Untitled record

Application filed January 6, 1919. Serial No. 269,824. Renewed April 19, 1920. Serial No. 375,150.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Harold E. Starratt, a citizen of the United States, residing at Olaa, in the county of Hawaii and Terri5 tory of Hawaii, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mulsh Layers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others 10 skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to a mulsh layer.

A method of enhancing the growth of sugar cane and preventing the growth of 15 weeds has been introduced in Hawaii, which method consists broadly in the application of a strip of paper or other similar material to a row of cane. This strip is applied over the surface of the’ground in 20 which the cane is planted, and is continuous. In practice it has been found profitable to use the ordinary asphalt felt paper. This paper, as is well known, is put on the market in rolls, the rolls having axial open25 ings therethrough.

The object of my invention resides in the provision of a device by means of which the paper may be applied to the row of cane with the greatest facility and the con30 sumption of the minimum time.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is an elevational view of the device with a roll of paper shown thereon in dotted lines; and

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail showing the manner in which the jaws are adjustable.

The embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawing consists of a handle portion 1, having a grip portion 2 and 40 having oppositely extending arms 3. These portions of the device are formed of a single piece of metal which is bent into the form illustrated in the drawing and which is twisted as at 4, at the junction of 45 the metal with the grip portion. The tendency of the two . elements of the handle 1 is to move outward under the action of their own resiliency, so that the arms 3 will be moved away from each other. This 50 tendency is overcome and the elements of the handle 1 are clamped together by a keeper 5, which is adapted to slide on the handle 1 into either its operative or inoperative position. Telescopically mounted 55 on the ends of the arms 3 are jaws 6, which are open at right angles to the arms 3,’as at

7, and are provided on their ends with alined frusto-conical bearings 8 which are rotatable and are held in place by suitable fasteners, such as nuts 9. The jaws 6 are 60 adjustable on the arms 3 and are -held in their adjusted positions by detents 10, which are provided with bills 11 adapted to pass through openings in the jaws and corresponding openings in the arms 3, as illus- 65 trated in Fig. 2 of the drawing. These detents 10 are provided with grip portions 12, so that the bills 11 may be withdrawn from the openings to permit the adjustments of the jaws on the arms. 70

As illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawing, the frusto-conical bearings 8 enter the axial opening in the roll of paper. This roll is placed upon the device by first moving the keeper 5 toward the grip portion 2 of the 75 handle. This keeper being in this position permits the elements of the handle 1 to move away from each other and thus increase the distance between the bearings 8 to such an extent that the roll may be 80 readily inserted between these bearings. When the roll is put in place the keeper 5 is again moved to its clamping position and will hold the bearings 8 tightly within the opening in the roll, so that the roll will be 85 substantially stationary with the bearings. These bearings will, however, rotate on the ends of the jaws on which they are mounted and permit the strip to be paid out over the row of cane. This paying out of the strip 90 is accomplished by securing the free end of the strip to the ground in some suitable manner and drawing the roll of paper over the cane row by means of the device described. It will thus be seen that the con- 95 trol of the passage of paper from the row may be greatly facilitated by the use of this device, for the direction may be controlled accurately by the operator.

By malting the jaws 6 adjustable on the 100 arms 3 of the device, the device may be adapted to paper rolls of various lengths.

While I have described a particular embodiment of my invention, it is, of course, to be understood that various modifications 105 in the details of construction may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or exceeding the scope of the appended claims.

In practical use this device has been no found very valuable, since the laying of the strips of paper in connection with the proc£3 1,341,484 ess which has heretofore been discussed, .may be carried out with great facility and, furthermore, a great amount of time and labor will be conserved. Of course, this a conservation of time and labor amounts to a great deal in the application of the paper to the cane rows where the cane fields are so extensive as they are in Hawaii.