Pet carrier mountable on bicycles and the like

Abstract

A carrier with a harness and a platform having a plurality of releasable fasteners. The harness includes at least three sets of straps extendable around a dog's torso, with one of these strap sets being disposed proximate with the dog's neck and another with its hindquarters. Each releasable fastener is attachable to one of the strap sets proximate with the dog's underside and is anchored to one of a plurality of connectors which are spaced apart from each other and slideably tethered to the platform. Mountable on a bicycle, the platform is rigidly secured to, and supported in part by, the bicycle handlebars or, alternately, the bicycle seat post. The platform is further supported by at least one pair of frame members rigidly affixed thereto. The frame members of each such pair extend downwardly, straddling one of the spoked wheels of the bicycle, and are releasably secured to the bicycle frame proximate with the hub of the wheel they straddle. A leash connected to each of the strap sets of the harness allows a bicyclist to hoist an animal singlehandedly onto the platform while simultaneously stabilizing his bicycle. Perched on the platform and secured thereto by the harness, a pet can recline on the platform in a wide variety of orientations. Coupling between the harness and the platform is at once sufficiently restraining to prevent the pet's twisting into a position in which the pet is hanging by the harness from the platform and sufficiently flexible to allow the pet to shift its own body weight while the bicycle is in motion.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.