The present invention relates to a mounting apparatus that may be used to mount shed antlers so that the antlers may be displayed. More particularly, the mount apparatus according to the invention is defined by an elongate bar member that includes multiple attachment points to which plural antlers may be attached.
Ungulates such as deer, elk and moose shed their antlers annually, and then grow a new set. Most typically, antlers are shed between January and April, although many factors can have an effect on when the antlers are shed, such as where the animal lives, its age, etc. Antler regeneration occurs through the spring and summer months.
Many people find so-called “shed antlers” to be very desirable. For example, outdoorsmen and women prize shed antlers for display and artists used shed antlers in the creation of many types of artworks. One of the more famous and recognized uses of shed antlers is at Jackson Town Square park in Jackson, Wyo., where there is an enormous arched gate at each of the four corners of the park that is made entirely of interwoven elk antlers.
Given the desire of many people to display shed antlers and use them in the creation of artistic works, there is a need for devices that provide a way to display them. However, like snowflakes, every shed antler is different from all others and as such it can be very difficult to design an apparatus that facilitates display. There are known devices for mounting animal trophies and one such device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,459,601 for “Trophy Mount.” The mount described in that patent is designed to mount and display a “European mount,” which is typically a display using an animal's skull with associated horns or antlers. In order to mount the skull on the device of the '601 patent, the trophy mount utilizes a prong and associated arms that fit into a specific anatomical parts of the skull. But shed antlers are of course devoid of the animal's skull and the device of the '601 patent does not offer a way to mount and display shed antlers.
There is a need therefore for apparatus that facilitates mounting and display of shed antlers.
The present invention comprises a mount apparatus that provides a simple and convenient way to display shed antlers.
The invention will be better understood and its numerous objects and advantages will be apparent by reference to the following detailed description of the invention when taken in conjunction with the following drawings.
The invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. It will be understood that relative directional terms are used at times to describe components of the invention and relative positions of the parts. As a naming convention, the plane of the floor in a living or work space is considered to be a generally horizontal surface. The ceiling is a plane that in most installations is parallel to the floor, though not always. Other relative directional terms correspond to this convention: “upper” refers to the direction above and away from the ground plane; “lower” is generally in the opposite direction, “inward” is the direction from the exterior toward the interior of the adaptor, “vertical” is the direction normal to the horizontal ground plane, and so on.
Turning now to the drawings, in
With specific reference to
Attention is now turned to the drawings of
Plural shed antlers 40 are shown attached to mount 10 in
Plural shed antlers 40 may be attached to mount 10 by attaching an individual antler to each of the tethers 36. The best results are achieved working from the lowermost tether and working upwardly to attach subsequent antlers, but the specific order of attachment is not important. When plural antlers 40 are attached to the mount 10 as shown in
Those of skill in the art will recognize that certain modifications of the structures described above may be made without changing the nature or scope of the invention. For example, in its broadest sense the invention is defined by means for defining plural attachments nodes to which shed antlers may be attached to an article. The attachment nodes may be defined, as described above, with a sinusoidal rod that is attached to an elongate rod. But attachment nodes according to the invention may also be made with a spirally wound rod that is wrapped around a base member and secured thereto. And, for example, the “base member” can take on the form of other utilitarian objects such as a lamp, a horizontal bar, or even a trellis or a wedding arch.
While the present invention has been described in terms of preferred and illustrated embodiments, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill that the spirit and scope of the invention is not limited to those embodiments, but extend to the various modifications and equivalents as defined in the appended claims.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
413661 | Harman | Oct 1889 | A |
809359 | Dial | Jan 1906 | A |
825753 | Paul | Jul 1906 | A |
1815673 | Kelley | Jul 1931 | A |
2424658 | Hanson | Jul 1947 | A |
2714965 | Fitzkee et al. | Aug 1955 | A |
2953828 | Hochman | Sep 1960 | A |
3142285 | Sorrentino | Jul 1964 | A |
3188130 | Pietrowicz | Jun 1965 | A |
3202293 | Granvel | Aug 1965 | A |
3394790 | Braun | Jul 1968 | A |
3482747 | Jones | Dec 1969 | A |
3561652 | Ruter | Feb 1971 | A |
3709373 | Aguilar | Jan 1973 | A |
4124154 | O'Russa | Nov 1978 | A |
4286717 | Liesinger | Sep 1981 | A |
4387873 | Pavlo | Jun 1983 | A |
4632285 | Dillingham | Dec 1986 | A |
4654991 | Jones | Apr 1987 | A |
4749088 | Workman | Jun 1988 | A |
4811852 | Kelly | Mar 1989 | A |
4886173 | Goulter | Dec 1989 | A |
4971593 | Mayhall | Nov 1990 | A |
5109578 | Cox | May 1992 | A |
5117988 | Daniels | Jun 1992 | A |
5137158 | Brockway | Aug 1992 | A |
5141116 | Mojica | Aug 1992 | A |
5203462 | Brooks | Apr 1993 | A |
D342357 | Balk | Dec 1993 | S |
5277347 | Savard | Jan 1994 | A |
5333743 | Loewke | Aug 1994 | A |
5351346 | Hodges, Jr. | Oct 1994 | A |
5370288 | Field | Dec 1994 | A |
5601197 | Baxter | Feb 1997 | A |
5613614 | Richardson | Mar 1997 | A |
5642817 | O'Brien | Jul 1997 | A |
5770303 | Weinert | Jun 1998 | A |
5788133 | Mareno | Aug 1998 | A |
6000591 | Alexander | Dec 1999 | A |
6029830 | Manookian | Feb 2000 | A |
6076685 | Ramirez | Jun 2000 | A |
6223910 | Levin | May 2001 | B1 |
6273274 | Lyles | Aug 2001 | B1 |
6330949 | DeRisio | Dec 2001 | B1 |
6478168 | McNamee | Nov 2002 | B1 |
7040517 | Swanson | May 2006 | B1 |
7131545 | Grogan | Nov 2006 | B1 |
7481340 | Murphy | Jan 2009 | B2 |
7585197 | Merten | Sep 2009 | B1 |
7789250 | Aamodt | Sep 2010 | B2 |
8020712 | Kopp | Sep 2011 | B2 |
8336855 | Griffiths | Dec 2012 | B2 |
8459601 | Shaw | Jun 2013 | B2 |
8511485 | Hernandez | Aug 2013 | B2 |
8746818 | Meese | Jun 2014 | B2 |
8783475 | Carver | Jul 2014 | B2 |
8800788 | Guidry | Aug 2014 | B1 |
D758666 | Carrillo | Jun 2016 | S |
9441785 | Sterling | Sep 2016 | B2 |
20040055343 | Mahre | Mar 2004 | A1 |
20040060881 | Bell | Apr 2004 | A1 |
20060016772 | Plzak | Jan 2006 | A1 |
20080264884 | Felder | Oct 2008 | A1 |
20110108500 | Sheffield | May 2011 | A1 |
20120305509 | Benson | Dec 2012 | A1 |
20140034587 | Herold | Feb 2014 | A1 |
20150283935 | Marinelli | Oct 2015 | A1 |
20170239979 | Russell | Aug 2017 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20170239979 A1 | Aug 2017 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
62298567 | Feb 2016 | US |