AU8517698A - A retractable electric fence gate - Google Patents

Description

Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE

SPECIFICATION

FOR A STANDARD

PATENT

(ORIGINAL)

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?I i~i Name of Applicant: James Anthony Gowing, of "The Meadows", Reedy Swamp Road, Bega, New South Wales 2550, Australia Actual Inventor: James Anthony Gowing Address for Service: DAVIES COLLISON CAVE, Patent Attorneys, of 1 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia Invention Title: "A retractable electric fence gate" Details of Associated Provisional Application No: P09262/97 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us: 1- i

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R i -2- J A RETRACTABLE ELECTRIC FENCE GATE Field of the Invention This invention relates to the forming of gateways in electric fences.

Background Art In a conventional electric- fence, electrical connection across gateways is usually I .provided through insulated piping extending under or across the ground forming the gateway.

The normal electric fence gate is insulated at a fixed end and "energised" through its S* 10 connection to the electrified fence to which it is hooked. These gates are usually made of light gauge flexible wire or wires. They are generally opened by disconnecting the hooked electrical connection to the fence so that the gate is no longer live. Because the gate does not S provide electrical connection between the fence elements, the energising of the fencing is not S affected. Frequently, the wire forming the gate is just dropped on the ground and stock are allowed to pass over it during their passage through the gateway. Although convenient, dropping wires directly on to the ground exposes the stock to risk of entanglement in loose wire wires which can injure themselves and damage the gate. Additionally, longer wires across wide gateways often coil or tangle if not kept stretched reasonably taut while moving them out of the way to lie along one of the fences leading to the gateway.

In the past spools or reels have been provided to provide for manual coiling of the wires forming the electric fence gate. This is however time consuming and frequently not done with result that the wire is dropped on the ground. Normal swung gates are used in some permanent electric fences but are not suitable in portable electric fencing.

SAnother difficulty that arises in relation to the electric fence gates when a gate may S-be required to span either of two adjacent openings which are not of equal span. This problem has been addressed by fitting a spring, often with an insulating cover, and a hook min series with the wire. The hook is used to snare a live wire in the opposing fence and the spring provides a degree of flexibility in the span across which the wire can be tensioned.

P-.'OPEP. rr3W;.;;FV 19' "d If the difference in span is too great to be accommodated by the spring, then an alternate attachment point for the hook must be provided. More frequently however, two separate gates are used to accommodate the differing widths of the adjacent openings.

Disclosure of the Invention It is an object of this invention to provide a retractable electric fence gate which will overcome, or at least ameliorate one or more of the forgoing disadva" iges.

S. Accordingly, in one aspect this invention provides a retractable electric fence gate 10 including a housing, a spool rotatably mounted within said housing, a selected length of flexible conductor adapted to be wound on to said spool and secured thereto at one end, biasing means to rotatably bias said spool toward a rest position in which said conductor is substantially all wound onto said spool, said spool being rotatable against said biasing means to permit withdrawal of said conductor from said housing by manual pulling of the conductor.

SPreferably, the free end of the conductor is fitted with a hook for engagement with the live wire of an electric fence. More preferably, the hook has an insulating handle to prevent the rator receiving an electric shock.

The housing preferably includes means for mounting on a post or the like to provide an operational support for the housing. The housing and or mounting is preferably an insulator to provide for electric isolation of the electric fence gate.

SIn the preferred form of the invention, a metal impregnated string of the kind used for temporary electric fencing is used as the conductor.

The retractable electric fence gate of this invention provides a number of advantages over the prior art. Firstly, the conductor is self wound into the housing when disconnected from the attachment point on the gateway. This ensures that there is no wire left on the ground to entangle the feet of stock. The nature of the mechanism is such that it can be used r. 1 1 .1 1'-,42 s p.'FPERALUA'COWING ?RV .F3V V -4on any width of opening up to the maximum length of the conductor. The gate is also self tensioning due to the bias on the spool.

Additionally, the retractable electric fence gate of this invention is light and easily transportable from one gateway to another. It is also most useful for the use in situations were gates are required on adjacent openings such as two gateways in a comer of a fence and as a control gate in laneways which are forked. The retractable electric fence gate of this invention is also clean to use if the operator ensures that the handle does not fall to the ground by not releasing it until a suitable length of the conductor is wound onto the spool.

One embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Brief Description of the Drawings 15 Figure 1 is a schematic side view of a retractable electric fence gate according to this invention; and i Figure 2 is a mounting pin used in connection with the retractable electric fence gate of Figure 1.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention As shown in the drawings, the retractable electric fence gate 10 comprises a plastics housing 11 in which a spool 12 is rotatably mounted. The housing can, for example, be made of plastics or metal and formed in any suitable shape. The spool is biased by a coil spring schematically shown at 13 to a rest position. A flexible conductor 14, in the form of a fine metal wire impregnated string of the kind used in temporary electric fencing is secured one end to the spool. The conductor 14 extends through an opening 15 in the housing 11. The Sconductor 14 is of a length having regard to the size of the spool such that it is substantially all wound around spool 12 when the spool is in the rest position. The gate is shown in this position in Figure 1. An insulating handle 16 is attached to the end of conductor 14. This is achieved by means of a metal hook 17 which extends through handle 16 and has an eyelet

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.P C G 18 for attachment of the conductor 14.

A sleeve 19 is attached to housing 11 on the side remote from opening 15. Sleeve 19 is dimensioned to neatly fit on a mounting pin 20 shown in Figure 2. Mounting pin suitable for use with wooden posts comprises a cylindrical pin fitted with two U-shaped fastening barbs 21 and 22. In alternative arrangement the U-shaped barbs can be replaced 4 with threaded U-bolts or a plate with suitable holes can be fixed to pin 20 and can be fixed S.to a post by screwing, nailing or bolting. A multipurpose arrangement can take the form of threaded extensions of barbs 21, 22 with a point of weakness corresponding to the ends of the barbs shown. If the threaded portions are not required they are broken off to form the barbs shown.

In use, pin 20 is mounted in a vertically oriented position by barbs 20 and 21 being S driven into a post or the like (not shown) or by another suitable system. Sleeve 19 fits over the pin 20 to provide mounting for gate 10 and allows pivoting movement so that to a limited extent the gate 20 may assume the direction in whichthe conductor 14 is pulled. Handle 16 is used to pull conductor 14 from housing 10 against the bias of spring 13. Hook 17 is Sengaged with a live wire (not shown) on the remote side of the gateway opening to which the mounting pin is attached. This provides electrical connection to the conductor via its attachment to the eyelet 18. The housing of the gate provides insulation between the conductor and the post to which the pin 20 is mounted by being made from insulating material I3 or an insulating element (not shown). The gate is "opened" by simply disconnecting hook 17 from the live wire and allowing the bias of coil spring 13 to wind the conductor on to Sspool 12. In many situations this will be effected by simply releasing the handle. However, in wet and muddy conditions, it may be desirable to manually keep the handle and conductor away from the ground until sufficiently retracted.

It will be apparent that the gate of this invention is particularly useful for use in A: relation to multiple openings. In this regard, pin 20 can be secured to a centrally located post and the pivotal movement of housing 11 on mounting sleeve 19 allows the housing to turn for p:'OF ER OI' R'nT:; .GP- -L .&9 -6the conductor to be extended across either adjacent opening to the corresponding electric fence.

Only one embodiment of this invention has been described and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, insulation of the housing can be provided by means of the mounting used for the housing rather than the housing itself. In some applications it may be appropriate to energise the conductor at the housing end rather than the hook end. This can, for example, be achieved by providing a electrical connection to a wiper positioned to contact the conductor 14 in or adjacent to housing.

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Claims (8)

1. A retractable electric fence gate including a housing, a spool rotatably mounted within said housing, a selected length of flexible conductor adapted to be wound on to said spool and secured thereto at one end, biasing means to rotatably bias said spool toward a rest position in which said conductor is substantially all wound onto said spool, said spool being rotatable against said biasing means to permit withdrawal of said conductor from said housing by manual pulling of the conductor. 1 i 10

2. A retractable electric fence gate as claimed in claim 1 wherein the free end of the conductor includes a hook for releasable engagement with the live wire of an electric fence.

3. A retractable electric fence gate as claimed in claim 2 wherein said hook includes an I insulating handle.

4. A retractable electric fence gate as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein said I housing includes means for mounting on a port or the like to provide operational support for the housing.

5. A retractable electric fence gate as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein the housing acts as an insulator to provide electric isolation of the electric fence gate.

6. Aretractable electric fence gate as claimed in claims 1 to 5 wherein the conductor is formed by a string which includes a fine metal wire. SA

7. A retractable electric fence gate as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6 wherein said i: biasing means includes a coil spring disposed within the spool. ii '7

8. A retractable electric fence gate substantally as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. DATED this 17th day, of September 1998 James Gowirig by his Patent Attorneys DAVIES COLLISON GAVE Z