Patent Application
20170099807
Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a pet vest. More specifically, the present invention relates to a pet vest having a pocket configured to contain a calming device.
Background Information
Generally, some animals experience anxiety due to environmental factors such as loud noises during thunderstorms, fireworks or music playing. Animals are also known to experience anxiety during certain social situations such as meeting new people, new animals, crowds, children or having been introduced to an unknown environment. Animals and pets can be treated with certain calming therapies delivered via portable calming devices. These calming devices can be fixed to the animal via a wearable member such as a pet vest.
Generally, the present disclosure is directed to various features of a pet vest. In one feature, a pet vest is provided having an upper portion, an underside portion, a collar portion connecting the upper and underside portions and a pocket configured to contain a calming device.
In view of the state of the known technology and in accordance with a first aspect of the present disclosure, a pet vest is provided that basically comprises an upper portion, an underside portion and a collar portion. The upper portion is sized and structured to cover a pet dorsal area. The upper portion has a pocket configured to contain a calming device. The underside portion is sized and structured to cover a pet ventral area. The collar portion is disposed between proximal ends of the upper portion and the underside portion. The collar portion connects the upper portion and the underside portion. The collar portion defines a receiving hole sized and structured to substantially surround a pet neck area.
Other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the disclosed pet vest will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses one embodiment of the pet vest.
Referring now to the attached drawings which form a part of this original disclosure:
Selected embodiments will now be explained with reference to the drawings. It will be apparent to those skilled in the pet products field from this disclosure that the following descriptions of the embodiments are provided for illustration only and not for the purpose of limiting the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
Referring initially to
In one embodiment, the calming device 13 is an electronic device that delivers calming therapy such as vibration and/or sound to a pet within the vicinity of the pet's upper back. One example of such a device is the CALMZ™ device. Alternatively, the calming device 13 can be an aroma therapy device or similar therapeutic device. In one embodiment, the calming device delivers sound and/or vibration to the pet in the form of music and/or a predetermined vibrational tone.
In the illustrated embodiment, the pet vest 12 is configured as a one-piece member from several constituent parts fixed to each other. In particular, the pet vest 12 comprises an upper portion 14, an underside portion 16 and a collar portion 18. Preferably, each of the upper portion 14, the underside portion 16 and the collar portion 18 are connected to each other at a plurality of connected sections 20. In the illustrated embodiment, the connected sections 20 are seams. Thus, the upper, underside and collar portions 14, 16 and 18 of the pet vest 12 are sewed together so that the pet vest 12 is a one-piece member. Preferably, the pet vest 12 is constructed primarily of a stretchable fabric to enable a snug fit on the pet 10, such as athletic mesh made of approximately 85% nylon and 15% spandex. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that the pet vest 12 can be constructed of other materials or fabrics, as needed and/or desired.
Referring now to
As best seen in
The upper portion 14 of the pet vest 12 will now be discussed. As best seen in
The pocket 36 is defined by an outer pocket layer 38 fastened over a part of the upper portion 14 and a part of the collar portion 18. As best seen in
Preferably, the pocket 36 includes an openable side 44 to receive and remove the calming device 13 from the inside region 42 of the pocket 36. In the illustrated embodiment as shown, the openable side 44 extends from an upper section 48 of the pocket 36 to include an unsewn side portion 46 of the pocket 36. The upper section 48 of the pocket 36 has a first attachment layer 52 that is configured to overly an upper section 50 of the collar portion 18. The upper section 50 of the collar portion 18 has a second attachment layer 54 configured to engage the first attachment layer 52 to secure the calming device 13 in the inside region 42 of the pocket 36. In the illustrated embodiment as shown, the first and second attachment layers 52 and 54 are hook and loop fasteners. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that the first and second attachment layers 52 and 54 can be other attachment means, such as zippers or buttons, as desired.
As best seen in
Specifically, the protrusion opening 58 is structured to coincide with a calming device vibrational speaker or a transmitter (not shown) that delivers therapy for the pet 10 preferably via direct contact with the calming device 13. Therefore, the protrusion opening 58 defines a therapy delivery portion of the pet vest 12. Preferably, the protrusion opening 58 has a reinforced perimeter that has a thicker lining (not shown). In the illustrated embodiment as shown, the protrusion opening 58 is cut in the shape of a semi-circle that is 1-⅛ inches by ⅞ inches. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the protrusion opening 58 can have a variety of sizes and shapes to accommodate vibrational speakers of varying sizes.
As previously stated, the upper portion 14 and the underside portion 16 of the pet vest 12 are secured together, and to the pet 10, by the plurality of fastening members 32. As seen in
The underside portion 16 of the pet vest 12 will now be discussed. The underside portion 16 is sized and structured to cover a pet 10 ventral area 64. As best seen in
As shown in
The underside portion 16 includes at least one second fastening member 32b. In the illustrated embodiment, the underside portion 16 includes a pair of second fastening members 32b that are disposed at laterally opposite sides of the underside portion 16. Similar to the first fastening members 32a, each of the second fastening members 32b are secured to a second elastic strap 68, each of which are fixed to a second lateral side 70 of the underside portion 16. Each of the pair of second fastening members 32b are identical and are configured to detachably connect with corresponding ones of the first fastening members 32a. Thus, the first and second fastening members 32a and 32b are detachably connectable to one another.
The connection between the first and second fastening members 32a and 32b will now be discussed. In the illustrated embodiment, each of the pair of first fastening members 32a are identical and each of the pair of second fastening members 32b are identical. For simplicity, the description herein will refer to the connection of one of the first fastening members 32a and one of the second fastening members 32b. In the illustrated embodiment, the first fastening member 32a and the second fastening member 32b are designed to be detachably connectable as a plastic snap-together buckle. Also, in the illustrated embodiment, the first fastening member 32a is configured as a catch end of the buckle. The second fastening member 32b is configured as a hook end of the buckle. The first fastening member 32a receives the second fastening member 32b in a snap-in fit manner. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that the first fastening member 32a can also be configured as the hook end and the second fastening member 32b can be configured as the catch end of the buckle. As previously stated, the first and second fastening members 32a and 32b are detachably connectable as a snap-in fit buckle. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that the first and second fastening members 32a and 32b can be secured by a variety of other attachment means, such as buttons, hook and loop fasteners and the like.
As previously mentioned, the first fastening member 32a is secured to the first elastic strap 60 and the second fastening member 32b is secured to the second elastic strap 68. In the illustrated embodiment, the first elastic strap 60 includes an adjustment member 74 configured to enable adjustment of a length of the first elastic strap 60. Thus, an attachment of the first and second fastening members 32a and 32b to each other is adjustable. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that the second elastic strap 68 can be configured to include the adjustment member 74 as well.
The collar portion 18 of the pet vest 12 will now be discussed. As best seen in
The collar portion 18 defines a receiving hole 76 sized and structured to substantially cover the pet neck area 34b. In the illustrated embodiment, the receiving hole 76 of the collar portion 18 is defined by a pair of oppositely extending flaps 78 and 80 having ends that overlap with one another. The first and second flaps 78 and 80 are configured to overlap one another and are releasably secured to each other by a fastening structure, such as hook and loop fasteners, snaps or buttons. In the illustrated embodiment as shown, the first and second flaps 78 and 80 are secured to each other by hook and loop fasteners. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that the first and second flaps 78 and 80 can be secured to each other by the other fastening structures mentioned above. The first and second flaps 78 and 80 are configured to overlap at varying degrees to accommodate pets of different sizes. In this manner, the collar portion 18 is configured such that a size of the receiving hole 76 is adjustable.
Turning now to
In understanding the scope of the present invention, the term “comprising” and its derivatives, as used herein, are intended to be open ended terms that specify the presence of the stated features, elements, components, groups, and/or steps, but do not exclude the presence of other unstated features, elements, components, groups, integers and/or steps. The foregoing also applies to words having similar meanings such as the terms, “including”, “having” and their derivatives. Also, the terms “part,” “section,” “portion,” “member” or “element” when used in the singular can have the dual meaning of a single part or a plurality of parts unless otherwise stated.
As used herein, the following directional terms “front”, “rear”, “up”, “down”, “above”, “below”, “upward”, “downward”, “top”, “bottom”, “side”, “vertical”, “horizontal”, “perpendicular” and “transverse” as well as any other similar directional terms refer to those directions of a pet in an upright position and wearing the pet vest. Accordingly, these directional terms, as utilized to describe the pet vest should be interpreted relative to a pet in an upright position on a horizontal surface and that is wearing the pet vest. The terms “left” and “right” are used to indicate the “right” when referencing from the right side as viewed from the rear of the pet, and the “left” when referencing from the left side as viewed from the rear of the pet.
Also it will be understood that although the terms “first” and “second” may be used herein to describe various components these components should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one component from another. Thus, for example, a first component discussed above could be termed a second component and vice-a-versa without departing from the teachings of the present invention. The term “attached” or “attaching”, as used herein, encompasses configurations in which an element is directly secured to another element by affixing the element directly to the other element; configurations in which the element is indirectly secured to the other element by affixing the element to the intermediate member(s) which in turn are affixed to the other element; and configurations in which one element is integral with another element, i.e. one element is essentially part of the other element. This definition also applies to words of similar meaning, for example, “joined”, “connected”, “coupled”, “mounted”, “bonded”, “fixed” and their derivatives. Finally, terms of degree such as “substantially”, “about” and “approximately” as used herein mean an amount of deviation of the modified term such that the end result is not significantly changed.
While only selected embodiments have been chosen to illustrate the present invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that various changes and modifications can be made herein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. For example, unless specifically stated otherwise, the size, shape, location or orientation of the various components can be changed as needed and/or desired so long as the changes do not substantially affect their intended function. Unless specifically stated otherwise, components that are shown directly connected or contacting each other can have intermediate structures disposed between them so long as the changes do not substantially affect their intended function. The functions of one element can be performed by two, and vice versa unless specifically stated otherwise. The structures and functions of one embodiment can be adopted in another embodiment. It is not necessary for all advantages to be present in a particular embodiment at the same time. Every feature which is unique from the prior art, alone or in combination with other features, also should be considered a separate description of further inventions by the applicant, including the structural and/or functional concepts embodied by such feature(s). Thus, the foregoing descriptions of the embodiments according to the present invention are provided for illustration only, and not for the purpose of limiting the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62238742 | Oct 2015 | US |
