US 10,772,285 B2Granted

Integrally manufactured stall dividers for barns

OwnerThomas L. Zartman, Thomas L. Zartman, Jr.inventors

Life of this patent

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Abstract

A polymer stall divider for a barn will permit lateral flexing when a cow presses against the stall divider while the stall divider asserts a lateral force against the cow to urge the cow to move into a proper position between adjacent stall dividers without causing injury to the cow. The polymer stall divider can be formed of a polymer material clad onto the outer surface of a steel structural member and then bent into shape to form the desired configuration. The divider can be formed in sections with adjacent sections being connected by an internal connector formed of selected materials to provide the desired flexibility and durability characteristics. A mounting bracket formed of a pair of opposing clam shells can be utilized to secure the stall divider to the frame of the barn, thus providing an easily installed divider structure.

Claims21

Dependent claims

A stall divider, comprising:

a first generally horizontal, elongated member;
a second generally horizontal, elongated member being oriented in a vertical plane with said first elongated member;
a curved member interconnecting said first and second elongated members to form said stall divider for mounting on a central support structure;
each of said first elongated member, said second elongated member and said curved member being a formed composite member having a rigid metallic inner member and a polymeric outer member, each said formed composite member being bent into a desired shape for mounting on said central support structure to provide a structural member between stalls in a barn;
and
a first flexible coupling member placed between said first elongated member and the corresponding said mounting bracket and a second flexible coupling member placed between said second elongated member and the corresponding said mounting bracket, said first and second flexible coupling members being vertically aligned within said vertical plane to define a vertical pivot axis that permits only a lateral deflection of said stall divider relative to said mounting brackets.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/855,633Filed 27 Dec 2017 · continuation in part
Priority: 16 Jun 2016
Published: US 2018/0184613 A15 Jul 2018
Granted: 15 Sep 2020
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification11 codes

A01K 1/0011
Stable partitions: cubicle partitions
B29C 53/083
Of tubes or other profiled members: bending longitudinally, i.e. modifying the curvature of the tube axis
B29K 2023/0641
Characterised by its density: mDPE, i.e. medium density polyethylene
B29K 2023/065
Characterised by its density: hDPE, i.e. high density polyethylene

Family

Application62/350,857Us provisional application · filed 16 Jun 2016
Application62/442,569Us provisional application · filed 5 Jan 2017
Application15/614,829Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 6 Jun 2017
US 2018/0184613 A1Pre-grant publication · published 5 Jul 2018
US 10,645,900 B2Parent of this continuation-in-part
US 2017/0359997 A1Published application
US 10,772,285 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.