Vine support with snap-in cross arm

Abstract

A vine support system for supporting vine crops includes a vertical post having one or more slotted apertures extending horizontally therethrough. A plurality of cross arms are provided, each cross arm fashioned and dimensioned to snap-engage in one of the slotted apertures and to extend horizontally outwardly from the post. The cross arms are adapted to support lateral trellis wires which engage the canes of a vine crop. Each cross arm is a planar member elongated in a lateral direction and vertically oriented, and includes a pair of L-shaped trellis wire slots opening upwardly at laterally opposed ends of the cross arm. The slots are dimensioned to capture and support trellis wires. A pair of spring tabs are integrally formed with the cross arm and bent outwardly therefrom. Each cross arm is dimensioned to be pushed through the slotted aperture of the vertical post described above, and the spring tab is deflected and compressed as it passes through the aperture. Thereafter, the spring tab returns (snaps back) to its extended position to prevent withdrawal of the cross arm from the slotted aperture. This arrangement permits the installation of cross arms in vertical posts without recourse to screws, bolts, or twisted wire structures, and without the use of any tool, thereby simplifying the process of trellis construction to an irreducible minimum.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.