Animal husbandry – Confining or housing – Often portable – small capacity – roofed housing structure
Reexamination Certificate
1999-02-10
2001-02-27
Poon, Peter M. (Department: 3644)
Animal husbandry
Confining or housing
Often portable, small capacity, roofed housing structure
C119S499000, C119S474000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06192834
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to animal cages. More particularly, this inventions relates to collapsible cages for pets.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Though most pets, such as cats and dogs, enjoy permanent housing facilities in the homes or yards of their owners, other temporary housing facilities are also occasionally required. Temporary housing facilities may be needed to isolate a pet during specific occasions, such as during yard work or the entry of visitors into a home. Temporary housing facilities may also be needed to accommodate a pet separated from its normal environs, or to serve as a carrier in which the pet may be transported from place to place. The size of temporary housing facilities appropriate for such purposes, and the corresponding difficulty in storing such temporary housing facilities, may discourage the retention of temporary housing facilities beyond the specific occasion for which they were purchased. In response to the high cost and waste associated with the replacement of temporary housing facilities so disposed of, a number of cages capable of being collapsed to a smaller size for easy storage were developed. These include U.S. Pat. No. 5,669,331 to Richmond, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,484,540 to Yamamoto, among others.
However, despite the storage advantages such previous collapsible cages have presented over their larger and bulkier non-collapsible brethren, significant deficiencies still remained. Specifically, the transition of previous cages from a collapsed to an expanded state, or the reverse transition, has proved difficult to achieve, especially when attempted by a single individual (who may be simultaneously attempting to control a distressed and highly uncooperative pet). In addition, the manner in which previous cages transitioned from an expanded to a collapsed state has limited the reduction in cage size achievable through the transition. A need exists for an improved collapsible cage that addresses these deficiencies.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a collapsible cage for housing an animal. The collapsible cage has an expanded and a collapsed configuration. The collapsible cage comprises a top platform and a bottom platform defining the ceiling and floor of said collapsible cage, a first accordion wall, a second accordion wall, a first end wall, and a second end wall, which collectively define a cage interior when the collapsible cage is in an expanded configuration. The first end wall rotatably engages the bottom platform and the second end wall rotatably engages the top platform.
The first accordion wall has a first upper portion and a first lower portion. The first upper portion has a first upper end rotatably engaged to the top platform, and the first lower portion has a first lower end rotatably engaged to the bottom platform. The first upper portion rotatably engages the first lower portion along a hinge intermediate of the first upper end and the first lower end.
The second accordion wall has a second upper portion and a second lower portion. The second upper portion has a second upper end rotatably engaged to the top platform, and the second lower portion has a second lower end rotatably engaged to the bottom platform. The second upper portion rotatably engages the second lower portion along a hinge intermediate of the second upper end and the second lower end.
During the transition of the collapsible cage from the expanded configuration to the collapsed configuration, the first and second end walls and the first and second accordion walls pivot into the cage interior and the top platform approaches the bottom platform.
The rotatable engagement of the first end wall to an individual one of the top or bottom platforms, combined with the rotatable engagement of the second end wall to the other of the top or bottom platforms, advantageously reduces the need to manually position both end walls during the transformation of the collapsible cage into either an expanded or collapsed configuration, and may also reduce the size of the collapsible cage within the collapsed configuration. This reduction in the size of the collapsed cage within the collapsed configuration is aided by the need for each of the top and bottom platforms to accommodate only an individual one of the end walls between itself and the collapsed accordion walls. Collapsible cages having both end walls attached to an individual one of the top or bottom platforms, by contrast, must necessarily accommodate both end walls between that individual one of the top and bottom platforms and the accordion walls within the collapsed configuration.
REFERENCES:
patent: 969285 (1910-09-01), Keipper
patent: 1187875 (1916-06-01), Welty
patent: 1198524 (1916-09-01), Cunliffe
patent: 2892562 (1959-06-01), Smithson
patent: 3556058 (1971-01-01), Smiler
patent: 3896766 (1975-07-01), Martin
patent: 4016833 (1977-04-01), Ray
patent: 4762085 (1988-08-01), Ondrasik
patent: 4763606 (1988-08-01), Ondrasik, II
patent: 5549073 (1996-08-01), Askins et al.
patent: 5626098 (1997-05-01), Askins et al.
patent: 5669331 (1997-09-01), Richmond
patent: 5727502 (1998-03-01), Askins et al.
patent: 5943982 (1999-08-01), Askins et al.
Abbott Yvonne R.
Doskocil Manufacturing Company, Inc.
Locke Liddell & Sapp LLP
Poon Peter M.
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