GB2197776A - Animal shelters - Google Patents

Abstract

An animal shelter of the type that is put into a cage for a hamster or other small pet, or on a bird feeding table, is formed from plastics material and has a floor (1), upstanding walls (2, 3, 4, 5) with at least one opening (7) to provide an entrance and exit for the animal, and a roof (6). The shelter is erected from a blank (9) having floor and wall portions, adjacent edges of which are joined by integral hinges (10), and means for fastening together free edges of the adjacent wall portions during erection of the shelter. The blank (9) may include one or more roof portions, or the roof (6) may comprise a separate member releasably fastened to the wall portions. <IMAGE>

Description

ANIMAL SHELTERS This invention relates to animal shelters of the kind that are put into cages for hamsters or other small pets, or on bird feeding tables.

According to our invention, an animal shelter is formed from plastics material and has a floor, upstanding walls with at least one opening to provide an entrance and exit for the animal, and a roof, and includes a blank having floor and wall portions, adjacent edges of which are joined by integral hinges, and means for fastening together free edges of the adjacent wall portions during erection of the shelter.

The blank may also include one or more roof portions. Thus, there may be a single roof portion hinged to a top edge of a wall portion, (that is the edge remote from the floor), with means for fastening the roof portion to the other wall portions.

Alternatively, there may be two roof portions hinged to the top edges of opposing wall portions, with means for fastening the roof portions together.

Preferably however the roof comprises a separate member, and means are provided for fastening it to the top edges of the wall portions. The roof is preferably of rigid plastics material, and may be flat or ridged.

Our animal shelter is easy to make, as it has at the most only two components. It can also be stored in its unerected form, with the blank flat, and so does not require a great deal of storage space. It is also very easy to erect.

Preferably the fastening means is releasable, so the shelter is easy to dismantle for cleaning or storage.

The means for fastening adjacent portions of the blank conveniently comprises a channel provided on an edge of one portion, the channel being adapted to receive a plain edge of an adjacent portion, one edge having a projection which engages in a complementary recess in the other edge, to fasten the portions together. Preferably the projection is provided on the plain edge and the recess is formed on the channel.

Several projections and recesses may be provided for each pair of edges. Any other convenient fastening means may be used, such as one or more arrowhead projections on one edge snapping into corresponding slots on the adjacent edge.

Where a separate roof is provided it is fastened to at least one wall portion by a similar projection and recess arrangement provided on the top edge of the wall portion and a downwardly depending roof part which engages the inside of the wall portion.

The shelter may have one wall which is substantially transparent, and this is preferably provided as a separate member. The shelter may also be divided into two or more compartments, with means allowing access between the compartments.

An embodiment of our invention is illustrated, by way of example, in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a front view of an erected animal shelter; Figure 2 is a plan view of a blank for the floor and wall portions of the shelter of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a section along the line 3-3 of Figure 2; Figure 4 is a section along the line 4-4 of Figure 2; and Figure 5 is an underneath plan view of the roof of the shelter of Figure 1.

The animal shelter shown in Figure 1 is designed to go in a cage for a hamster or other small pet. It has a floor 1, four walls 2, 3, 4, 5 and a roof 6. The wall 2 is provided with a door opening 7 to provide an entrance and exit for the animal, and a window opening 8. The floor and walls are formed from a single blank 9 of plastics material, while the roof 6 is a separate member, also of plastics material.

The blank 9 is shown in Figures 2 to 4. The floor 1 forms the central portion of the blank, and a wall portion extends from each edge of the floor 1, each wall portion being joined to the floor portion by an integral hinge 10. Each wall portion has side edges 11 extending away from the floor portion 1 (the side edges 11 being vertical in use) and a top edge 12 remote from the floor portion. The top edges of the opposed walls 3, 5 have gables. Means are provided on the wall portions for fastening adjacent side edges 11 together to erect the shelter. Thus, the walls 3, 5 have a channel 13 provided on each side edge 11, each channel being adapted to receive an adjacent plain side edge 11 of a wall 2 or 4. Each channel 13 has two spaced slots 14, with recesses 15 provided in the side wall 16 of the channel at the slot locations (see Figure 3).External barbed projections 17 on the plain side edges (see Figure 4) snap into the recesses 15, to form a releasable fastening means.

The gables of the walls 3, 5 support the pitched roof member 6. This is of rigid plastics material, and has a pair of abutment members 18 which engage the inside of the gables, and a pair of depending parts 19, each of which is adapted to engage the inside of a wall 2 or 4 at its top edge 12. Each part 19 has slots 20, into which snap projections 17 provided on the top edges of the walls 2, 4. The roof 6 is therefore located on and releasably fastened to the walls.

The blank 9 and roof 6 are moulded components, and may include decorative features, such as a chimney 21 and ridge 22 on the roof, and decorative surrounds 23 to the door and window openings 7, 8 on the blank 9.

The shelter can be stored with the blank 9 flat, so it takes up less space than an erected shelter. The shelter can easily be erected by folding the walls 2, 3, 4, 5 upwards from the floor 1, engaging the plain edges 11 in the channels 13 and snapping the projections 17 into the recesses 15. The roof 6 is then put into place and snapped on. The shelter can easily be dismantled for cleaning or storage purposes.

Any other convenient fastening means for the side edges may be used; for example one or more arrowhead projections on one side edge, which are adapted to snap into corresponding slots on the adjacent side edge.

With this arrangement the channels 13 are not required, but the edge provided with the slots will normally be flanged.

In a modification (not shown) the roof 6 may comprise a flat blank, hinged at the ridge (by an integral hinge) to enable it to assume pitched form.

In further modifications (not shown) the roof 6 could be included in the blank 9. The blank 9 would include a single roof portion integrally hinged to the top edge 12 of a wall 2 or 4, with means to fasten it to the opposing wall. Alternatively, there could be two roof portions, integrally hinged to the top edges 12 of walls 2 and 4, with means to fasten the roof portions at the ridge.

In yet another modification (not shown) one wall of the shelter can be substantially transparent, so that the animal can readily be seen. This is preferably achieved by omitting the wall 4, and providing a groove instead of the integral hinge joining it to the floor 1. The shelter is then completed by a separate transparent plastics sheet, either clear or formed with a mesh, which engages slidably in the channels 13 in the walls 3 and 5 and is retained by these and the groove formed at the edge of the floor 1.

In yet further modifications (not shown) the shelter is divided into two or more compartments, so that the animal can have a separate sleeping compartment. This may be achieved by increasing the height of the walls 2, 3, 4, 5, and providing them with means, such as grooves, to support a ceiling partition, so that the shelter has upper and lower compartments.

The ceiling partition includes an aperture, through which a ladder extends to provide access to the upper compartment. In an alternative arrangement the shelter has two interconnected compartments on the same level.

The blank for such a shelter is formed by taking a pair of blanks shown in Figure 2, and hinging the top edge 12 of a wall 3 on one blank to the top edge of the wall 5 of the other blank, the gable ends being omitted. These two walls are brought together when the shelter is erected, to form a partition between two compartments. The walls 3, 5 will have complementary apertures to allow access from one compartment to the other.

Claims (16)

1. An animal shelter formed from plastics material, having a floor, upstanding walls with at least one opening to provide an entrance and exit for the animal, and a roof; and including a blank having floor and wall portions, adjacent edges of which are joined by integral hinges, and means for fastening together free edges of the adjacent wall portion during erection of the shelter.

2. An animal shelter as claimed in Claim 1, in which the blank includes one or more roof portions.

3. An animal shelter as claimed in Claim 2, in which the blank has a single roof portion hinged to a top edge of a wall portion, with means for fastening the roof portion to the other wall portions.

4. An animal shelter as claimed in Claim 2, in which the blank has two roof portions hinged to the top edges of opposing wall portions, with means for fastening the roof portions together.

5. An animal shelter as claimed in Claim 1, in which the roof is a separate member, and means are provided for fastening it to the top edges of the wall portions.

6. An animal shelter as claimed in Claim 5, in which the roof is of rigid plastics material.

7. An animal shelter as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the fastening means is releasable.

8. An animal shelter as claimed in Claim 7, in which the means for fastening adjacent portions of the blank comprises a channel provided on an edge of one portion, the channel being adapted to receive a plain edge of an adjacent portion, one edge having a projection which engages in a complementary recess in the other edge, to fasten the portions together.

9. An animal shelter as claimed in Claim 8, in which the projection is provided on the plain edge, and the recess is formed on the channel.

10. An animal shelter as claimed in Claim 8 or Claim 9, in which a plurality of projections and recesses are provided for each pair of edges.

11. An animal shelter as claimed in Claim 5 or Claim 6, in which the roof is releasably fastened to at least one wall portion by a projection and recess arrangement provided on the top edge of the wall portion and a downwardly depending roof part engaging the inside of the wall portion.

12. An animal shelter as claimed in Claim 7, in which the means for fastening adjacent portion of the blank comprises one or more arrowhead projections provided on an edge of one portion, adapted to snap into corresponding slots formed in the edge of an adjacent portion.

13. An animal shelter as claimed in any preceding claim, in which one wall is substantially transparent.

14. An animal shelter as claimed in Claim 13, in which the transparent wall is provided as a member separate from the blank.

15. An animal shelter as claimed in any preceding claim, divided into two or more compartments, with means allowing access between the compartments.

16. An animal shelter substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.