Animal husbandry – Body- or appendage-encircling collar or band
Utility Patent
1994-10-17
2001-01-02
Manahan, Todd E. (Department: 3732)
Animal husbandry
Body- or appendage-encircling collar or band
C119S792000, C119S907000
Utility Patent
active
06167844
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
Over the years there have been numerous attempts to implement a means that can be used to keep an animal under control. Some of these attempts have also stressed the importance of preventing injury to the animal while the trainer or owner is exercising such control. In reviewing these attempts they can be seen to break down into four main groupings, Choke Collars, Harnesses, Regular Collars and Halters.
Choke collars have been popular because of the perception that they provide an effective means of animal control and the choke collar's ease of putting on and taking off of the animal. However, despite this popularity choke collars have several major shortcomings. First, the choke collar only provides a connection for the trainer, through the leash, to the neck of the animal, and not to the body. Thus any stresses are placed entirely upon the animal's neck. Second, as the choke collar functions by tightening about the animal's neck, the application of too much force can collapse the animal's trachea causing injury or even death. In addition, choke collars typically have no safety feature to prevent such over tightening, making its occurrence a constant threat when an animal is pulling, fighting or disobedient. Finally, the choke collar is easily placed around the animal's neck improperly, so that the tightening action the collar is designed to create does not release properly. This improper placement of the choke collar can serve to increase the risk of injury as the trainer may be unaware that the collar has not released properly. Improved choke collars such as disclosed in Klein et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,996,948, while serving to keep the slip ring portion positioned at the back of the animal's neck, fail to address all of the problems inherent with a choke collar and discussed above.
In an effort to overcome the potential injuries that choke collars can inflict, harnesses attach only to the body of the animal. Many harnesses involve fitting and adjusting several straps before an acceptable fit is obtained, thus making them difficult to fit properly, if at all. Moreover, an improperly fit harness can compress an animal's shoulders, restricting lateral movement and resulting in injury to the animal's shoulders. In addition, as the harness has no attachment to the animal's neck, it is difficult for a person to give the animal the subtle signals of varying pressure and intensity so necessary while training. Often, harnesses have been designed to attach to the animal's legs or to apply pressure upon the sensitive pits of the animal's forelegs. Such a harness often results in restriction of the animal's movement as well as discomfort due to chaffing. In addition, by foregoing any attachment to the animal's neck, such harnesses are better suited for restraint only and are inadequate for training purposes. An example of such a harness that applies pressure to the sensitive pits of an animal's forelegs is disclosed in Sporn, U.S. Pat. No. 5,329,885.
The regular collar, most often used for attaching license and other identifying tags is particularly unsuited for training and control of an animal. Similar to the choke collar it attaches only to the animal's neck. Thus efforts to control the animal will place stress on the animal's neck and can result in injury. In addition, a properly fitted collar will not secure the animal, thus allowing it to “back out” of the collar and get loose.
The final category of control means employed has been the halter. Halters attach to the head of the animal and typically combine a restraint about the animal's neck in combination with the muzzle. An example of a halter is seen in Anderson et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,838,206. The Anderson et al. device contains the distinguishing feature of a halter in that the attachment of the leash is at the animal's head. As it can be seen, referring to the drawings of Anderson et al., halters are difficult to fit and put on the animal. The muzzle feature may make it difficult for the animal to open its mouth and pant, drink or receive food rewards. In addition, restraint at the head puts a twisting strain on the animal's neck that can cause injury when the trainer applies pressure through the leash.
Therefore, there is the need for a means that will allow an animal trainer or owner to obtain secure, humane control of an animal. There is also a need for a means that will provide the signal ability offered by attachment to the animal's neck as well as the safety of attachment to the animal's body. There is also a need for a means to prevent over tightening of any restraint or control means that is placed around the animal's neck.
REFERENCES:
patent: Re. 32547 (1987-11-01), Reed
patent: 1614083 (1927-01-01), Plantico
patent: 2826172 (1958-03-01), Buckle et al.
patent: 3769939 (1973-11-01), Wais et al.
patent: 4022161 (1977-05-01), Halperin
patent: 4483275 (1984-11-01), De Groot
patent: 4566255 (1986-01-01), DeGroot
patent: 4838206 (1989-06-01), Anderson
patent: 4964369 (1990-10-01), Sporn
patent: 4996948 (1991-03-01), Klein et al.
patent: 5329885 (1994-07-01), Sporn
patent: 5427061 (1995-06-01), Mc Cullough
patent: 5503113 (1996-04-01), Knight
patent: 2142206 (1973-01-01), None
patent: 2201874 (1988-09-01), None
Cantrell Jeffery Dirk
Cantrell Kristen Ruth
Klaus Gschmaus LLC
Manahan Todd #E.
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