Pool escape ramp device for animals

Abstract

A ramp device (10, 60) for assisting animals (44) in escaping a swimming pool, or another body of water with a vertical or near vertical side wall, the device comprising; (a) a buoyant central member (12); (b) two generally mirror image, buoyant wing members (13, 14) movably attached to opposite sides of the central member (12), the wing members (13, 14) being smaller in size than the central member (12); (c) movable attachment (16) of the central member (12) to a deck (48) of the pool or the side wall; and (d) a mechanism (23, 24, 65) for maintaining the wing members at a selected angle in relation to the plane of the central member (12); wherein, when the ramp device (10, 60) is in an open, deployed position, the central member (12) floats in the water at a generally horizontal angle in relation to the downward angled wing members (13, 14).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.