Circular Pet Carrier for Vertical Animal Loading and Secure Closure
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional pet carriers with front openings often cause resistance and difficulty in loading animals, particularly cats, due to their preference for entering and exiting from a top opening.
Innovation Solution
A pet carrier design featuring a generally circular body with a single top-loading opening and a hingedly attached cover, allowing animals to enter and exit vertically, and a latching mechanism for secure closure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a front opening is provided in conventional pet carriers, then the carrier can be assembled with a simple two-piece structure, but animals resist entry and exit causing difficult and dangerous situations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the conventional front-loading approach by providing a top opening instead. The carrier body has a bottom portion and a top portion with an opening in the top portion, allowing animals to enter and exit vertically from the top rather than horizontally from the front, which eliminates animal resistance
2Device complexity
If a front opening is provided in conventional pet carriers, then the carrier structure is simple, but the animal resistance creates safety hazards
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the loading direction from horizontal (front) to vertical (top). The opening in the top portion allows the animal to walk in vertically, which is the natural and preferred entry method for animals, thereby eliminating resistance and improving safety without significantly increasing complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The carrier is divided into a bottom portion and a top portion that can be separately assembled. The top portion includes an opening for animal entry and a cover portion that can be placed over the opening, providing safety while maintaining structural simplicity
3Ease of operation
If a top opening is provided for vertical entry, then animal resistance is reduced, but the carrier requires a multi-piece structure with cover portion
Solution Approach 1:
The carrier is segmented into a bottom portion and a top portion that can be assembled together. The top portion includes the opening and can be separated from the bottom portion, allowing easy cleaning and maintenance while maintaining the beneficial top-loading feature
Solution Approach 2:
The top portion serves multiple functions: it provides the opening for animal entry, can be assembled with the bottom portion to form the complete carrier, and can be separated for cleaning purposes. The cover portion can be placed over the opening to provide security when the carrier is stationary
Data Source
AI summary
A carrier includes a body and a cover portion. The body has a generally circular bottom portion and a generally circular top portion and an opening in the top portion. The bottom portion is configured to be placed on a surface. The opening is the only opening sized and configured to enable an animal to enter or exit the body and enables an animal to enter or exit the body in a vertical manner when the bottom portion is placed on the surface. The cover portion is sized and configured to fit within the opening of the top portion. The cover portion is hingedly attached to the top portion at a first side and includes a latching mechanism at a second side. The latching mechanism enables the cover to be disposed in a latched state to close the opening in the top portion.