AU2006317558A1 - Animal visor - Google Patents

Description

WO 2007/059555 PCT/AU2006/001679 1 "Animal visor" Cross-Reference to Related Applications The present application claims priority from Australian Provisional Patent Application No. 2005906512 filed on 23 November 2005 and Australian Provisional 5 Patent Application No 2006901835 filed on 7 April 2006, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference. Introduction to the Invention This invention relates to protective devices for use in animal veterinary and 10 other situations where an animal's head region and in particular an animal's eyes, require physical protection to limit or impede the ability of an animal to scratch or interfere with its eyes that may be sensitive or recuperating from a medical condition or veterinary treatment. 15 Background to Invention Animals undergoing post operative recuperation and/or treatment for eye problems frequently require eye protection during the post operative or post treatment stages in order to allow the animals eyes to fully recover and to prevent the tendency for an animal to interfere with its eyes due to itchiness or other irritations that may be 20 present after treatment. In order to provide such protection, various devices are currently available including goggles of the type worn by people and enlarged collars. Goggles are difficult to apply to a dogs face and often provide more irritation and distraction to the dog than the eye problems per se. An alternative device is the Elizabethan type collar 25 or cone which is a bucket shaped device adapted for placing around a dogs neck in an endeavour to prevent the dog from scratching or interfering with its face or eyes. Whilst these devices are relatively effective, they are difficult to properly fit to an animal, they are clumsy and awkward for the animal and often can make it extremely difficult for the animal to eat or drink or even sleep not to mention the difficulty an 30 animal will face negotiating obstacles travelling through doorways and navigating its way around in the usual manner. It will be highly desirable to provide a wearable visor or protective device adapted to comfortably fit to a dogs head in a secure manner so as to protect the dog or animals eyes whilst not interfering with most other activities that the animal normally 35 enjoys. One object of the invention is to provide an improved animal visor.

WO 2007/059555 PCT/AU2006/001679 2 Statements of Invention In one aspect the invention provides a protective visor for use on a dog or other animal comprising a body formable to the general shape of said animals head wherein said body includes an upper portion adapted to fold around said animals snout so as to 5 form a front opening for said animals mouth and nostrils and a rear portion adapted to fold over the rear of said animals head so as to form two ear openings wherein said body includes a compliant internal pressure strap adapted to hold said visor snugly in engagement with said animals head when fitted thereto. The pressure strap may be formed as an extension of the rear portion of said 10 body and adapted to be folded into the internal cavity of said visor and fitted to said upper portion of said body. The visor body may include a plurality of straps extending from the upper and rear portions thereof and adapted for fitting to corresponding parts of said body so as to define the visors shape and openings. The body is most preferably made of a compliant 15 and visually transparent material. The body may include necessary slots or other fastening means adapted to receive said straps. The body may be provided in a flat form which is conformable and fitted to said animals head by drawing said straps around the animals snout and ears and fitting the free end of the straps to the corresponding part of the body. 20 The pressure strap may be provided with a longitudinal slot to enhance the snug engagement to an animals head including accommodating any occipital bones of prominence. The pressure strap may be configured to apply sufficient pressure to ensure the visor sits snugly on the animals head whilst remaining comfortable and also providing 25 an internal air gap between the animals head and the upper portion of the visor. The visor may also be provided with one or a plurality of collar straps to assist fitting by accommodating or separate collar worn by the animal. The upper portion of the body may be provided with score lines to assist in adjusting the length of the visor. The upper portion may also be provided with optional ventilation holes. 30 Detailed Description of the Invention The invention will now be described with reference to the following figures. Figure 1 shows a plan view of the template of the protective visor. Figure 2 shows a perspective view from the rear of the assembled protective 35 visor.

WO 2007/059555 PCT/AU2006/001679 3 Figure 3 shows a perspective view of the protective visor fitted to an animals collar. Figure 4 shows a perspective view of the animal visor as fitted to a dog. Figure 5 shows a plan view of a generic visor template. 5 Legend 1. Body 2. Upper Portion 10 3. Front Opening 4. Rear Portion 5. Ear Opening 6. Pressure Strap 7. Slot 15 8. Chin Strap 9. Ear Strap 10. Collar Strap 11. Receiving Slot/Buckle 12. Tab 20 13. Score Lines (Optional) 14. Vents (Optional) Referring firstly to Figures 1 and 2, the invention provides a protective visor particularly adapted for use and wearing by an animal, for example a dog. The 25 protective visor can be made up of one piece template cut out of compliant transparent materials including soft polyvinylchloride sheeting of a thickness sufficient to provide adequate protection without unnecessary weight or bulk. The protective visor comprises a body 1 which is adapted to be shaped and conformed to the general shape of an animals head. The body region comprises an upper portion 2 adapted to sit on top 30 of the dogs head and fold around the dogs snout where the action of fitting the visor to an animal draws the upper portion over the dogs head and around either side of the dogs snout so as to form a front opening 3 through which the dogs nostrils and mouth can readily protrude. The visor body further includes a rear portion 4 which is adapted to fold over the rear or back of the animals head behind the animals ears and when 35 drawn back forms two ear openings 5 through which the animals ears can comfortably protrude. The body of the visor further comprises a pressure strap 6 which can WO 2007/059555 PCT/AU2006/001679 4 optionally be formed as an extension of the rear portion 4 with the pressure strap 6 adapted for folding within the internal space of the shaped visor and fitted to the upper portion 2 of the body. The visor body also includes a plurality of outwardly extending straps which extend from the upper and rear portions of the visor body and are adapted 5 for fitting to corresponding and carefully positioned parts of the visor body such that when the visor is fitted to an animal and the straps drawn around the animals head, the visor of the invention is configured so as to fit to the animals head and to provide the front opening 3 and the ear openings 5. The visor body is preferably provided in a flat form being easily fitted to an 10 animal by drawing the straps extending from the visor body around the animals snout and ears and fitting the free ends of the straps to the corresponding parts of the visor body. The straps may include a chin strap 8 which, when drawn underneath the animals chin and fitted to the appropriate receiving slot 11 or buckle, causes the upper portion of the visor to fold around the animals snout comfortably leaving the front 15 opening 3. The body may be further provided with ear straps 9 extending from the rear portion of the body such that the ear straps can allow the rear portion 4 to be drawn back over the back of the animals head, underneath the animals ears and fitted to corresponding receiving slots 11 or buckles to the upper portion 2 of the body 1. The internal pressure strap 6 may be provided with a longitudinal slot 7 such 20 that the pressure strap, when brought to bear down on the top of an animals head, is provided with sufficient compliance and lateral flexibility so as to neatly sit on the top of a dogs skull traversing or accommodating any occipital bones of prominence that might occur in an animals skull, of the like found for example, in beagles. In this manner, the pressure strap 6 is able to provide a gentle and conforming pressure for the 25 visor so as to ensure it fits snugly on a dogs head without wobbling or moving sideways or backwards and forwards. A further advantage of the pressure strap is the provision of an air gap between the upper portion of the visor and the top of the dogs or animals skull as can be seen in Figures 3 and 4. The visor may also be provided with a plurality of collar straps 10 which 30 provide additional anchoring means for the visor which can be further supported on a dogs head by passing the collar straps around the collar worn by the dog or animal. In order to provide full flexibility for use in a range of animals, the upper portion of the visor body may be optionally provided with a plurality of score lines 13 which allow the length of the upper portion of the visor to be adjusted to fit into 35 animals having long or shorter snouts. The visor upper portion may also optionally be provided with a plurality of vent holes 14 to assist in ventilation, if required.

WO 2007/059555 PCT/AU2006/001679 5 Referring now to Figure 4 the visor of the invention is applied to a dog by sitting the flat visor as shown in Figure 1 on top of the dogs head once a visor of appropriate size has been selected. The pressure strap 6 is then fitted to the receiving slots formed on the upper portion 2 of the body 1 and the visor can then be gently pushed down onto 5 the top of an animals head. The chin strap 8 is then drawn underneath the animals lower jaw and fastened to the opposing side of the upper portion so as to draw the body into the general shape of the dogs head, across the top of the dogs snout so as to provide the front opening 3 through which the dog or animal can readily breathe and eat. The ear straps 9 are then pulled down so as to draw the rear portion of the body 1 10 over the back of a dogs head with the ear straps 9 being drawn underneath the dogs ear and fitted into the appropriate receiving slots or buckles on the upper portion of the body. Once the chin and ear straps are fitted to the appropriate tightness, the collar straps can then be drawn around and the dogs collar fitted through the collar straps so as to gently, but snugly, fit the visor of the invention to the dogs head. The pressure 15 strap 6 ensures that the visor does not move around in an uncontrolled fashion; but, remains comfortably on the dogs head allowing compliance and movement as the dog opens and closes its jaw and also provides accompanying ear gap between the upper portion of the visor and the top of the dogs head. In another embodiment of the visor of the invention, the visor as shown in 20 Figure 1 can be preformed and assembled to the form shown in Figure 2, prior to fitting to an animal or a dog. When the visor has been preassembled in accordance with the approximate anatomical requirements of the animal, the visor can be easily slid over the dogs head with the dogs snout being gently inserted into the visor and the visor snugly placed onto the dogs head by drawing the dogs ear through the ear opening 5. 25 The only requirement then is for the dog's collar to be passed through the collar straps 10 and the visor is then snugly fitted to an animal. This process can be used and if the visor is found to require adjustment, for example if the visor is too loose it can be withdrawn from the dog's head and adjusted with ease away from the animal and refitted until a perfect fitting configuration is established. 30 Once the visor of the invention is fitted to a dog its visual transparency and soft compliant texture render the visor virtually unnoticeable by the dog. In a short time the visor almost becomes part of the dogs head and face with the dog becoming rapidly adjusted and almost unaware of the presence of the visor. The visor provides uninterrupted visual comfort to the dog whilst preventing the dog from interfering with 35 its eyes and maximising recuperation from any eye infections or eye surgery.

WO 2007/059555 PCT/AU2006/001679 6 The particular shape and configuration of the visor can be readily adjusted to fit a wide range of animals whilst falling within the scope of the current invention. The particular embodiment detailed above relates to a dog but many variations of the invention fall within the scope of the current application. 5 It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that numerous variations and/or modifications may be made to the invention as shown in the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as broadly described. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.

Claims (10)

1. A protective visor for use on a dog or other animal comprising a body formable to the general shape of said animals head wherein said body includes an upper portion adapted to fold around said animals snout so as to form a front opening for said animals 5 mouth and nostrils and a rear portion adapted to fold over the rear of said animals head so as to form two ear openings wherein said body includes a compliant internal pressure strap adapted to hold said visor snugly in engagement with said animal's head when fitted thereto.

2. A protective visor according to claim 1, wherein said internal pressure strap 10 extends from the upper portion of said body so as to gently bear down on the wearers head when fitted to said animal and gently lift the visor from resting on the wearers snout.

3. A protective visor according to claim 2, wherein said internal pressure strap is formed as an extension of the rear portion of said visor body and adapted to be folded 15 into the internal cavity of said visor and fitted to the upper portion of said visor body.

4. A visor according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said pressure strap includes one or a plurality of longitudinal slots to enhance the compliance of said pressure strap.

5. A visor according to claim 4, wherein said longitudinal slots are positioned to 20 generally correspond with the occipital bones of prominence of the wearer's head.

6. A visor according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further including a plurality of straps extending from the upper and rear portions thereof and adapted for fitting to corresponding parts of said body via receiving slots, buckles or the like, so as to define the shape and openings of said visor. 25

7. A visor according to claim 6, wherein said straps include a chin strap, ear straps and a plurality of collar straps.

8. A visor according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein said body is made of a compliant and visually transparent material.

9. A visor according to claim 8, wherein said material is polyvinyl chloride. 30

10. A visor according to any one of claims 1 to 9, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the figures.