Animal Crate Door Latch With Aligned Tab-Access Release
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional animal enclosures face challenges with secure latching mechanisms that prevent escape and easy access, especially in exercise pens where doors can be large and difficult to reach, making it hard to retrieve animals.
Innovation Solution
An animal enclosure with a door assembly featuring interconnected wires that pivot between open and closed positions, equipped with a latch assembly and door stops that require precise alignment of access portions and tabs for opening, ensuring secure closure and easy access.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the door is made large to provide adequate access for animals, then the animal can move freely and enter/exit easily, but the door becomes difficult to control and secure latching becomes problematic
Solution Approach 1:
The door assembly is segmented into a door portion and a frame portion that can move relative to each other. The door stop features (access portion and tab) create distinct positional states (closed and open) through controlled movement, allowing the large door to be securely held in either position without compromising latching reliability.
2Ease of operation
If conventional latching mechanisms are used, then the door can be closed and secured, but the door may accidentally open or the latching may not be sufficiently secure
Solution Approach 1:
The door stop features are designed to prevent accidental opening before it can occur. The tab on one component and the access portion on the other create a mechanical interlock that must be deliberately disengaged to open the door, providing preliminary prevention against unintended opening while maintaining easy intentional operation.
3Reliability
If the door is made small to improve latching security, then the door can be securely latched, but the animal cannot easily enter or exit and the owner cannot reach in to retrieve animals
Solution Approach 1:
The door assembly transitions from a static fixed-door design to a dynamic system where the door portion can move relative to the frame portion. This dynamic configuration allows the door to provide full access when open while maintaining secure latching when closed, resolving the contradiction between door size and latching effectiveness.
4Ease of operation
If the door is designed to swing from the side or top, then the animal can walk into the cage easily, but the door requires more space and may not be suitable for all enclosure configurations
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of having the door swing on hinges attached to the frame, the design inverts the mechanism by attaching the door to the frame through a movable connection where the door stop features control the movement. This inverted approach provides easy animal entry while using a simpler, more adaptable mechanism that doesn't require traditional hinge assemblies.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution provides enhanced security against escape and easy access by ensuring the door can only be opened when the latch is unlatched and the door is aligned correctly, improving user safety and convenience.
Implementation Method 1
The door is pivotable about a pivot wire of the frame to move between an open position and a closed position
Implementation Method 2
the handle structure is configured to pivot with respect to one of the door or the frame and to latch the door in a closed position
Implementation Method 3
A door stop includes an access portion and a tab, wherein one of the frame and the door includes the access portion and the other of the frame and the door includes the tab, wherein an alignment of the access portion and the tab enables pivotable movement of the door
Data Source
AI summary
An animal enclosure including a plurality of members defining an interior of the enclosure. The plurality of members includes a first member having a frame and a door formed by a plurality of interconnected horizontal and vertical wires. The door is pivotable with respect to the frame and a latch maintains the door in a closed position when latched. At least one of the wires of the door assembly is configured to include one of an access portion and a tab, and at least one of the wires of the frame assembly includes the other of the access portion and the tab. The latch, when moved to an open position, enables sliding movement of the door with respect to the frame. Alignment of the access portion and tab provides for opening of the door and pivoting movement of the door with respect to the frame.