the boundary wall 24 enables a single direction mold be utilized to form the tray 20. Thus, the tray 20 is a one piece design. The tray 20 could be formed with an antimicrobial additive such as Microban. This provides for reducing spreading of any fungus or the like that might be on the vegetation placed within the tray 20. Also, while the peaks and valleys shown are of a sinusoidal configuration in cross-section. FIGS. 11A-11E illustrate various configurations. A step wave type of configuration could be utilized. Additionally tetrahydron configuration could be used to provide the peaks and valleys. Thus, any configuration that provides peak and valley and eliminate entire flat (i.e., horizontally planar) sections on the base could be utilized for the wall of the tray 20.

(25) Trays 20 are illustrated positioned on shelves or guides 34 in a rack 30. As can be seen, the plaques 66 all identified the same drying status of the vegetation. Thus, as illustrated, a darker color is illustrated in FIGS. 5-10A. In FIG. 10B, a partial number of all the trays have been inverted and the rack 30 includes half dark colored plaques 66 and half-light colored plaques 66. FIG. 10C illustrates the complete inversion or rotation of all of the trays such that the plaques 66 are all of a light color. Thus, the use of the tray 20 and rack 30 system will always identify the drying status of the degradation in the particular trays.

(26) In order to rotate, invert or flip the trays 20, the tray including the vegetation 25 would be removed from the rack 30. A second tray 20 illustrated in FIG. 9B would be invertly positioned on top of the first tray 20 so the lip indexing mechanism would have the recesses 60 filled with the projections 62. This enables the user to rapidly rotate, invert or flip the vegetation within the trays 20. After rotation, inversion or flipping, the once bottom tray, now top tray, would be removed. This tray would be processed for cleaning or the like. The new tray 20 with vegetation can be positioned back into the rack 30 so that its new drying status of the vegetation is known. Thus, the tray 20 enables for rapid turning and manipulation of the vegetation within the tray to enhance drying. Thus, the drying time of the vegetation can be reduced and more thorough drying can take place in the trays.

(27) Also, in addition to the plaque 66, the trays themselves could be of different colors. Thus, a green tray could indicate a first state of drying and a red tray could indicate a second state of drying. Also, symbols, writings, cutouts could be utilized to designate the status of the drying of the vegetation within the tray.

(28) The foregoing description of the embodiments has been provided for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure. Individual elements or features of a particular embodiment are generally not limited to that particular embodiment, but, where applicable, are interchangeable and can be used in a selected embodiment, even if not specifically shown or described. The same may also be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the disclosure, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the disclosure.