Animal guard

Abstract

An animal guard with a multitude of rotatable elements that can be securely mounted on a generally vertical or horizontal structure is disclosed. The rotatable elements may be of varying shapes and are designed to provide an unsteady footing for animals attempting to cross the object to continue travel along the structure. In accordance with one embodiment, the animal guard is configured to surround a vertically-extending structure. A series of hollow rotatable elements, or “spinners”, are provided with a hole formed at opposing longitudinal ends. The spinners are bifurcated into two generally equal halves that attach together. A guard plate is mounted to surround the structure and has a series of cross arm brackets which extend through the end holes of the spinners to serve as end axles for rotation and to position the spinners around the circumference of the structure. A support means secures the location of the guard plate and spinners and couples the guard plate to the structure. Another embodiment of the animal guard inhibits animal passage along generally horizontal structures, such as cables, lines and wires. This embodiment could also be installed on vertical or diagonal structures, such as guy wires and the like. A series of hollow rotatable spinners are provided with a hole formed at opposing longitudinal ends. The spinners are bifurcated into two generally equal halves that attach together to secure the spinners around a horizontal structure. End shields are configured with a hole extending laterally therethrough to mount the end shields onto an end section of the spinners; one end shield is positioned at each of the opposite ends of a series of spinners. A gripping means is positioned adjacent to the end shields at the opposite end of the series of spinners to grip the horizontal structure and hold the end shields and spinners at fixed positions horizontally along the line.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.