Pet Harness Chest Support Prevents Submarining
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing pet harnesses for vehicles are inadequate in preventing submarining, rotation, head tilt, and seat ejection during collisions, often leading to injury or death due to poor design and inadequate securing mechanisms.
Innovation Solution
A novel pet harness design that utilizes the animal's weight distribution and geometry by employing a chest support, back straps, and attachment points located at or below the animal's center of gravity to distribute forces effectively, preventing submarining, rotation, and seat ejection, while using continuous webbing and adjustable straps for secure fitting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the animal is secured by the head, neck, shoulders and/or upper torso, then the animal is restrained during collision, but the animal is choked, strangled or suffers cervical dislocation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the head and neck components from the harness design entirely, extracting the harmful restraint mechanism from the upper body and replacing it with a lower-body harness system that secures the animal at the chest and hindquarters, eliminating the risk of choking and cervical dislocation while maintaining collision restraint
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of securing the animal from the upper body downward as in traditional harnesses, this invention inverts the approach by securing the animal from the lower body upward, with attachment points at the chest and hindquarters, fundamentally reversing the restraint strategy to avoid neck injuries
2Ease of operation
If the animal is not properly secured, then the harness is simple and comfortable, but the animal is thrown from the seat causing severe injury
Solution Approach 1:
The harness is segmented into distinct functional components: a chest support element, a hindquarter support element, and connecting webbing, allowing each segment to perform its specific restraint function while maintaining overall system simplicity and ease of use
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds the vertical dimension to harness attachment by positioning attachment points at different heights (chest level and hindquarter level), creating a three-point restraint system that prevents both forward motion and rotation, enhancing collision protection without complicating the basic harness structure
3Reliability
If the animal is secured with prior art harnesses, then the animal is restrained, but the animal rotates or twists causing internal injury
Solution Approach 1:
The harness employs asymmetric webbing routing and diagonal strap configuration that creates opposing restraint forces to counteract rotational moments, with the webbing and straps positioned to provide both vertical and horizontal restraint components that prevent twisting during collision
Solution Approach 2:
The diagonal webbing and strap configuration is pre-positioned to automatically generate counter-rotational forces during collision, acting before significant rotation can occur to prevent internal injury from twisting motions
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention is an improved safety harness for animals riding in a motor vehicle, wherein the harness prevents or greatly reduces the chance of the animal's lower quarters from being forced under the animal's head and shoulders, reduces the amount of rotational movement, reduces the side to side movement, reduces the chance for the dog to be forced off the car seat and reduces the amount of head excursion during a vehicle crash or a sudden stop.