LAWN MAINTENANCE
Article Date: 5-8-2003

SOUTH FLORIDA INVENTOR RECEIVES PATENT FOR A LAWN MAINTENANCE

Patent attorney Werner H. Stemer with the Hollywood-based intellectual property law firm Lerner & Greenberg, P.A., successfully patented lawn irrigation and water conservation systems invented by Robert A. Imbrigiotta, a Fort Lauderdale chemical engineer, that recovers excess rain run-off and helps conserve city water (Patent #6,547,488).

Under normal conditions the soil in a lawn absorbs water at a specific rate. When there is more water than the soil can absorb, the excess water literally goes down the drain. This new system has two components. The first one uses semi-burrowed liners, or dividers, that are placed in the lawn and taking into account grade changes. The dividers help soak the soil uniformly by channeling water to otherwise dry spots and away from those parts where waters collects in puddles.

"Kiss the dry spots and gray areas in your St. Augustine lawn goodbye" said Imbrigiotta, the proud inventor, who also penned The Journey to a Bulletproof Lawn (The Natural Lawn Co., $14.95), a book on St. Augustine lawn care.

The dividers also channel the excess water to the second part of the system: a storage facility where the water can be stored until the dry season or drought takes place. The tank in turn is connected to an irrigation system that can distribute the water when needed.

"Even in sub-tropical climates along the Sunbelt and along the East Coast, which have superior humidity, proper and sufficient irrigation is not always ensured. One of the reasons is that typical dry cycles of several weeks often exceed the allowable dry cycles of most popular lawn grasses," said Stemer.

The system, which was designed with golf courses in mind, but can be scaled to home lawns, helps save water and energy by effectively using water otherwise be wasted in sewage systems. It also solves the problem of dry spots in lawns with sprinkler systems because it uniformly distributes the water by slowing the flow from steep areas into depressions and then collecting the excess.

"It certainly makes more sense to collect the extra precipitation instead of pumping it away," Stemer said.

Lerner & Greenberg, P.A. advises clients in key issues of intellectual property law, such as patents, trademarks, unfair competition, licensing, trade secrets, international patents and dispute resolution, as well as issues concerning the Internet and domain names. Lerner & Greenberg, ranked among the top 25 patent firms in the country by Intellectual Property Today magazine, is based in Hollywood, Fla. You can learn more about the firm at www.patentusa.com

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