Card – picture – or sign exhibiting – Check – label – or tag – Holder
Reexamination Certificate
2001-10-17
2004-05-18
Green, Brian K. (Department: 3611)
Card, picture, or sign exhibiting
Check, label, or tag
Holder
C040S300000, C040S661000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06735894
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a tag encasement.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Certain animals are required to wear tags around their neck for various reasons. Pet dogs are often required by law to be registered or licensed in the county or state where the pet lives. Moreover, most jurisdictions also require the pet to wear a tag evidencing a vaccination against rabies. In many jurisdictions, the laws also require that these vaccination tags, and/or registration tags, be replaced periodically.
Pet owners also frequently attach supplemental identification tags to a pet's collar. These identification tags are typically engraved with the pet's name, and the owner's name, address, and phone number. Some owners also attach a tag containing medical information, such as veterinarian information and any medication that the pet must regularly take.
Thus, some pets can wear as many as three or more pet tags attached to their collars. However, there are many disadvantages to wearing these pet tags. Pet tags are commercially constructed in various shapes of rigid materials such as metal or hard plastic. Thus, single or multiple pet tags knock and rub against hard objects, such as food bowls, non-carpeted floors, or the car window such as when the pet has its head out of the car window. Having multiple tags also causes the tags to knock and rub against each other. This contact of the tags with hard objects and with each other produces undesirable noise. This is even more annoying for hunting dogs because the pet tags or collars must be removed from the dogs on every hunt since the dogs must work as quietly as possible.
Moreover, pet tags rubbing against each other and against other hard objects produces accelerated wear on the pet tag engravings, as does repeated or continual exposure to dirt, rain, and other environmental influences. This requires that the owner repeatedly replace the tags or, if the owner does not notice that this wear has occurred, may result in a lost pet not being returnable to the owner because the identification information cannot be read.
Furthermore, metal tags can cause fur discoloration on light-colored pets.
Additionally, tags can become entangled on fences or other objects resulting in injury or death to the animal wearing the tags.
Another disadvantage is that many owners occasionally or frequently travel with their pets such that the information contained on the tags, such as the phone number, becomes temporarily invalid. Additionally, people frequently move, thus changing addresses. This requires that new tags must be ordered, which could take several weeks. In the meantime, owners typically write new or temporary information on delicate material, such as paper or cardboard and attach it to the pet's collar or a tag hook, where the information is easily damaged or destroyed.
Moreover, current tags, in general, are unattractive.
Furthermore, commercially available tags are usually supplied to the owner with a small split ring or, less frequently, with an S-hook (all tag hook devices are referred to as “tag hook(s)”). The tag hook attaches to the tag through a hole at the top of the tag. The owner then typically attaches the tag to a collar by attaching the tag hook to a metal ring or other connecting device integrated in the collar. Attaching or removing the tags from the tag hooks is bothersome and difficult for most owners, especially for those having longer fingernails, or arthritis of the hands or fingers.
The need to address the disadvantages above have been unsuccessfully addressed by current tag holder devices for many reasons. Unless the pet-tag holder is being applied prior to the pet tags having been attached to the collar, current devices require detachment of the tag hooks from the collar and detachment of the tags from the tag hooks in order to apply the tag holder. Some also require removal of the pet's collar in order to change the pet tags.
Moreover, because some tag holders attach to the collar and the tags are encased within the holder rather than remaining securely attached to the pet's collar, should the tag holder become damaged or accidentally separated from the pet's collar, the tags may be lost.
Furthermore, it is not possible to use many of the current tag holders on narrow pet collars or on fabric or metal ‘choke’ collars since the width of the holder is too wide for the narrow collars. In some cases, such as where the holder must be riveted to the pet collar, there is no means by which the holder can be attached to such a collar. Furthermore, even if the holder is capable of being attached to a choke collar, the collar cannot be threaded through its end loops to create the sliding action required of such collars.
Additionally, most current tag holders are designed to hold only one or two pet tags.
Current tag holders are not designed to effectively hold the various sizes, thickness, and styles of pet tags commonly on the market today, including legally required registration and vaccination tags. Most, in fact, are extremely restrictive as to the shape of tags they can accommodate, many being limited to a narrow, elongated pet tag, and/or to a flexible pet tag, which are not the commonly used or available commercial tags.
Another disadvantage of current tag holders is that when a pet plays with another playmate, it instinctively protects its throat from “play-bites” from the playmate on the sides and back, or nape, of its neck. Some tag holders slide along the length of the pet's collar, or move with the pet collar as it slides around the pet's neck. Thus, these holders are likely to be repeatedly bitten or chewed by the playmate, thus rendering the holder susceptible to coming open or detached and to accelerated deterioration. Additionally, the majority of these holders are constructed of rigid materials, which could cause damage to the animal's teeth.
Moreover, the design of many current tag holders exposes the tags to the elements and/or does not enable a natural escape of loose dirt or water from the holder's interior. This causes increased tag deterioration from ongoing exposure to such elements.
Furthermore, some tag holders require one or more rivets to be attached to the collar, thus forcing the owner to make holes in the collar, thereby limiting the type of collar that can be used. It also requires the owner to apply and/or operate these rivets in order to attach the tag holder to the collars.
Additionally, most devices are constructed of rigid material, with some of them protruding out from the pet's collar and/or hanging from the collar. Thus, while the noise associated with the tags striking each other or other hard objects is abated, a noise problem persists caused by the tag holder itself striking hard objects. Use of rigid materials also means that the tag holders cannot be laundered but must be cleaned by hand. Furthermore, the use of metal or hard plastic in most holders presents a potential health risk to the pet should the holder be chewed or ingested.
Moreover, the size and/or weight of some current tag holders render them impractical for use on small pets with necks close to the ground or incapable of comfortably carrying the additional weight of the holder.
Furthermore, most tag holders either do not enable a owner to easily contain a temporary personalized tag (i.e. constructed of, for example, cardboard or paper containing pet information) or provide the capability to reasonably protect the temporary tag from the elements.
None of the prior art addresses the established problems associated with wearing tags for pets and their owners. Thus, there is a need for a pet tag holder that address all the disadvantages of current tag holders.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
A tag encasement has an envelope having a pocket portion with a first surface and a second surface together forming an enclosure and an opening along one side of the pocket portion. A slot is disposed through the first surface of the pocket portion for receiving
Crusenberry Stephen M.
Dissanayake Tilak B.
Young Debra A.
Beyer Weaver & Thomas LLP
Green Brian K.
The Silverhills Group, LLC
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