# US 2019/0168232 A1 · Multi-Purpose Plant Flower Trimmer and Separator

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- Number: US 2019/0168232 A1
- Document ID: US20190168232A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 15/786,441
- Filed: 2017-10-17
- Published: 2019-06-06
- Earliest claimed: 2016-11-21
- Inventors: Thomas Joseph Bruggemann
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20190168232A1

## CPC

- B02C 17/1855: {with separator defining termination of crushing zone, e.g. screen denying egress of oversize material}
- A01F 12/442: {Rotary cleaners}
- A23N 15/00: Machines or apparatus for other treatment of fruits or vegetables for human purposes; Machines or apparatus for topping or skinning flower bulbs {(treatment of coffee, other than drying or roasting A23F; treatment of cocoa A23G1/02)}
- B02C 17/02: with perforated container
- B02C: CRUSHING, PULVERISING, OR DISINTEGRATING IN GENERAL; MILLING GRAIN ({household tools and machines for pulverising foodstuffs, e.g. coffee and spice mills A47J42/00; pharmaceutical mortars A61J3/02; mechanical processing of refuse and garbage B03B9/06; dressing mould materials by grinding B22C5/04}; obtaining metallic powder by crushing, grinding or milling B22F9/04; {recovery of plastics by disintegrating B29B17/00; crushing raw materials in starch making C08B30/02; beaters for papermaking D21D1/02; crushing devices specially for transport in mines E21F13/002; slag crushing devices F23J1/00; fuel milling devices in combustion apparatus F23K1/00; household devices for crushing coal F24B15/02; ice disintegrating devices F25C5/02})
- A01F: PROCESSING OF HARVESTED PRODUCE; HAY OR STRAW PRESSES; DEVICES FOR STORING AGRICULTURAL OR HORTICULTURAL PRODUCE (devices for topping or skinning onions or flower bulbs A23N15/08)
- A23N: MACHINES OR APPARATUS FOR TREATING HARVESTED FRUIT, VEGETABLES OR FLOWER BULBS IN BULK, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; PEELING VEGETABLES OR FRUIT IN BULK; APPARATUS FOR PREPARING ANIMAL FEEDING- STUFFS (machines for cutting straw or fodder A01F29/00; disintegrating, e.g. shredding, B02C; severing, e.g. cutting, splitting, slicing B26B, B26D)

## Abstract

Floor-standing equipment and methods that employ them use nylon netting and/or fine mesh to trim off leafy matter, break down leafy matter, and separate various aspects of plants from each other. The netting and/or fine mesh is formed into large cylindrical drum into which plant material is loaded through a door flap in the mesh cylinder. An electric motor or handcrank causes the load to tumble over and over a horizontal axle for 3-5 minutes at about 35 RPM. The plant matter trims, separates, and breaks itself down which then drops through the netting, down through a funnel bag into a basin on the floor. The flowers and/or larger plant material are then dropped out separately through the door flap in the netting and through the funnel bag into a second basin on the floor which replaced the first.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A multi-purpose floor-standing machine that trims leafy matter from the flowers of plants, and that isolates fine material from such trim, comprising:
a floor-standing frame of detachable pieces that enable onsite assembly and disassembly, and that provides support for an electric motor and a horizontal axle driven at variable speeds by the motor;
a tumbler drum mounted inside the top end of the floor-standing frame on the horizontal axle and formed by opposing, parallel, and equal-sized left and right tumbler drum end cap pans coaxially disposed on the horizontal axle to define a right cylinder with open walls;
a rectangular-shaped porous covering having a width sufficient to stretch over and between an open space between the opposing left and right tumbler drum end cap pans, and a length sufficient to completely wrap around the circumference of both the opposing, parallel, and equal-sized left and right tumbler drum end cap pans;
a door flap disposed in the rectangular-shaped porous covering and providing for dried plant material to be loaded in and unloaded out of the interior spaces of the tumbler drum;
a funnel bag chute disposed inside the floor-standing frame and outside a bottom half of the tumbler drum, and sized and mounted to allow free rotation of the tumbler drum within;
a first removable basin positioned on a floor below the funnel bag chute to catch fine materials that pass through rectangular-shaped porous covering; and
a second removable basin positioned on the floor below the funnel bag chute to catch coarse materials that do not pass through rectangular-shaped porous covering and are unloaded via the door flap.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The machine of claim 1, wherein the rectangular-shaped porous covering comprises ¼″ to ½″ nylon netting and the fine materials caught in the first removable basin are leafy trim.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The machine of claim 1, wherein the rectangular-shaped porous covering comprises ¼″ to ½″ nylon netting and the coarse materials caught in the second removable basin are trimmed flowers of plants.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The machine of claim 1, wherein the rectangular-shaped porous covering comprises silkscreen and the fine materials caught in the first removable basin are isolated trichome crystals.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The machine of claim 1, wherein the rectangular-shaped porous covering comprises silkscreen and the coarse materials caught in the second removable basin are trimmings of flowers of plants.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The machine of claim 1, wherein the tumbler drum, the horizontal axle, the electric motor, and a distal support bearing are interconnected to one another with female and male pipe threaded parts.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The machine of claim 1, further comprising:
a dustcover that is positioned over the tumbler drum to prevent the escape of airborne particles generated from the dried plant material turning inside.

### Claim 8

A method of trimming extraneous matter from the flowers of plants, comprising:
loading a quantity of untrimmed and dried flowers of plants into a cylindrical tumbler drum formed of nylon netting or mesh screen with a horizontal axle;
turning the cylindrical tumbler drum at 25 to 45 RPM for three to five minutes or until a substantial reduction in a material dropping with gravity through the nylon netting or mesh screen is observed;
catching said trim material dropping with gravity through the nylon netting or mesh screen with a funnel bag chute placed around and under the cylindrical tumbler drum as it turns on said horizontal axle, and funneling said trim material into a removable basin below; and
unloading a quantity of now trimmed and dry seedless flowers from the cylindrical tumbler drum into another removable basin placed below.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, further comprising:
opening a door flap in the nylon netting or mesh screen to load the quantity of untrimmed and dried seedless flowers when such door flap is positioned by rotating it to the top of the cylindrical tumbler drum.

### Claim 10 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, further comprising:
opening a door flap in the nylon netting or mesh screen to unload by gravity the quantity of now trimmed and dry seedless flowers when such door flap is positioned by rotating it to the bottom of the cylindrical tumbler drum.

### Claim 11

A machine for trimming extraneous matter from the flowers of plants, comprising:
a cylindrical tumbler drum formed of nylon netting and mounted to turn on a horizontal axle, and providing for a loading a quantity of untrimmed and dried seedless flowers of female cannabis plants;
a motor and/or hand crank connected to turn the cylindrical tumbler drum at variable speed of 0-45 RPM for about five minutes or until a substantial reduction in a trim material dropping with gravity through the nylon netting occurs;
a funnel bag chute placed around and under the cylindrical tumbler drum, and that allows the cylindrical tumbler drum to turn freely on said horizontal axle, and that is configured to catch said trim material as it drops with gravity through the nylon netting;
a removable basin placed below the funnel bag chute and on the floor to receive said trim material while the cylindrical tumbler drum is turned; and
another removable basin placed below the funnel bag chute and on the floor to receive a quantity of now trimmed and dry seedless flowers from the cylindrical tumbler drum after it stops turning.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The machine of claim 11, further comprising:
a door flap in the nylon netting opened to load the quantity of untrimmed and dried seedless flowers when such door flap is positioned by rotating it to the top of the cylindrical tumbler drum.

### Claim 13 (depends on 11)

The machine of claim 11, further comprising:
a door flap in the nylon netting opened to unload by gravity the quantity of now trimmed and dry seedless flowers when such door flap is positioned by rotating it to the bottom of the cylindrical tumbler drum.

### Claim 14 (depends on 11)

The machine of claim 11, further comprising:
a dustcover that is positioned to shroud the tumbler drum to prevent a dispersal of airborne particles produced by an agitation of any dried plant material turning inside.