Animal husbandry – Confining or housing – Animal display or open work enclosure
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-26
2001-09-04
Jordan, Charles T. (Department: 3644)
Animal husbandry
Confining or housing
Animal display or open work enclosure
Reexamination Certificate
active
06283062
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to cages for birds and small animals. More particularly, the invention relates to a cage apron which is designed for a rectangular cage and which is attachable to the bottom of the cage to catch seed which falls from immediately outside the cage and which is easily removed for cleaning.
2. State of the Art
Birds and small animals are popular pets. Generally, these pets are housed in a wire mesh cage that can range in size from ten inches square, to cages having four to five foot sides. One problem associated with the use of these wire cages is that the enclosed animal has a tendency to scatter debris outside the perimeter of the cage. The floor area directly around the cage then becomes littered with food particles, bedding chips and other debris from inside the cage.
Prior art
FIG. 1
illustrates one known solution to this problem.
FIG. 1
illustrates a seed guard
10
that is attachable to a bird cage
12
. The seed guard has a total of twelve parts; four elongate, flexible transparent seed guards
14
, one for each side of a four-sided cage, and four corner pieces
16
of two parts each. Each corner piece
16
includes a horizontally disposed top part
18
that snap fittingly engages a cage corner bar and a bottom part
20
disposed about forty five degrees from the horizontal that also snap fittingly engages a cage corner bar; the two parts of each corner piece
16
snap fittingly engage each other away from the cage so that the free or leading ends of each corner member engage the same corner bar at vertically spaced locations. Each corner bar and the two parts secured thereto form a strong, triangular assembly that cannot be removed from the cage directly by a bird or indirectly by gravity acting on a swinging cage. While this seed guard may be effective in solving the problem of debris exiting the case, its complex construction makes it difficult to assemble and disassemble for cleaning.
Prior art
FIG. 2
shows another solution to the problem. The apron
22
has four corner “locking members”
24
and four side “ratchet members”
26
which are ratcheted into the locking members for telescopically joining the members into a frame like structure for mounting on the cage
28
. Each of the members is formed with an upper flanged edge
30
and an opposite lower support edge (not shown). The flanged edges of the two members align with each other into a locked relationship when the two members are telescopically joined. A plurality of removable tabs (not shown) extend outwardly from the support edge of the ratchet member for extending through the cage bars. While this cage apron is somewhat simpler than the earlier prior art solution, it is still relatively difficult for one person to assemble/disassemble the apron, particularly with a large cage.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an apron for a pet cage to prevent debris from exiting the cage.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a cage apron which is easy to assemble and disassemble.
It is another object of the invention to provide a cage apron which is inexpensive to manufacture.
In accord with these objects which will be discussed in detail below, the cage apron of the present invention includes four identical pieces. Each piece is a substantially trapezoidal sheet having long parallel sides and short angled sides. An L-shaped tab is located on one of the angled sides near the longer of the parallel sides and an angled flange extends along most of the length of the other angled side. The angle of the angled sides and the angle of the angled flange are such that when four of the pieces are arranged together, the parallel sides of adjacent pieces meet at right angles with the angled flange of each sheet lying parallel to the surface of an adjacent sheet. In this configuration, the L-shaped tab of each sheet interlocks the angled flange of an adjacent sheet. According to the preferred embodiment, a notch is provided on each angled side near the short parallel side for receiving and engaging a corner post of a rectangular cage structure. Other preferred aspects of the invention include providing a lip along the long parallel side so that it is blunted and more attractive, fabricating the sheets from sheet metal, and attaching the flange and tab by welding. Additional objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reference to the detailed description taken in conjunction with the provided figures.
REFERENCES:
patent: 310085 (1884-12-01), Schultz
patent: 1186782 (1916-06-01), Hercer
patent: 1460102 (1923-06-01), Leon
patent: 3356400 (1967-12-01), French
patent: 3510010 (1970-05-01), Gasner
patent: 3894316 (1975-07-01), Johnson
patent: 4027453 (1977-06-01), Bridge
patent: 4991544 (1991-02-01), Galvin et al.
patent: 5201278 (1993-04-01), Hehn
patent: 5508902 (1996-04-01), Shoemaker
patent: 5957086 (1999-09-01), Gallardo
Galgano & Burke
Jordan Charles T.
Shaw Elizabeth
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