Patent Application
20210337780
The disclosure relates generally to a decoy device and a tail fan device that can be included with the decoy device, and, more particularly, a tail fan device that comprises a collapsible turkey fan device that can be included in or attached to the decoy device or used by itself.
A tail fan device is disclosed that can be included with or attached to a decoy device such as a Tom Turkey decoy, or used by itself as a collapsible turkey fan device. The tail fan device can be constructed to be easily removable from or attachable to the decoy device. The tail fan device can be constructed to be collapsible to require less storage space or to allow easier transport.
The tail fan device comprises a holder, a panel support and a plurality of feather panels that can be painted to mimic real turkey feathers. The tail fan device can comprise a fan clip. The holder can be constructed to hold and guide a feather panel in one or more channels as it travels between a fanned-out configuration and a collapsed configuration of the tail fan device. The holder can include a fan-out stop at an end of the channel to stop or position the feather panel in a predetermined position when the tail fan device is in the fanned-out configuration. The holder can include another fan-out stop at the other end of the channel to stop or position the feather panel in a second predetermined position when the tail fan device is in the collapsed configuration. The second predetermined position can be located with respect to the holder such that the feather panel is in a central location and positioned substantially perpendicular to an upper surface of the holder.
The holder can comprise a multi-tier channel configuration having a plurality of channels, each being constructed to hold and guide a feather panel. The channels can be constructed to allow each feather panel to only move a predetermined distance and direction, such that when the feather panels are fully fanned out the tail fan device forms a realistic turkey tail fan.
In a non-limiting embodiment, the tail fan device comprises the holder, the panel support and seven individual feather panels, with each feather panel detailed to mimic eight, nine, or ten actual turkey feathers. Each feather panel has three openings at its bottom end to receive and attach to the panel support. The panel support includes a screw, bolt, rod, or pin. The individual feather panels can be mounted in the holder with the panel support, which can be inserted in an opening on a front or back side of the holder, through one of the three holes in each feather panel and screwed or attached to an opposite back or front side of the holder. The first tier of a pair of feather panels can be rotatably attached to the panel support through the upper-most opening on the panels; the second tier of feather panels can be rotatably attached to the panel support through middle opening on the panels; and, the third tier of feather panels can be rotatably attached to the panel support through the lower-most opening on the panels, thereby creating a tiered panel configuration that realistically mimics a fan tail. The seventh feather panel can be attached directly to the holder and arranged to be stationary. Alternatively, the seventh feather panel can include an opening that is closer to the bottom edge of the panel than the lower-most opening used to mount the third tier of panels. The variation in mounting position creates a natural looking tail fan when the tail fan device is fully fanned-out.
The tail fan device can be constructed to allow manual positioning of the feather panels.
Alternatively, the tail fan device can be constructed to automatically move the feather panels to the fanned-out configuration or collapsed configuration. The tail fan device can comprise an actuator that can be arranged to bias each feather panel to its the fanned-out configuration position or collapsed configuration position.
The holder can be constructed to have any shape or size. The holder can be constricted to have a shape and size that can mate with an attachment mechanism on the decoy device. The holder can be used without the attachment mechanism. The holder can be formed as part of the decoy device. The holder can be attached directly to the decoy device by a fastener, an adhesive, Velcro, or the like. The attachment mechanism can include a recess, a clip, or any other device or structure that can secure the holder to the decoy device. For instance, the attachment mechanism can include a clip that is permanently or removably attached to the decoy device, in which case the holder can be constructed to snap into the clip. The holder can be arranged to be removable from the decoy device so the decoy device can be transported or stored without the tail fan device, or so that the tail fan device can be used without the decoy device.
Additional features, advantages, and embodiments of the disclosure may be set forth or apparent from consideration of the following detailed description, drawings, and claims. Moreover, it is to be understood that both the foregoing summary of the disclosure and the following detailed description are exemplary and intended to provide further explanation without limiting the scope of the disclosure as claimed.
The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure, are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the disclosure and together with the detailed description serve to explain the principles of the disclosure. No attempt is made to show structural details of the disclosure in more detail than may be necessary for a fundamental understanding of the disclosure and the various ways in which it may be practiced.
The present disclosure is further described in the detailed description and drawings that follows.
The embodiments of the disclosure and the various features and advantageous details thereof are explained more fully with reference to the non-limiting embodiments and examples that are described or illustrated in the accompanying drawings and detailed in the following description. The features illustrated in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, and features of one embodiment can be employed with other embodiments as the skilled artisan would recognize, even if not explicitly stated. Descriptions of well-known components and processing techniques may be omitted so as to not unnecessarily obscure the embodiments of the disclosure. The examples are intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which the disclosure can be practiced and to further enable those of skill in the art to practice the embodiments of the disclosure. Accordingly, the examples and embodiments should not be construed as limiting the scope of the disclosure, which is defined solely by the appended claims and applicable law. Moreover, it is noted that like reference numerals represent similar parts throughout the several views of the drawings.
Realistic turkey decoys, such as, for example, certain Tom Turkey decoys, have a fabric or cardboard tail fan that is not realistic looking and very hard to store or transport. Sometimes people have used actual turkey feathers from previously killed turkeys, but these are not collapsible and do not last long since they get beaten up over time. The inventors have discovered a great and unmet need for a collapsible tail fan device that is durable, life-like and can be made with individual or groups of individual feather panels that can be painted to mimic real turkey tail feathers.
The inventors have created a tail fan device that has proven to be so realistic and effective in tests with wild turkeys in the field that the user was able to repeatedly approach the animals within just a few feet by positioning the fanned-out tail fan device between the animal and user, such that the user was obscured from the animal's view by the device.
In alternative embodiments of the tail fan device 10, the holder can include additional feather panels 11, for example, nine (9), eleven (11), thirteen (13) or more feather panels, or fewer than seven (7) feather panels. In those embodiments, the holder 3 can be constructed to have an equal number of channels 32 (shown in
The tail fan device 10 can include an actuator (not shown) that can automatically move the feather panels 11 to the fanned-out configuration or collapsed configuration. The actuator (not shown) can be attached to the holder 3 or the panel support (not shown). The actuator can include a spring-biased mechanism or elastic member that can be attached to each feather panel 11 at one end and the panel support at another end. The actuator can include, for example, a plurality of springs wound around or attached to the panel support and each feather panel such that the springs move each feather panel 11 to its fanned-out configuration position. The actuator (not shown) can be arranged to bias the tail fan device 10 to the fanned-out configuration, in which case the tail fan device 10 can be collapsed by manually moving all the feather panels 11 to toward the center to the collapsed configuration. Since the center-most feather panel, such as, for example, the feather panel 11 positioned in the channel 32-7 (shown in
The tail fan device 10 can include a lock mechanism (not shown), which can be configured to secure the tail fan device 10 in either the collapsed configuration or the fanned-out configuration. The lock mechanism can include, for example, a pin, rod, clamp, clip or any other device that can lock the feather panels 11 in a fixed position with respect to the holder 3.
The holder 3 can be constructed to have any shape or size, including, for example, a shape and size that can mate with an attachment mechanism on a decoy device (not shown), such as, for example, a Tom Turkey decoy. The attachment mechanism can include a recess, a clip, or any other device or structure that can secure the holder 3 to the decoy device. The holder 3 can be arranged to be removable from the decoy device so the decoy device can be transported or stored without the tail fan device, or the tail fan device can be used by itself, without the decoy device.
For instance, the attachment mechanism can include the fan clip 2, which can be permanently attached to the decoy device, and the holder arranged to snap into the fan clip 2.
Alternatively, the fan clip 2 can be included with tail fan device 10, in which case the decoy device would have an attachment mechanism that is arranged to engage and attach to the fan clip 2.
A multi-tier holder 3, including the non-limiting embodiment depicted in
Alternatively, the multi-tier holder 3 can be formed using molding (or injection molding) by making a mold that, when injected with molding material, can form a mold comprising the multi-tier holder 3, for example, as depicted in
Alternatively, the multi-tier holder 3 or mold structure (not shown) can be made using three-dimensional (3-D) printing technologies.
The terms “a,” “an,” and “the,” as used in this disclosure, means “one or more,” unless expressly specified otherwise.
The terms “including,” “comprising,” and variations thereof, as used in this disclosure, mean “including, but not limited to,” unless expressly specified otherwise.
Although process steps, method steps, or the like, may be described in a sequential order, such processes and methods can be configured to work in alternate orders. In other words, any sequence or order of steps that may be described does not necessarily indicate a requirement that the steps be performed in that order. The steps of the processes or methods described herein can be performed in any order practical. Further, some steps can be performed simultaneously.
When a single structure or article is described herein, it will be readily apparent that more than one device or article may be used in place of a single device or article. Similarly, where more than one device or article is described herein, it will be readily apparent that a single structure or article may be used in place of the more than one structure or article. The functionality or the features of a structure or article may be alternatively embodied by one or more other structures or articles that are not explicitly described as having such functionality or feature.
While the disclosure has been described in terms of exemplary embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the disclosure can be practiced with modifications in the spirit and scope of the instant disclosure. These examples given above are merely illustrative and are not meant to be an exhaustive list of all possible designs, embodiments, applications or modifications of the disclosure.
This application claims priority to and the benefit thereof from the U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/017,299, filed Apr. 29, 2020, titled “Realistic Collapsible Turkey Tail Fan,” the entirety of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63017299 | Apr 2020 | US |
