Animal husbandry – Antivermin treating or cleaning – Immersing chamber; e.g. – dip or wash means
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-20
2001-05-29
Price, Thomas (Department: 3643)
Animal husbandry
Antivermin treating or cleaning
Immersing chamber; e.g., dip or wash means
Reexamination Certificate
active
06237537
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND—FIELD OF INVENTION
This invention relates to pet bathtubs, specifically to a removable closure for providing a pet bathtub.
BACKGROUND—DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART
In the past, people seeking, to bathe their dog in a bathtub environment which allowed the dog to be immersed had few choices. One option had been to use a home bathtub designed for human use. This option generally required lifting the dog into the bathtub and then kneeling on the floor to wash the dog, which is physically and mentally taxing for both the dog and the dog owner. Additionally, the home bathtub also had the disadvantage of not being portable.
Another option to bathing the dog was to use a large tub, such as a galvanized washtub, a horse trough, etc. One problem with this method was that there was no satisfactory way to drain the tub. Thus it was very difficult to thoroughly rinse the dog while it was still confined in the tub.
Yet one more option was to use a specially designed for dogs or other pets. It may have been easier to wash the dog this way, but it required the purchase of a relatively expensive and bulky new piece of equipment that, in many cases, wasn't portable.
In addition, many of the stand-alone pet bathtubs, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,570 to Foster et. al., Aug. 18, 1998 have an open end to allow the dog to walk in, but there has been no way of closing off the entryway to allow immersion of the dog. Various bathtubs for designed for human use, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,358 to Graidel et al., Feb. 9, 1993 and stand-alone pet bathtubs, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,845,604 to Cucchi et. al., Dec. 8, 1998 have been developed that have entryway cutouts in one wall that can be sealed with removable closures. However, these entryway closures function with the particular bath of which they are a part, requiring the purchase of an often expensive and bulky new piece of equipment.
Various watertight removable entryway closures have been developed for other purposes, as shown in U.S. Pat No. 5,077,945 to Koeniger, Jan. 2, 1992, but these cannot be used to create any sort of a pet bathtub.
SUMMARY
A pet bathtub conversion device according to the present invention is a device to be used in combination with the bottom part of a modular dog crate having a plurality of solid walls and an additional wall with an entryway cutout to temporarily create a dog bathtub enclosed on all sides. The conversion device thus converts a dog crate to a pet bathtub. It comprises a waterproof panel, gasket, one or more drain assemblies passing through the face of the panel, and a plurality of alignment hardware and fastening devices.
OBJECTS AND ADVANTAGES
Several objects and advantages of the present invention are:
a) to provide an entirely new solution to the problem of bathing a dog in a portable bathtub environment;
b) to provide an inexpensive, lightweight, easy-to-store device to temporarily convert the bottom part (or crate bottom) of a disassembled modular dog crate having a plurality of solid walls and an additional wall with an entryway cutout into a watertight dog bathtub enclosed on all sides;
c) to provide a way of draining the bathtub thus created to a level near the bottom of the crate bottom floor using a siphoning drain assembly;
d) to provide a bathtub with a removable entryway closure allowing for the entrance and exit of the dog; and
e) to provide a device that can be easily installed and removed without the use of tools or without requiring any permanent alterations to the crate bottom itself.
The pet bathtub conversion device for dog crates of the present invention, when used in combination with the crate bottom, has many advantages over conventional human and animal bathtubs that are currently available. Some of the advantages are:
a) it is lightweight, easy and inexpensive to manufacture, takes up little space in comparison to a stand-alone pet bath, and is very portable;
b) the bathtub created can be easily drained;
c) the conversion device can be removed to provide a walk-in entryway for the dog so that no lifting of the dog is required;
d) the conversion device is removable without the use of tools and does not require any permanent alterations to the crate itself so that the crate bottom can be used as part of an assembled modular dog crate when not being used in combination with the conversion device to form a pet bathtub;
e) the conversion device can be secured in position on the crate bottom to provide a bathtub enclosed on all sides for more or less complete immersion of the dog and to provide a physical as well as psychological barrier to the escape of the dog;
f) the conversion device is used with a product (the crate bottom) that many dog owners already have, so that it does not require the purchase of a separate stand-alone dog bath.
Further objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent from a consideration of my drawings and ensuing descriptions.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3485213 (1969-12-01), Scanlon
patent: 4432104 (1984-02-01), Sasaki
patent: 4680817 (1987-07-01), Sloan et al.
patent: 4890341 (1990-01-01), Forbes
patent: 5255400 (1993-10-01), Sween
patent: 5711252 (1998-01-01), Brandolino
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