The present invention relates to blanketing of domesticated quadruped animals and more particularly, but not exclusively, to a composite electrically heating blanket for horses.
It is known that blanketing horses that live outside during cold climatic conditions is often necessary to keep the horse warm, dry and happy. However, blanketing, if not properly utilized, can lead to problems for the horse, such as bacterial disease caused by the horse sweating and drying under the blanket. It is therefore imperative that horses be managed sensibly during cold winter months to keep the horse comfortable and free from illness cause by adverse weather conditions.
Horses need to maintain body warmth and fed with the proper nutritional needs during winter months. Critical body temperatures for horses is estimated at 41 degrees F., with a summer hair coat, and 18 degrees F., with a winter hair coat. Horses are most comfortable between 18 to 59 degrees F. The cooler the air, the greater the heat loss and wet hair increases heat loss due to the horse's hair reducing its insulation value. It is therefore important that a horse stays dry. A horse standing in the cold often leads to illness and it is therefore important to shelter the horse, such as when expecting sudden cold snaps when the horse has not yet grown a sufficient winter hair coat. Wind and moisture are factors which horses have a difficulty to tolerate. Therefore, it is important to blanket horses that live outside and to constantly monitor the changing weather conditions and more importantly the horses body condition to assure the horses health. Horses that are thin, ill, old or very young are most likely to benefit from blanketing to protect the horses from cold weather and rain. Therefore, the blanket should be waterproof while permitting the escape of moisture from the horse's hair thereunder.
Conventional horse blankets are provided as a barrier to protect a horse from mud, dirt and rain and also provide a certain degree of thermal insulation. Because the blankets are exposed to the elements they become soiled very quickly and require frequent cleaning. A dirty and soiled blanket can affect the health of the horse and infect sores developed under the soiled blanket. Horse blankets also come in different shapes and sizes to conform to horses of different sizes and to assure adequate body coverage. Blankets for horses are also provided in various colors and with specific decorations representative of an owners stable or to suit an event.
Electrically heated blankets have become popular to maintain a horse comfortable during adverse weather conditions or to remove muscle stiffness before and after events or simply before pleasure riding the horse. They can also provide therapeutic heat applications for horses by providing targeted temperature treatments to sore muscles after injuries or muscle strains or to simply warm the horses muscle before physiotherapy or massage therapy. They are also used to relax and warm a jumping or racing horse. These electrically heated blankets usually incorporate electrically heating wires sewn in a pattern between fabric layers or are provided with heating pads and these are derived power from battery supported by the blanket. Reference is made to US Patent Publication 2006/0213156, DE 200 21 260 U1 and DE 41 40 507 A1 as examples of such electrically heated blankets. As can be seen from some of these references, the heating blankets are provided with a great number of heating pads at many different locations, and as such, add excess weight on the hair of the horse and flattens the winter hair coat of the horse which inhibit the insulating ability of the hair coat, making the horse colder than they might have been if not blanketed. Several heating pads also require a larger battery packs adding weight to the blanket.
It would be desirable to provide an electrically heatable blanket for domestic quadruped animals, and particularly, but not exclusively, for horses, and wherein such blanket can incorporate advantages which provide additional benefits to the horse and as well has to the horse owner and assuring and maintaining the good health of the horse.
It is therefore a feature of the present invention to provide a composite animal blanket for domesticated quadruped animals and formed by independent inter-connectable parts providing a better quality control of the electrically heatable part of the blanket and facilitating the assembly of the blanket.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide a composite horse blanket formed of an upper electrically heatable blanket section to cover an upper body portion of the horse and which is adapted to permit attachment of opposed dependent blanket sections of different materials to cover a lower body portion of the horse.
A further feature of the present invention is to provide a composite heatable horse blanket and wherein the opposed dependent blanket section are detachably attached to the upper heating blanket section to permit washing and drying of said blanket sections in washing and drying appliances.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide a composite heatable horse blanket and having opposed depending blanket sections which are interchangeable to adapt to different occasions and facilitating the cleaning of these sections when they become soil thus providing additional benefits to the horse's owner.
A still further feature of the present invention is to provide a composite heatable horse blanket incorporating a switch control which permits ease of adjusting the heat intensity of the heating blanket upper section to suit current climatic conditions to which the horse is exposed.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide am smart switch control incorporating a microcontroller wherein the heating blanket upper section can be remotely controlled.
A still further feature of the present invention is to provide a composite heatable horse blanket and wherein opposed depending blanket sections are removably attached to the upper heating section by quick attachment means.
A further feature of the present invention is to provide a composite heatable horse blanket and wherein the upper heatable blanket section can be used as a heatable saddle pad retained under the saddle and further wherein the blanket is provided with a quick-disconnect electrical connector to provide electrical power to external electrical devices associated with a rider person.
A still further feature of the present invention is to provide a composite horse blanket and having an upper blanket section and opposed detachably secured depending blanket sections which are interchangeable to suit different occasions and facilitating the cleaning of these sections in conventional household washing and drying machines when they become soil thus providing additional benefits to the horse's owner and caretaker.
According to the above features, from a broad aspect, the present invention provides a composite animal blanket comprising an upper electrically heatable blanket section which is dimensioned and shaped to overlap an upper section of a domesticated quadruped animal's body. The upper blanket section is shaped to cover the back spinal regions and upper regions of the rib cage of the animal on opposite sides of the back spinal region and terminate with a marginal lower side free end edge region adapted for the securement of a depending blanket section to provide cover below the upper regions of the rib cage portion on opposite sides of the animal body. The upper electrically heatable section has electrical heating elements immovably retained therein at predetermined locations. A battery support is provided for the removable containment of one or more dc batteries. Electrical connections provide electrical power from the one or more dc batteries to the electrical heating elements, and a switch controls the electrical power from the batteries to the heating elements.
According to another broad aspect of the present invention there is provided a composite animal blanket comprised of an upper blanket section dimensioned and shaped to overlap a top section of a domesticated quadruped animal's body to cover the back spinal regions and upper regions of the rib cage of the animal on opposite sides of said back spinal region and terminating with a marginal lower side free end edge region. The marginal side region is provided with detachable attachments for the removable securement of a depending blanket section to provide cover below the upper regions of the rib cage portion on opposite sides of the animal body.
A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
The preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to
As illustrated in
Although the drawings illustrates the composite heatable blanket of the present invention as applied to a horse, it is pointed out that such may also be dimensioned to provide heat to other domesticated quadruped animals, such as for example greyhound race dogs, cattle of all sorts, etc. The heatable blanket may also have other uses other than providing comfort to such animals during cold weather conditions, and for example to provide therapeutic benefits to such animals.
As shown in
In a further embodiment, shown in
Referring now to
Another envisaged feature of the switching circuit 24 is its incorporation of a logic communication circuit 48 that provides wireless communication via the web with internet conductivity through a router or communication through a WiFi, Bluetooth or other wireless communication networks to a remote wireless device 49 such as an iPhone in possession by a user person or a short range control device operating at RF frequency. This is desirable when the care person does not have easy access to the switch button mounted on the horse to adjust the intensity of the heat generated by the heating blanket 13, and particularly so when the horse is away from the stable outdoors in the coral or when there is a sudden change in climatic conditions occurring, or predicted to momentarily occur, and the care person is at a remote location and not capable of returning to the stable on time to make adjustments to the switch functions.
Referring back to
The marginal lower side free end edge band 16 of the blanket that provides for the detachable feature of the depending blanket sections 14 and 14′, may be provided with several types of fastening means, and as shown in
It is also contemplated that the detachable aspect of the depending blanket sections may provide for the upper heating blanket section 13 to be used solely as a saddle pad on which a saddle can be mounted for a rider person to exercise the horse during winter months or form part of the saddle assembly for use at all time when weather changes suddenly and drastically, such as in Alaska. With such a further use, it would be convenient to provide a quick connector having a plug-in port, as shown at 65 in
Another advantage of the composite heatable blanket 10 is its interchangeable feature wherein a care person may simply want to change the depending blanket sections to suit a festive occasion, such as changing the heating blanket to one which suits the Christmas festive season or to a depending blanket section having an owner's identity in the form of a logo, pattern or specific colors, etc. For example, as shown in
It is also contemplated that sensors could be incorporated in the heating blanket section to sense different conditions of the horse, such as sensing humidity or hearth beat and transmit these information signals to the microcontroller which would be programmed to provide the signal information to the care person for monitoring the well being of the horse. The heating blanket sections could also be used as a therapeutic treatment blanket to provide heat to selected muscles of the horse located under the blanket heated section. The blanket could also be provided with a charging port to charge the batteries without removal from its containment in the heating blanket and such could be advantageous to charge the batteries from many locations, such as when being transported in a vehicle, etc. Furthermore, with respect to the interchangeable features of the depending side blanket sections, such may not necessarily be restricted for use with an upper electrically heatable blanket section but with one that is heatable by other means, such as heating pads that are removable inserted in pouches on the heating blanket section. Still further, with respect to the interchangeable features of the depending side blanket sections as mentioned herein above, the upper blanket section need not be a heating blanket section. As such, by providing the blanket in component parts, many advantages as described above can be obtained.
It is therefore within the scope of the present invention to provide a composite animal blanket having an upper heatable blanket section dimensioned and shaped to overlap a top section of a domesticated quadruped animal's body to cover the back spinal regions and upper regions of the rib cage of the animal on opposite sides of the back spinal region. The upper heatable blanket section terminating with a marginal lower side free end edge region which is provided with detachable attachments for the removable securement of a depending blanket section to provide cover below the upper regions of said rib cage portion on opposite sides of said animal body. The upper heatable blanket section has heating elements retained therein at predetermined locations.
It is further within the scope of the present invention to provide a composite animal blanket having an upper blanket section dimensioned and shaped to overlap a top section of a domesticated quadruped animal's body to cover the back spinal regions and upper regions of the rib cage of the animal on opposite sides of the back spinal region. The upper blanket section terminates with a marginal lower side free end edge region which is provided with detachable attachments for the removable securement of a depending blanket section to provide cover below the upper regions of said rib cage portion on opposite sides of the animal body. It is further contemplated that the upper blanket section 13, with or without the heating pads, may also be used as a top cover for the horse when ridding to provide water proofing or warmth to the horse. It may also be used as a decorative cover. Of course, the upper blanket section would be positioned under the saddle pad. Still further, the upper blanket section 13 and the lower blanket sections 14, 14′ may be provided with loop type connectors secured thereto at predetermined positions to permit strapping to be trained there through for securing the blanket sections to the horse. These small connectors would be desirable for the detachable feature of the blanket sections where the sections can be washed and dried in household washing and drying machines. Otherwise, the strapping could be problematic to the washing and drying of the sections. Such small loop connectors are well known in the art and are preferably made of strong plastics material, such as pvc or other industrial grade plastics.
Many modifications and other embodiments of the present invention as described above will come to mind to a person skilled in the art to which the invention pertains having the benefit of the teachings described herein above and the drawings. Hence, it is to be understood that the embodiments of the present invention are not to be limited to the specific examples thereof as described herein and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention and the appended claims. Although the foregoing descriptions and associated drawings describe example embodiments in the context of certain examples of the elements and/or functions, it should be understood that different combinations of elements or substitutes and/or functions may be provided by different embodiments without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims. Furthermore, although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and other equivalent terms are contemplated herein with respect to the items that they relate to. It is therefore within the ambit of the resent invention to encompass all obvious modifications of the examples of the preferred embodiment described herein provide such modifications fall within the scope of the appended claims.