Dual Purpose Female Cannabis Seedless Flower Bud Trimmers, Kief Separators and Methods

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to dual-purpose equipment and methods for both dry trimming female cannabis seedless flower buds of leafy matter, and for kief separation of the resulting trim. And more specifically to those that employ ½″ and ¼″ netting formed into cylindrical tumbler drums turned on a horizontal axle to gently separate and delicately trim the female cannabis seedless flower buds of leaf matter with minimal damage and/or loss of trichomes and crystals. And using fine screens in place of the netting to isolate trichomes and crystals from leafy trim.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Cannabis plants can be male, female, or hermaphrodite. But it's the seedless flowers of the female (sinsemilla) that are the most prized because they have the highest concentrations of cannabinoid. These seedless flowers or buds are rather easy to separate from the larger leaves and stems, but the buds themselves are infiltrated with protruding leaf matter that needs careful “trimming” so as not to break off or lose crystals and trichomes embedded in the buds.

Such trimming can be easily and carefully done by hand for low volumes. But commercial production requires automated methods. Conventional equipment has employed metal blades and rotating scissors disks that loosely resemble electric hair trimmers. Such traditional equipment can be very harsh on the buds themselves and make a mess of the final product. These blades also need lubricating and these lubricants can contaminate the final products.

Conventional trimmers use metal blades that need regular lubrication with oil, and therefore regular cleaning and maintenance. The blade lubrication oil eventually winds up in the product and can become toxic when smoked or ingested. Embodiments of the present invention do not use blades, and do not require lubrication of any part that comes into contact with the cannabis being processed, no any maintenance associated with such cleaning.

Kief, which is the resinous trichomes of cannabis, are fine outgrowths on the plants that protect and promote the genetic material in a plant's seeds in many different ways. Cannabis and other plants that depend on the wind to carry their pollens do not emit terpenes, flavonoids, and other odors that encourage pollination by attracting bees and other insects. Some odors actually will attract predators so that herbivores will stay away and not graze. Some trichomes have developed psychoactive chemicals that will intoxicate herbivores or make them ill. These pharmacological effects will distract herbivores enough not to eat the plant. Other trichomes build physical barriers, like cotton fibers, that make it difficult for beetles and other pests to get to the seeds.

Each plant's limited resources can be safely diverted away from making the odorous and/or psychoactive compounds once its seeds begin to form. The plants no longer need to encourage or defend pollination, and instead divert resources to nurture seed formation. This is why seedless cannabis flowers are highly valued. Historically, the cannabinoid concentration in cultivated plants averaged between 1%-5%. But once it was recognized that preventing pollination will naturally increase cannabinoid concentrations, 12%-16% is now routine. Such plants labeled as sinsemilla are the seedless females of cannabis.

Different mesh sizes of silkscreen are used for different applications in screen printing. Mesh size is measured by how many threads of mesh there are crossing per square inch. For instance, a 110-mesh screen has 110 cross-threads per inch. The higher the mesh count, the finer the holes will be in the screen, generally speaking.

Printing silkscreen has been found to be a very useful kief filtering material that will pass through trichomes and their high concentrations of cannabinoid.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Briefly, both floor-standing equipment and method embodiments of the present invention trim leafy matter off the seedless flowers of female cannabis plants by tumbling them around in a continuous curling wave that knocks the flowers together and that grates them along a nylon netting. The netting is formed into large cylindrical drum into which dried seedless flowers of female cannabis plants are loaded through a door flap in the netting. 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 trim drops through the netting down through a funnel bag into a plastic basin on the floor. The trimmed seedless flowers are then dropped out separately through the door flap in the netting and through the funnel bag into a second plastic basin on the floor.

In other embodiments, the floor-standing equipment is operated as a trimmer, a popcorn-size bud separator, and a kief-separator (aka pollinator) pretty much by simply changing the netting to use different sized openings and even silkscreens with different mesh sizes.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after having read the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments which are illustrated in the various drawing figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a perspective view diagram of the floor standing frame, motor drive, and horizontal axle cylindrical tumbling drum form for a female cannabis flower bud trimmer embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 1B is a perspective view diagram of how a rectangular patch of netting is wrapped around the horizontal axle cylindrical tumbling drum form of the female cannabis flower bud trimmer of FIG. 1A;

FIG. 1C is a side view of the female cannabis flower bud trimmer of FIG. 1A without the floor-standing frame so the funnel bag chute and a removal catch basin can be shown in relation to the cylindrical tumbling drum that is covered with the netting;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the cylindrical tumbling drum of FIGS. 1A-1C that is covered with the netting and is shown here to include a zippered door flap and radial lips on the opposing drum ends;

FIGS. 3A-3F illustrate the steps in a method embodiment of the present invention for using the equipment described to trim extraneous matter from the seedless flowers of female cannabis plants;

FIGS. 4A-4C illustrate the steps in a method embodiment of the present invention for using the equipment described to extract kief from extraneous matter earlier separated during trimming from the seedless flowers of female cannabis plants;

FIG. 5 is a perspective diagram of an inexpensive and portable version of the trimmers described in the above Figs;

FIG. 6 is an exploded assembly and partial cross sectional view of a motor and tumbler drum drivetrain useful in embodiments of the present invention. These pieces all couple together with matching female pipe threads (FPT) and male pipe threads (MPT);

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a clear vinyl dustcover that can be slipped over the PVC framework of a trimmer like that of FIG. 5; and

FIGS. 8A and 8B are perspective views of a baby-carriage type folding top dustcover in its open (FIG. 8A) and closed (FIG. 8B) positions.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

FIGS. 1A-1C represent a floor-standing female cannabis flower bud trimmer embodiment of the present invention and is referred to herein by the general reference numeral 100. The floor-standing trimmer 100 is user-assembled onsite from a shipping box of pieces that include a rectangular frame of welded box metal channel 102, four matching removable legs 104-107, a variable speed electric motor 108, a horizontal axle 110 set inside the width of the frame 102 and driven by the motor 108, and two inwardly dished cylindrical end plates 112-113 coaxially mounted on the horizontal axle 110. The two inwardly dished cylindrical end plates 112-113 have lips 114 and 115 radially turned outward. Two lengths of hook-and-loop tape 116 and 117, such as VELCRO brand, are wound around and glued to fully wrap around 360-degrees of each of the two cylindrical end plates 112-113.

FIG. 1B shows how a tumbler drum is formed with netting. A rectangular patch of nylon netting 118 is fringed along its outside edges with one part of a hook-and-loop tape 120 about 1.5″ wide. The rectangular patch of nylon netting is wide enough to bridge over and overlap both outside diameters of the two inwardly dished cylindrical end plates 112-113, and is long enough to fully wrap around 360-degrees to form a large cylindrical drum. A door flap 122 fitted with zippers and/or hook-and-loop tape allows user access to load in and unload materials during use. Protective inside flaps should be included to cover the zippers such that they do not get clogged with kief or other fine materials.

The two matching and opposing dished cylindrical end plates 112-113 have radially turned outward lips 114 and 115 that help seal with the netting 118 and to exclude debris from fouling the opposing hook-and-loop tape pieces. Typical diameters for the two cylindrical end plates 112-113 range from 17″ to 22″, depending on the target weights of materials to be batch processed.

The variable speed electric motor 108 preferably has a variable range of zero to 35-RPM. Near zero, its speed control is used to position the tumbler drum for loading and unloading of material. In operation, the material loaded inside will begin to roll around in a log until the speed gets high enough for it to break in waves and tumble over the horizontal axle 110. The best speed, about 35-RPM produces a continuous curling wave of material inside the tumbler drum. At too high a speed, centrifugal force will press the material all along the inside for full rotations. Too high a speed prevents the trimming action from operating properly or efficiently. But speeds as low as 20-RPM are useful when the user intends for the trimming to be as gentle as possible.

FIG. 1C shows a clear vinyl, rectangular funnel bag chute 130 that is hung inside frame 102 and legs 104-107, but outside the bottom half of the large cylindrical drum formed by the netting and the two cylindrical end plates 112-113. The purpose of this rectangular funnel bag is to direct materials dropping through the netting, or through a door flap in the netting, down into a smaller opening plastic dishpan basin 132, like a 16″×12″×8″ RUBBERMAID DISHPAN. Making the funnel bag chute 130 of clear vinyl helps the user to see the progress of the trimming and to see the trim materials dropping through inside.

The structural pieces of trimmer 100 are generally comprised of steel and/or aluminum. Overall, the trimmer 100 is floor-standing and generally about 60″ tall, 36″ wide, and about 36″ deep. Lighter duty embodiments are generally smaller and weigh less, and are limited to processing smaller-weight loads.

The trimming action is not unlike the polishing action that occurs inside a rock polisher that tumbles loose rocks around inside a drum. The flowers knock against each other will tumbling around, and that breaks off any remaining protruding leafy matter. The finished value of trimmed buds is maximum when the trichomes and crystals remain on the buds.

FIG. 2 represents a drum and motor assembly 200, in an embodiment of the present invention. A rectangular patch of nylon netting 202 has a hook-and-loop tape trimming 204, 205 about 1.5″ wide all around its outside longitudinal and lateral perimeters. The rectangular patch of nylon netting 202 is wide enough to bridge over and still overlap both outside diameters of two inwardly dished cylindrical end plates 206, 207. And the rectangular patch of netting 202 is long enough in its length to fully wrap around and seal 360-degrees of the respective diameters to form a large cylindrical drum 210.

The two inwardly dished cylindrical end plates 206, 207 have radially turned out lips 212, 213 to help seal with the netting 202 and to exclude fugitive debris from fouling the opposing hook-and-loop tape pieces 204-205 and 214-215. These matching lengths of hook-and-loop tape 214-215 are wound around and glued to fully wrap all 360-degrees of the circumferences of each of the two cylindrical end plates 206-207. Typical diameters for the two cylindrical end plates 206-207 range from 16″ to 26″, so the length of the netting 202 and the matching lengths of hook-and-loop tapes 204, 205, 214, and 215 will easily run about 70″.

A zippered door flap 220 is included in the rectangular patch of nylon netting 202 and allows easy user access to the interior of the large cylindrical drum 210. A variable-speed electric motor 222 is provided with a variable speed control rheostat 224 which permits a user to easily rotate and position the zippered door flap 220 to the top or the bottom of the large cylindrical drum 210. Such zippered door flap 220 would be best positioned to the top when loading in materials. Similarly, such zippered door flap 220 would be best positioned to the bottom when the materials need to be dumped through the clear vinyl, rectangular funnel bag that is hung inside frame 102 and legs 104-107, down to a plastic dishpan basin. Two parallel zippers 226 and 228 are preferred since this can save wear-and-tear on the hook-and-loop tapes.

FIGS. 3A-3F represent the steps in a method for trimming the seedless flower buds of female cannabis plants. The large cylindrical drum 210 of FIG. 2 is represented here as a tumbler drum 302 with a zippered door flap 304. In FIGS. 3A-3C the tumbler drum 302 is fitted with ½″ netting, and in FIGS. 3D-3F, the tumbler drum 302 is retro-fitted with ¼″ netting. The initial use of ½″ netting in FIGS. 3A-3C allows small flower “popcorn-size” buds to fall through that must be separated from the trim and recaptured in FIGS. 3D-3F.

In FIG. 3A, a first step 310 begins with loading a dry quantity of cannabis, e.g., 3-6 pounds, into the tumbler drum 302 through the door flap 304 while it is positioned near the top. In FIG. 3B, a next step 312 uses the motor or a handcrank to turn the tumbler drum 302 near maximum speed until trim debris visually ceases to flow out, e.g., 20-35 RPM for five minutes. The trim fallout, which includes small leaves, some kief, and small flower “popcorn-size” buds are collected in a plastic dishpan basin with the assistance of a clear vinyl, rectangular funnel bag (not shown here). See FIGS. 4A-4C for the deliberate isolation of the kief from trim into a final product.

In FIG. 3C, a step 314, a fresh, empty plastic dishpan basin is placed below, the door flap 304 is opened, and rotated to the bottom position such that the large flower buds all drop into the empty plastic dishpan basin. This product then is held in reserve as a better, more valuable part of the final quantity of trimmed buds. The ½″ netting is then exchanged for ¼″ netting on tumbler drum 302.

In FIG. 3D, a step 316, the contents of plastic dishpan basin from step 312 is loaded through the door flap 304 after it's rotated to the top position. In FIG. 3E, a next step 318 uses the motor or handcrank to again turn the tumbler drum 302 near maximum speed until trim debris visually ceases to flow out, e.g., 20-35 RPM for five minutes. The small flower “popcorn-size” buds stay inside tumbler drum 302 and only trim pieces are collected below in another plastic dishpan basin. Again, the use of a clear vinyl, rectangular funnel bag helps the user to see when the step is concluded.

In FIG. 3F, a step 320, a fresh, empty plastic dishpan basin is placed below, the door flap 304 is opened, and rotated to the bottom position such that the small, now trimmed, “popcorn-size” flower buds all drop into the empty plastic dishpan basin. This product then added to the large trimmed buds that were held in reserve from step 314 in FIG. 3C.

The standard measure of screen “mesh size” relates to how many threads per inch are present. But the gaps between these threads will narrow as the threads get thicker. The preferred embodiments here use 110 micron or 151-195 micron screens to allow some control over the size of particles being isolated.

The floor-standing trimmer 100 of FIG. 1 can change function between being a traditional trimmer, popcorn-size bud separator, and kief-separator (aka pollinator) by the user's changing of the netting between ½″, ¼″, and 110-120 silkscreen. A kief-separator (aka pollinator) separates the fine powdery trichome and bits of crystalized resin from the trim obtained in FIG. 3E, step 318.

The stalks of mature trichomes typically reach a maximum diameter of about 40-microns. And the corresponding heads are usually three times that, about 120-micron, with a maximum of 135-microns. So, mesh sizes above 120 (125-micron pass through) are not commonly used in making kief. Any mesh that is too fine will block the largest trichome heads from passing through the silkscreen mesh.

A 170-mesh (88-micron pass through) blocks most the mature trichome heads. Any trichome stalks that do break off will be small enough to pass through even finer mesh sizes. If the intention is to deliberately separate the heads from the stalks, then a 200-mesh screen (74-micron) is called for. Going the other way, classic Afghani pressed hash has a large amount of debris because large, 50-60 mesh screens are used.

Leaf matter in cannabis carries only a relatively small amount of cannabinoids, around 0.5%, and the trichomes around and in the seedless female flowers carry much higher concentrations of cannabinoids. If the trichomes are separated from the plant matter in the flowers, the kief yield will normally be about a third of total mass of flowers. The cannabinoids from the trichomes in the kief will be about 2.5 times more concentrated than the original flowers. About half the finished weight is the cannabinoids and terpenoids, with the rest being the trichome structural materials. Thus, thirty grams of flowers/buds can be expected to yield five grams of cannabinoids and terpenoids.

FIGS. 4A-4C represent a change of a trimmer 100 into a kief-separator (aka pollinator). Essentially, the nylon netting is replaced by a 110-micron silkscreen covered drum 402 that will pass through the trichomes by retaining anything larger size inside. In a first step 400, illustrated in FIG. 4A, a plastic dishpan basin 404 of cannabis plant trim and random bits of trichomes are poured 406 through a door flap 408 in drum 402 positioned near the top. A second step 409 is illustrated in FIG. 4B. The silkscreen covered drum 402 is rotated by motor or hand crank to tumble the material from plastic dishpan basin 404 around inside for several minutes at 0-35 RPM. A kief fallout 410 will form on the outside surface of the silkscreen mesh and most will fall to the floor where another plastic dishpan basin 412 is set by the user to catch it. A third and final step 413 in FIG. 4C includes stopping the drum 402 with the door flap 408 at the bottom and open. This will allow gravity to help unload steams, leaves, and other trim 414 into a third plastic dishpan basin 416. Some scraping or pushing by hand or with a tool may be needed to clear it all.

FIG. 5 represents a low cost trimmer 500 in an embodiment of the present invention that is less expensive, easier to transport, and lighter-duty than trimmer 100 of FIG. 1. Its frame 502 is entirely made up of ½″ or ¾″ plastic PVC pipe sections 504-524, socket elbow-tees 526-532, socket cross-elbows 534-536, and socket-tees 538. (Some elements not able to be shown in this perspective view are not numbered.) These pieces are delivered mostly unassembled to typical retail end users and are dry fitted together without glue for use by them. Not using glue allows the trimmer 500 to be disassembled again and more readily transported.

A cylindrical drum form 550 about 19″ in diameter and 20″ in length is supported for turning with a horizontal axle 552. Such is positioned inside the top half of frame 502 and a clear vinyl funnel bag 554 is positioned inside the bottom half of frame 502 to catch loosened trim that escapes through a covering of netting 556. At its top, the clear vinyl funnel bag 554 circuits completely around the bottom half outer diameters of cylinder ends 558 and 559, and does so without contacting or dragging on the netting 556 or cylinder ends 558 and 559. A smaller opening at the bottom of the clear vinyl funnel bag 554 neatly focuses the loose trim into a plastic dishpan basin set below on the floor by the user.

A zippered door flap 560 is stitched into the netting 556 and allows materials to be loaded and unloaded from inside the cylindrical-drum netting enclosure formed by elements 550,556,558,559. A variable-speed electric motor 562 is connected to turn the netting enclosure on horizontal axle 552 at 0-35 RPM. A wide, soft-bristle brush mounted to the back of the frame and positioned to gently sweep along the whole width of surface of the netting enclosure as it turns on horizontal axle 552 can help automatically clear the netting of snags of stems and leaves. A clear vinyl dust cover (not shown) may sometimes be used and is slipped over the outside of the top half of frame 502 to prevent too much fugitive powder and debris from flying out into the air and onto the surrounding floor.

FIG. 6 represents a motor and tumbler drum drivetrain 600 useful in various embodiments of the present invention. A critical aspect of what is shown here is that the major pieces all couple together with matching female pipe threads (FPT) and male pipe threads (MPT). For example, ½″ and ¾″ in both PVC and steel pipes and fittings are widely available and relatively inexpensive. A variable speed electric motor 602 can be adjusted by a user to turn a whole tumbler drum assembly at 0-35 RPM. The motor 602 is mounted at a left end to a supporting floor-standing frame. A MPT 604 threads into a FPT 606 mounted by a first flange 608 to a left tumbler drum end cap pan 610. The left tumbler drum end cap pan 610 is dished and open here to the right.

A second flange 612 and FPT 614 provide a supporting coupling through to a horizontal axle 618 that carries over to the right side in this FIG. 6. A MPT 620 threads into a FPT 622 and a third flange 624, these couple through right tumbler drum end cap pan 626 to a fourth flange 628 and FPT 630. A MPT 632 on one end of a coupler pipe 634 provides rotational distal support with a bearing block 636 mounted to the supporting floor-standing frame. One advantage of building motor and tumbler drum drivetrain 600 with common MPT and FPT water pipe pieces is they make for easy field assembly and disassembly onsite by the user.

Dashed lines are used in FIG. 6 between the left and right tumbler drum end cap pans 610 and 626. These represent the nylon netting used during trimming and the alternative mesh screening used for kief isolation.

In general, embodiments of the present invention include a dual-purpose floor-standing machine that trims leafy matter from the seedless flowers of female cannabis plants, and also isolates kief from such trim. A floor-standing frame of detachable pieces enable onsite assembly and disassembly, and provide mechanical support for an electric motor and a horizontal axle driven at variable speeds by the motor. A tumbler drum mounted is inside a top end of the floor-standing frame on the horizontal axle. Such is 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 has a width sufficient to stretch over and between an open space between the opposing left and right tumbler drum end cap pans, and has 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 is disposed in the rectangular-shaped porous covering and provides for dried plant material to be loaded-in and unloaded-out of the interior spaces of the tumbler drum.

A funnel bag chute is disposed inside the floor-standing frame and outside a bottom half of the tumbler drum. It is sized and mounted to allow free rotation of the tumbler drum within. A first removable basin is initially positioned on a floor below the funnel bag chute to catch fine materials that pass through rectangular-shaped porous covering. A second removable basin is subsequently positioned on the floor below the funnel bag chute to catch coarse materials that do not pass through rectangular-shaped porous covering and that must be unloaded via the door flap.

Tumbling dry cannabis the way the equipment and methods described herein do will produce airborne clouds of valuable kief and other fines and powders including mildew spores. A removable dustcover that fully shrouds the tumbler drums in FIGS. 1A, 1B, 1C, 2, 3B, 3E, 4B, 5, and 6, should be in position whenever the tumbler drum is turning more than a few RPM. Otherwise, such airborne clouds can interfere with, annoy, trigger allergies, or even harm the health of workers and users in the vicinity. Profits are also improved by keeping the airborne kief from dispersing and becoming irretrievable.

FIG. 7 represents such a dustcover 700 made of clear vinyl that is cut and stitched to just fit over the top half of the low-cost trimmer 500 (FIG. 5). Any kief that collects inside after use can be scraped off or wiped clean. Clear vinyl material is preferred so that the user can verify the speed settings are producing a continuous curling wave of dry material tumbling around over the horizontal axle 552 (FIG. 5), and see when the equipment should be stopped for a next step in the process.

FIGS. 8A and 8B represents a folding dustcover 800 that resembles the folding top of a baby carriage. A folding top frame is covered with clear vinyl that is cut and stitched in a half dome to fit over trimmer 100 (FIG. 1A). After use, kief that collected inside can be scraped off or wiped clean. Here too, clear vinyl material is preferred so that the user can verify the variable speed motor settings are producing a continuous curling wave of dry material tumbling around over the horizontal axle 110 (FIGS. 1A, 1B).

Although the present invention has been described in terms of the presently preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not to be interpreted as limiting. Various alterations and modifications will no doubt become apparent to those skilled in the art after having read the above disclosure. Accordingly, it is intended that the appended claims be interpreted as covering all alterations and modifications as fall within the “true” spirit and scope of the invention.