The present invention relates to livestock fencing. More particularly, the present invention relates to apparatus and methods for securing the gate on a livestock tube fence.
Many people own large animals such as horses, sheep, and cows for recreational use and for income. These animals need to be fenced in. One widely used method of fencing in livestock and other large animals includes use of a tube gate for ingress an egress of the animals. Constructed of metal tubes, a tube gate is frequently used for its strength and durability. It is necessary to secure the tube gate in some fashion to prevent unintended release of the animals. In doing so, there is a need to a mechanism that keeps the gate shut and is easy to operate.
The following represents a list of known related art:
The teachings of each of the above-listed citations (which does not itself incorporate essential material by reference) are herein incorporated by reference. None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singularly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.
A tube gate latch is provided including a latch arm, a sleeve attached to one end of said arm, wherein said sleeve is adapted to receiving a bolt through said sleeve, and a tube grip attached to a second end of said arm, wherein the grip is “U” shaped and rests upon, half wrapping around, a tube gate tube. Tube gate latch can further be provided with a chain hook, a chain attachment ring, and a chain a chain attached to said chain attachment ring and removably attachable to said chain hook.
The tube gate latch of the present invention presents numerous advantages, including: (1) enables a person while leading an animal thorugh a gate to unlatch the gate with one hand while holding the lead rope with the other hand; (2) reduces the chance for injury to the person or animal; and (3) convenient and efficient. Additional advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. Further benefits and advantages of the embodiments of the invention will become apparent from consideration of the following detailed description given with reference to the accompanying drawings, which specify and show preferred embodiments of the present invention.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated into and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate one or more embodiments of the present invention and, together with the detailed description, serve to explain the principles and implementations of the invention.
Before beginning a detailed description of the subject invention, mention of the following is in order. When appropriate, like reference materials and characters are used to designate identical, corresponding, or similar components in differing figure drawings. The figure drawings associated with this disclosure typically are not drawn with dimensional accuracy to scale, i.e., such drawings have been drafted with a focus on clarity of viewing and understanding rather than dimensional accuracy.
In the interest of clarity, not all of the routine features of the implementations described herein are shown and described. It will, of course, be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made in order to achieve the developer's specific goals, such as compliance with application- and business-related constraints, and that these specific goals will vary from one implementation to another and from one developer to another. Moreover, it will be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time-consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking of engineering for those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure.
As shown in
In preferred embodiment, the diameter of the sleeve 16 is sufficient to allow passage of a large bolt or nail 24 through the sleeve 16 and attaching the tube gate latch 10 to the fence post P, so that the tube gate latch 10 is between the fence post P and the tube gate G. Likewise, the length of the sleeve 16 must not be so long as to prevent a bolt or nail 24 from securely fastening to the fence post P and holding up the tube gate latch 10.
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All components of the tube gate latch may be constructed of steel, aluminum, or any other substance that can withstand numerous jarring movements from the tube gate, as well as exposure to the elements (if the tube gate latch is used outdoors).
In operation in one embodiment, a tube gate latch 10 in the open position, as shown in
Those skilled in the art will recognize that numerous modifications and changes may be made to the preferred embodiment without departing from the scope of the claimed invention. It will, of course, be understood that modifications of the invention, in its various aspects, will be apparent to those skilled in the art, some being apparent only after study, others being matters of routine mechanical, chemical and electronic design. No single feature, function or property of the preferred embodiment is essential. Other embodiments are possible, their specific designs depending upon the particular application. As such, the scope of the invention should not be limited by the particular embodiments herein described but should be defined only by the appended claims and equivalents thereof.
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