POSTS WITH SAID CLAMP

This invention relates to a clamp used in repairing damaged posts and poles the kind one equates with those used in vineyards and orchards. Nonetheless the clamp and the application of the clamp in the repair of such posts discussed in this specification need not necessary only be limited to such posts and can also be applied to other more generally used posts the kinds one finds for use with supporting trellises or lines of wires between adjacent posts and so forth.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is now well known to use wooden posts embedded within the ground to support trellis wires for vineyards and other such agriculturally useful plants.

An issue with vineyards is that, in order to be competitive, many vineyards are picked using mechanical harvesters which achieve the harvesting effect by rapidly beating the vine as it passes along a trellis. This beating is conventionally achieved by striker bars which work together which however aside from beating stems to dislodge fruit from the supporting vine, will also strike supporting posts as the harvester passes these by.

The result of this is that the post itself is then subjected to rapid and substantial impact pressures and in practice this means that some posts are broken in the process. This can be the result of deterioration of the post over time by drying and therefore becoming brittle, it can be because the ground into which the post is embedded is unyielding or it can be that the soil is reacting with the wood and weakening this.

Replacing a post as one or more along a trellis can be arduous, expensive and time consuming. Firstly, a stump of the original broken post will conventionally have to be removed and this may mean digging this stump out of the ground.

Secondly, a hole then has to be further dug for the second replacement post which may or may not fit into the excavated hole for the removal of the first stump.

Next however, wires or other supporting mechanisms for the trellis have to be removed from the old post portion and then refitted onto the new post orice put into position.

Two issues arise from this. A first is that there is no guarantee that the replacement post will not be broken the next time the harvester passes it by even if after a period of time and there is the necessary damage implicit in baring the area for the replacement post.

As an illustration of the significance of the problem, in some cases all of the posts of a particular trellis have been broken upon a passage of a mechanical harvester with subsequent significant damage to the vines and costs associated with replacement of the posts.

I have proposed that an approach to a solution would be to provide a clamping arrangement which can be used to rejoin the separated portions of the vineyard post so that both the lower portion which is still the buried stump, and the upper portion which would normally be carrying the trellis wires or other apparatus, can simply be restored to their original aligned position and with a clamp can be brought and held together and sustained this way thereafter.

One of the problems with this arrangement however is that if the clamp restores the original rigidity of the post, then a further portion of the post could become vulnerable to breakage or could become even more vulnerable to breakage. Likewise, if the clamp allows for resilient bending, this would be good for avoiding harvest damage but it then becomes a problem if the trellis itself is then subjected to wind or other deflecting forces which can then result in the whole of the structure leaning somewhat to one side or the other. This also has a problem then when a mechanical harvester comes through where the alignment of the posts between the beaters provides symmetrical beating. If the grapes are leaning significantly to one side this then may lead to less than optimum grape removal.

Our proposal then is to provide that there be a clamp in one case and clamp arrangement in another that will provide a first extent of tilt upon a first selected extent of deflecting force and beyond such selected extent a higher force being necessary to further effect further deflection or tilt.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one form then, there is proposed a clamp for holding together otherwise separated portions of a grapevine trellis supporting post, the clamp having a first body portion and a second body portion, the first body portion having an inner cavity shape adapted to engage substantially around one side of both upper and lower separated portions of the post, and the second body portion having an inner cavity shape adapted to engage substantially around one side of both upper and lower separated portions of the post which is oppositely positioned with respect to the said first side of the post, means adapted to hold said first body, portion with said second body portion with clamping pressure between the two to effect thereby a holding together of the respective upper and lower portions of the supporting post, each portion of the clamp being shaped to provide for when clamped a first flexible extent of tilt by an upper otherwise separated portion of the post with respect to a lower otherwise separated portion of the post, and for tilt there further, a second flexible extent which has a lower extent of flexibility.

In preference, the clamp is made from molded plastics material and is comprised of two separate portions which are initially entirely separated one from the other and which are joined together with by joining means. Such joining means can in one case be a plurality of nuts and bolts. In another case they can be releasable clamps.

In a further preferred case each of the two separate portions has in each case a central concave portion adapted to engage around both upper and lower otherwise separated portions of a vineyard post and extending along each respective side of the concave portion a flange.

In preference, the concave portion is defined by a wall with at least one slot extending substantially between the respective flanges located in an

approximately central position between an upper and lower end of the respective separate portion.

In preference, the concave portion is defined by a wall with at least two slots each extending substantially between the respective flanges located in an approximately central position between an upper and lower end of the respective separate portion. In preference, the concave portion in a first separate portion is shaped and of a size that it will together with a second identical to the first separate portion engage around a round post of selected size and effect with clamping together of its flanges a holding together of respective otherwise separate upper and lower portions of said post. In an alternate form then, although this need not necessarily be the only or indeed the broadest form of this, there is proposed a clamp arrangement holding together otherwise separated portions of a grapevine trellis supporting post, with a clamp having a first body portion and a second body portion, the first body portion having an inner cavity shape engaging substantially around one side of both upper and lower separated portions of the post, and the second body portion having an inner cavity shape engaging substantially around one side of both upper and lower separated portions of the post which is oppositely positioned with respect to the said first side of the post, means holding said first body portion with said second body portion with clamping pressure between the two thereby holding together of the respective upper and lower portions of the supporting post, each portion of the clamp being shaped to provide for a first flexible extent of tilt by the upper otherwise separated portion of the post with respect to the lower otherwise separated portion of the post, and for tilt there further, a second flexible extent which has a lower extent of flexibility than said first flexibility. In preference, the at least two stage flexibility is achieved by having a gap passing fully through the body portion which for a small extent of flex will open or close but with larger force when closed oblige the body portion to only flex through more resistant parts.

In preference, the gap will be a slot extending substantially across a portion of the body portion. The width of such a gap is then chosen to allow for a first extent with more flexibility and thereafter when closed together this then restrains the flexibility.

An issue has been observed where a mechanical harvester will in fact cause not only side to side deflection but also deflection in a direction along the length of

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the trellis. According to a further aspect of this invention this can also be accommodated by a clamp and clamp arrangement where there is provided a flange to each side of each clamp body portion and the clamp body portion to each side of the post portions is held to the oppositely positioned clamp body portion by means that hold for each side the respective flanges and where such means are positioned and otherwise such as to allow for relative spread and contraction between the flanges when the upper post portion is deflected in an alignment of the flanges.

Such a position in preference is for the holding means to be in an approximately a middle of an upper half of the respective clamp portions and in further preference in an approximately a middle of a lower half of the respective clamp portions.

This has been found to encourage a widening and contracting alignment between the respective flanges and to this end it is preferred that the respective shape and size of the clamp portions is such that they will when clamped with respective oppositely positioned flanges leave a gap between facing surfaces of the respective flange to allow for this opening and closing between the flanges.

In preference both effects as described are applicable and to a significant extent then allow for a modest amount of flexible deflection when being subject to harvester beaters but have a limit where external leaning for instance by reason of wind will be restricted.

This in effect two stage flexibility means that firstly vineyard posts can be repaired efficiently and thereafter will be able to more reliably wobble under beater impacts without fracturing because the clamp allows for this relative to the post material and otherwise will be able to also resist undue leaning under windy conditions.

For a better understanding of this invention it will now be described with the assistance of drawings describing embodiments it being understood that it is not intended that the scope of the invention should be necessarily limited to any specific details.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS

Figure 1 a is a side elevation of a clamp arrangement according to the first embodiment where it is positioned to be holding both upper and lower otherwise separated portions of a vineyard post, Figure 1 b is a perspective view of the clamp without the vineyard post in a flexed configuration similar to Figures 2 and 3 and Figure 1 c is front view of one body portion of the clamp, Figure 2 is the same view as in Figure 1 a except that more of a typical post is now shown where the post is leaning to an extent permitted by the clamping arrangement as shown in Figure 1 ,

Figure 3 is an enlarged view of the clamp in the leaning position showing the closure of the respective gaps with a limit position, and

Figure 4 is an enlargement of the relevant central portion of this showing how on the one side two gaps are especially closed together while on the other side, the two respective gaps are opened out,

Figure 5 illustrates the assembly to respective clamp portions and these being positioned in a typical partially below the ground position holding together upper post portion holding a vineyard wire, and clamped to be supported by a lower post portion which will be embedded more deeply in the ground,

Figure 6 illustrates the clamping arrangement again accordingly to the first embodiment with the post being pulled toward the viewer, Figure 7 is the same view as in Figure 6 again of the first embodiment but in this case the post is being pushed away from the viewer,

Figure 8 is a side elevation of the clamp being positioned in an alignment with the flanges aligned in the direction of the vineyard trellis, and

Figure 9 is a side elevation showing again same clamp but in this case being aligned with the flanges transfers to a vineyard wire alignment,

Figure 10 illustrates a stump subsequent to a post being fractured where the stump is otherwise buried deed in the soil,

Figure 11 is a clamp in a further embodiment of the invention comprised of two separable portions which is positioned with a lower part snaring an upper portion of the stump as shown in Figure 10, Figure 12 illustrates the step of driving the clamp of Figure 11 into the ground around the stump while generally leaving the stump in position within the ground,

Figure 13 is a view of the next step where a remaining post portion is inserted in the top of the clamp and the upper portion of the clamp is then further tightened around the lower end of the remaining post portion.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS

Now referring in detail to the drawings, the clamping arrangement 1 consists of two vamp body portions 2 and 3 which are each molded from plastics materials which in this embodiment are identical one to the other.

Each clamp body portion 2 and 3 consists of an inner cavity shape 4 and 5 which is of generally partially semi-circular in shape and which defines this partially semi-circular shape throughout its length in each case.

On each side of these partially semi-circular body portions 2 and 3 are flanges shown as 6 and 7 in the case of 2 and 8 and 9 in the case of 3.

The length of the respective body portions 2 and 3 are chosen though that there will be a sufficient portion or holding and cold clamping relatively tightly with subsequent sustained use, both an upper portion 10 and a lower portion 11 of otherwise separated vineyard post. Each of the flanges 6, 7 8 and 9 have a plurality of apertures 16,17 and 18,19 through them to accommodate respective bolts 12, 13 4 and 15 which by passing mutually through the respective apertures 16, 17,18, 19 is a typical way, and on the opposite side the relative apertures and bolts 13 and 15 engaging with respective nuts 21 and 22 and nuts 20 and 23 with the bolts respectively at 12 and 14. . Somewhat midway between an upper and lower end of the respective clamp body portions 2 and 3 are gaps 24 and 25 in the body portion 3 and gaps 26 and 27 in the body portion 2.

These gaps 24 through 27 are supfully through the wall 28 and 29 of the respective clamp body portions 3 and 2 and are of a length so that they extend substantially through the extent of the wall between the respective flanges.

This is probably best shown in Figure 8.

This allows for the upper portion of the clamp arrangement shown generally as 13 to bend relative to the lower portion, shown generally as 15, with greater flexibility by pressing together upper and lower edges of the gaps 24 and 25 in each case until the gaps themselves engage against one another whereupon the ability to flex the clamping arrangement further in that direction becomes harder and the extent of this is chosen then to provide sufficient strengths to hold the post and the associated trellis sufficiently against other influences, for instance the wind.

Lateral ribs 41 and 43 extend along the length of both body portions 2 and 3 and are separated by a series of holes 45, which are divided by columns 47 that link the respective lateral ribs 41 and 43 together. This arrangement provides a further degree of resiliency when flexing takes place by the gap created by slots 24 to 27.

Criteria such as the cost of the clamp including the materials then may provide a limit to the depth and other flexibility extents chosen.

In relative terms however the inclusion of such a gap and in this case two gaps with the extent apart of their respective upper and lower edges one or more gaps in this position allow a designer to control the extent of a first flexibility and thereafter ensure a greater resistance or stiffness to further external pressures. Now one of the difficulties is also that firstly in practice clamps are not always going to be put on in one orientation eg. with the flanges aligned to the trellis direction and either because labour installing these may not be especially careful bunch alignment but in any event, it has also been found that when a harvester passes a post, each beater is positioned in an inclined alignment with respect to the trellis elongate direction and what this means is that the beating will not be reliably simply transversed to the trellis direction but can also include a component in line with the trellis direction.

What has been therefore further discovered that if the respective clamping

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portions 2 and 3 are clamped together by simply one bolt to one side at an upper portion one bolt to one side at a lower portion which implicitly then has the result of allowing the flanges to distort one with respect to the other when being subject to the upper or even lower post otherwise separate portion being pulled in the direction of the flanges as compared to the direction transversed to the flanges.

The result of this can be as shown in Figures 6 and 7 in particular so that flanges will be able to come together in a middle location such as is shown at 30 and otherwise will be pulled further apart 1.

In effect then the upper portion of the post 32 will be pushing apart the upper parts of the flanges 6 and 7 will be more or less pivoting around the bolt 12.

In the reverse direction, the upper portion of the 32 is pushed away from the viewing position and this then means that the flanges in the middle area will be able to come apart and more importantly perhaps the upper portions of the flange at 34 will be able to come together again allowing for this relative pivotal freedom for a limited extent.

The advantage of this further feature is that a clamping arrangement as described can have the advantage of providing a relative degree of limited flexibility to allow for subsequent limited wobble but not have this excessively allowing for undue leaning of these posts, once repaired, in windy conditions.

Figures 10 to 13 introduce a further embodiment of the invention wherein the clamp is used in a method of repairing post with particular damage. Posts are used for many applications for instance viticulture, horticulture, aquaculture and the like.

There are a number of reasons why such posts especially when embedded within the ground break and on a number of occasions such break is close to the ground level. We have developed a clamp which can engage around and clamp both upper and lower portions of a fractured post and hold these thereafter.

A problem exists however where a post fractures at about ground level in that in order to obtain an adequate clamping effect around the remaining stump, one has to dig a significant hole around the stump in order to get access to the stump for such a clamping action.

The problem here however is that requiring significant excavation of the ground around the stump involves significant labour and therefore time and secondly, once excavated, the ground around the stump once returned would not be expected to be as dense and therefore compact as previously and this then leaves the repaired post less supported in the ground. It also is a challenge once the clamp has been placed in position to restore the earth and attempt to compact this to a previously compacted extent.

Figure 10 shows a lower portion post 51 which embedded deeply within the ground 52 and has for whatever reason been fractured shown generally as 67. , A typical application could be a vineyard post with mechanical harvesting where the post is supporting trellises or it could be other applications. The clamp shownjn this case, generally as 49 comprises two parts each semicylindrical portion at 55 and 56 having wings 57 and 58 and being brought together by suitable tightening means such as a bolt and nut, which best seen in Figure 13 could be bolts 68, 69 and matching nuts 71 and 72. The lower end of each clamp portion is tapered 63.

Clamp portions 55 and 56 are tethered by a bolt engaging through the respective wings base so that the lower portion of the clamp assembly is tightened so as to grip round the protruding portion of the stump 51.

In the event that the stump is lower in the ground, there might need to be just minor excavation of the soil but this need only to be several inches or centimeters to gain adequate capture access.

Once tightened the clamp assembly being the joined portions 55 and 56 are held together by appropriate nuts and bolts at its lower end. This is then driven by hammer 65 engaging against an appropriate upper edge of the respective wings 53 and 54 such that the stump 51 still stays much as is in the ground 52 but the clamp assembly is forced down into the soil around the stump 51.

In practice, this does appear to be a convenient and efficient technique to drive the clamp down and thereafter with the upper portion of the clamp still left untightened, the upper portion of the remainder of the post 66 is then inserted into the clamp with its lower edge then engaging against a top 67 of the stump 51 and nut and bolts as shown at 68 and 69 are effectively tightened so that end post is thereafter positioned on the remaining stump but held with some degree of pivotal freedom to protect the post against subsequent deflections causing further fracturing. This method is especially beneficial where the post may have been supporting a trellis and had not been disconnected previously from the trellis. This technique is also beneficial where the clamp itself is tolerant of deflection to a limited extent and will allow for a selected degree of wobble without causing undue stress on the more brittle post materials themselves.