FOR

CULTIVATION OF AQUATIC PLANT

1. TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a device for cultivation of an aquatic plant, and more particularly to a device for nurturing and harvesting aquatic plant such as sea weed and the like.

2. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Currently in sea weed cultivation that includes nurtxiring and harvesting, both processes are being done totally manually. This is mainly because at present there is no specific machine or device available in the market for the purposes. Traditional manual method of nurturing is using a line made from nylon or other water resistant material set across a pool of water and sea weed seedlings are manually tied one by one using plastic rope to the line at equal intervals. The sea weed seedlings are left to grow to required size for a pre-determined period of time. After the time allocated has lapsed and the sea weed has grown to the expected size the sea weed is harvested by pulling the line and manually plucking one by one the sea weed. This process is labour intensive and slow resulting in low productivity with inconsistent quality and less hygienic product which is a concern should the sea weed aim to go to higher market especially abroad. Furthermore, it is both messy and unhygienic because there is too much of human contact and handling during the process. The nature of the sea weed makes them difficult to mechanized. This is because the sea weed comes in many shapes and sizes that makes them difficult to mechanize and with demand for the sea weed is rather dwindling many machine fabricators and manufacturers just ignore its importance. However of late, sea weed has found many new uses in the food and pharmaceutical industries and also industrial use. With its riches in vitamin, mineral and fibre, the sea weed may be consumed fresh as vegetable or preserved and later consumed as salad. Some are processed for tonic drinks and some for medication while some are used for manufacturing lubricant and cleaning agent. With government drive to enhance economic standard in the agricultural sector through industrialization, demand for the agricultural products including that of sea weed has leapfrog to a new height never seen before. This has prompted the industry to turn into mechanization to cope with the production capacity and hygiene standard the industry demands.

With sea weed finding more and more place on today's diners table home and abroad, mechanization of processing is the only option to increase production capacity and hygiene standard. This has prompted the inventor to come up with me design of me device of me present invention.

Therefore, the present invention has as a primary objective to provide a device for cultivation of sea weed that includes nurturing and also harvesting of the sea weed. The device of the present invention is made simple so that cost of acquiring, running and maintaining are minimized. The device comprises of a two step process, one for nurturing the sea weed and the other is for harvesting the sea weed. On top of that, the device should be able to be run and maintained by an operator with basic skill without much training and supervision.

3. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is the primary aim of the present invention to provide a device for cultivation of aquatic plant such as sea weed and the like.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a device for cultivation of aquatic plant such as sea weed and the like that is capable for both nurturing and harvesting.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a device for cultivation of aquatic plant such as sea weed and the like that has acceptable efficiency and reliability.

These and other objects of the present invention are achieved by,

In an aquatic cultivation for nurturing and harvesting of aquatic plant such as sea weed or the like, where said sea weed is nurtured in a plurality of rows across a water, a device (l) for cultivation of said sea weed is provided, said device (l) comprising:

a line (n) for retaining said sea weed in said plurality of rows; a fastener (lia) for fastening said line to an anchor;

a holder (12) for holding said sea weed in a fixed place along said line (11); and

a vessel (13) for receiving said sea weed,

characterized by said vessel (13) being provided with a reaper (14) such that during harvesting said line (11) is pulled over said reaper (14) where hanging sea weed from said holder (12) will be cut by said reaper (14) and fall into said vessel (13).

The present invention provides a device (1) for cultivation of aquatic plant such as sea weed and the like. In its broadest term, the device comprises a line (11) for retaining the sea weed in a plurality of rows, a holder (12) for holding the sea weed in a fixed place along the line (11) and a vessel (13) for receiving the sea weed during harvesting. The line may be made from a nylon set across a pool of water by fastening to an anchor using a fastener (11a). The vessel (13) of the present invention is provided with a reaper (14) made from a flat bar (14a) placed on a stand in the vessel (13). For nurturing sea weed, sea weed seedling is fastened to the line (11) by a plurality of holder (12) placed at equal interval along the line (11). During harvesting the line (11) is pulled over the reaper (14) where hanging sea weed from the holder (12) will be cut by the reaper (14) and fall into the waiting vessel (13). 4. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other aspect of the present invention and their advantages will be discerned after studying the Detailed Description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. l showing general assembly of the device for cultivation of aquatic plant according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 showing the line with a plurality of holder hanging on the line.

FIG. 3 showing the line provided with an end fastener.

5 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring now to FIG. l showing general assembly of the device for cultivation of aquatic plant according to one embodiment of the present invention. In its broadest aspect of the present invention, the device (l) comprises a line (n) for retaining said sea weed in said plurality of rows, a fastener (iia) for fastening said line to an anchor, a holder (12) for holding said sea weed in a fixed place along said line (11) and a vessel (13) for receiving said sea weed.

The line (11) is made from a nylon rope or any other water resistant material of suitable size and strength. It is stretched across a pool of water with its ends fastened to an anchor. The end of the line (11) is provided with a fastener (11a) for easy fastening and unfastening to the anchor. The fastener (11a) may also be provided at the ends of the line (11) to enable the line (11) to be joined from one to another to extend its length by simply joining the fastener (11a). The fastener (11a) is a quick coupling for fast and easy usage at the same time giving high reliability.

Referring now to FIG. 2 showing the line with a plurality of holder and an end fastener. The holder (12) is a hook type having double hooks a first hook (12a) and a second hook (12b). the first hook (12a) is adapted for hooking to the line (11) and the second hook (12b) is adapted for hooking then sea weed seedlings to the line (11). The sea weed seedlings is cut into a short pieces and put into the second hook (12b) to be hooked to the line (110. In this way the process for preparing the sea weed seedlings is faster compare to traditional method.

Referring now to FIG. 3 showing the line provided with an end fastener. The fastener (11a) is a quick coupling type having a male (lib) and female (11c) components. It is easy to assemble and dissemble just by interlocking the male component (lib) to the female component (11c) and twisting it anti-clockwise to lock the components (lib, 11c) together and clockwise to disassemble the components (11b, 11c).

Referring back to FIG. 1. The vessel (1 3) used in the present invention is a traditional boat normally used by local fisherman. However, it should be appreciated that any other form of vessel may be used without departing away from the scope of the present invention. The vessel (13) is provided with a reaper (14) that is held high on a stand in the vessel (13). The reaper (14) may be made from a metal bar such as the mild steel plate or even non-metal bar like a piece of wood. The bar is flattened and given a tapering to a sharp leading edge. During harvesting the line (11) is pulled over the reaper (14) where hanging sea weed from the holder (12) will be pressed against and eventually cut by the reaper (14) and fall into the vessel (13).

While the preferred embodiment of the present invention and their advantages have been disclosed in the above Detailed Description, the invention is not limited thereto but only by the scope of the appended claim.