Top-Loading Pet Carrier Latch for Easier Animal Loading
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional pet carriers with front openings often face resistance from animals, particularly cats, leading to difficult and dangerous loading situations.
Innovation Solution
A pet carrier design featuring a single top-loading opening with a hinged cover and latching mechanism, allowing vertical entry and exit, and optionally including a wire grating for visibility and security.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a front opening is provided in the carrier, then the carrier can be assembled with two-piece plastic molded structures, but animals resist entering and exiting, creating difficult and dangerous situations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the traditional carrier design by moving the opening from the front to the top surface. This allows animals to enter and exit vertically from above rather than horizontally from the front, eliminating the resistance cats typically show when being placed into front openings. The top opening enables animals to crawl in from above, which is their preferred entry method.
2Ease of operation
If a top opening is provided for animal entry, then animal loading becomes easier and safer, but the carrier structure becomes more complex with hinged covers and latching mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The carrier is divided into separate components: a removable bottom portion and a top portion with the opening. The hinged cover is also a separate component that can be detached. This segmentation allows for easier cleaning, assembly, and disassembly, while the latching mechanism is integrated into the cover assembly rather than requiring separate complex locking systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The hinged cover acts as an intermediary element between the opening and the interior of the carrier. It provides a simple latch mechanism that secures the opening when closed, eliminating the need for complex locking systems while maintaining security during transport. The cover can be easily opened when needed to load or unload the animal.
3Reliability
If the cover is made secure with latching mechanism, then animal safety during transport is improved, but the cover cannot be easily removed for cleaning or access
Solution Approach 1:
The cover is designed with dynamic characteristics - it can be securely latched during transport to ensure animal safety, and easily removed when needed for cleaning or access. The hinge allows the cover to be opened wide for complete removal, while the latch provides secure closure during transport. This dynamic design adapts to different operational requirements.
Data Source
AI summary
A carrier includes a body and cover. The body includes a bottom portion, a top portion, and a top aperture provided in the top portion. The cover is detachably coupled to the top portion and adapted for selective closure of the top aperture. The cover includes least one rod extending along a plane and supported by the cover for movement between a latched position and an unlatched position, and at least one rod passage being substantially co-planar with the plane of the at least one rod and adapted to receive at least a portion of the at least one rod. In the latched position at least a portion of the at least one rod is received in the top portion. The at least one rod is translatable within the at least one rod passage and along the plane in response to a user input to unlatch the cover.