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US 5,845,432 AGranted
Wire mesh cage with snap-on roof
AssigneeWoodstream Corporation
InventorsClay E. Tully, William E. Askins
Life of this patent
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AssigneeWoodstream Corporation
InventorsClay E. Tully, William E. Askins
Estimating the term…
An animal trap of the type having a base, back wall and side walls made of metal mesh and a roof or lid made of metal sheet. A vertically sliding door is provided at the front of the trap which is held in an upper open position by a trigger mechanism until the trigger mechanism is released by an animal stepping on a bait pan inside the trap. The trap is provided with door slides snap-fitted on the opposite side walls at the front of the trap which improves the rigidity of the trap and the effectiveness of door operation. The slides are extrusions in metal or plastic, each having a first channel which snaps onto the respective side wall and a second perpendicular channel forming a guideway receiving one edge of the door. The roof is formed with inverted U-shaped flanges along its side edges defining a downwardly opening channel adapted to fit over the upper edges of the side walls of the trap housing with inwardly and upwardly extending resilient clip elements pressed into the channel so that the roof can be snap fit over the upper edges of the side walls with the free ends of the clip elements lockingly engaged under horizontal wires of the mesh side walls. The bait pan is supported by a pivot mounting which is spaced inwardly from the side walls of the trap housing and upwardly from the bottom to protect the same against damage causing distortion of the housing.
In a product including a first panel formed of a sheet-like material generally defining a first plane, and a second panel formed of a mesh-like material generally defining a second plane, wherein the mesh-like material has elongated edge portions with at least one raised element extending therealong, the first panel being connected to the edge portions of the second panel with the plane of the first panel extending at an angle to the plane of the second panel, the improvement comprising the connection between the first and second panels including portions of the first panel defining an elongated, generally U-shaped, channel engaged over the edge portions of the second panel, the U-shaped channel being formed by a pair of spaced legs interconnected at one end by a bight portion and open at the end opposite to said bight portion to receive the edge portions of the second panel, at least one finger element having one end connected to one of said legs and extending into said channel at an angle toward the opposite leg and said bight portion, said finger element including free end portions underlying the raised element on the second panel to preclude disengagement of the first and second panels, the portions of the first panel defining said channel and said finger element including resilient parts enabling said channel and finger to be snap-fit over the raised element on the edge portions of the second panel to interlock the first and second panels without the need for extraneous connecting elements and/or tools.
In an animal cage comprising a base, a roof, opposed side walls and opposed ends, wherein the side walls are formed of wire elements interconnected to each other at their crossing points to define a multiplicity of apertures, the upper edge portions of each of the side walls including at least one elongated wire element extending therealong in juxtaposition to the upper edge thereof, the roof being formed of a sheet metal panel having spaced side edge portions secured to the upper edge portions of the side walls, the improvement comprising a pair of elongated, inverted, generally U-shaped, downwardly opening channels formed in the side edge portions of the roof panel, each of said channels being formed by a first upwardly bent leg and a second downwardly bent leg interconnected at the top by an integral bight portion, said channels being engaged over the upper edge portions of the side walls with the upwardly bent legs inside of the side walls and the downwardly bent legs outside of the side walls, at least one upwardly and inwardly extending finger element pressed into each of said channels from the material of one of the legs forming the respective channel, said finger elements having free end portions underlying portions of the elongated wire element of the respective side wall to preclude disengagement of the side walls and the roof, the sheet metal of the roof panel being sufficiently resilient to permit the finger elements to ride over the wire elements of the side walls, whereby the roof can be snap-fit to the side walls without the need for extraneous connecting elements and/or tools.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.