US 2003/0145799 A1Published application

Animal enclosure system

OwnerRodger Hays, Elmer J. Chatin +1inventors

InventorsRodger Hays, Elmer J. Chatin, Mark A. Zellefrow

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Abstract

An animal enclosure system is disclosed utilizing a coated metal wire grid mounted within a frame formed of horizontal and vertical support members. The end of each wire on the wire grid has a captive termination that allows the wire grid to be installed into an opening, hole, or channel of the support members. The wire grid may also incorporate a hinge area formed by dividing the horizontal wires into two portions and wrapping the inner terminating points around a particular perpendicular vertical wire near the mid-point of the body of the wire grid. The hinge allows the wire grid to be folded, facilitating easier handling, storage and transport of the enclosure in its disassembled state. When the wire grid is assembled with the support members, along with corner pieces, it forms a single panel of the animal enclosure.

Claims19

Dependent claims

An animal enclosure system, comprising:

a plurality of side panels, comprising:
a rectangular wire grid having a body portion and end portions, the body portion comprising a plurality of overlapping wires and the end portions having captive terminations;
a plurality of support members having an internal cavity along a longitudinal axis and at least one engageable opening corresponding to the captive terminations, the engageable opening beginning at an external surface along the longitudinal axis and ending in the cavity, the support members being oriented horizontally and vertically such that the engageable opening aligns with and engages the captive terminations of the wire grid;
a pair of upper corners coupled to the upper proximal ends of the horizontal and vertical support members;
a pair of lower corners coupled to the lower proximal ends of the horizontal and vertical support members;
and
a plurality of section connectors placed between the vertically oriented support members of adjacent side panels to couple the adjacent side panels together.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.