GB2323013A

GB2323013A - Pet bed

Info

Publication number: GB2323013A
Application number: GB9804093A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Malcolm Richard Greenfield
Original assignee: Eurostitch Ltd
Current assignee: Eurostitch Ltd
Priority date: 1997-03-13
Filing date: 1998-02-26
Publication date: 1998-09-16
Anticipated expiration: 2018-02-26
Also published as: GB9804093D0; GB2323013B

Abstract

A pet bed comprises a wall section and a bottom section 2 which are sheathed in a single overcoat 8 so as to partially enclose the wall and bottom sections. The wall section and the bottom section maybe secured together by adhesive so as to form a one-piece structure and the overcoat is retained in position relative to the wall section and the bottom section by means of draw-cord, elastication, sliding clasp fastener or other suitable means. The wall section may be provided with a collar or topper (20,Fig.4) connected to the upper region of the wall section or formed integrally with said wall section.

Description

PET BEDS This invention relates to pet beds, such as for example for cats and dogs in domestic and/or commercial situations, and the invention is particularly concerned with the construction and manufacture of such beds.

There have been many proposals for the construction and manufacture of pet beds, but some at least of these proposals have one or more disassvantages, either concerned with the manufacturing process itself or in the amount of material used. For example in one known form of pet bed construction, two separate sections of foam material were used to to form the wall and bottom of the bed, the two sections remaining as discrete items. The wall of the bed - generally formed into a circular or oval form - was covered in a sheath of material which extended between opposite sides of the wall and formed a web of material to support the bottom section of the bed. Because the foam piece forming the bottom of the bed was a discrete piece of foam, it was necessary that said piece of foam be covered with its own sheath of material in order that the animal would not be in contact with the foam itself. Thus, two sheaths of material were necessary, a first sheath to cover the wall and to provide a support for the bottom, and a second sheath to cover the bottom itself, and this added to the manufacturing cost of the bed.

The present invention seeks to obviate the disadvantages of the above-described construction by providing an improved construction of pet bed.

According to the present invention there is provided a pet bed comprising a wall section and a bottom section, said wall section and said bottom section being sheathed in a single overcoat so as to totally or partially enclose said wall section and said bottom section.

Said wall section and said bottom section will preferably be permanently or removably secured together and will be formed of foam material. More preferably, said wall section and said bottom section will be permanently secured together - by adhesive or other means - so as to form a single structure.

Said connected wall section and bottom section may have a jacket thereon between said connected sections and said overcoat.

Said overcoat will preferably be retained in position relative to the connected wall and bottom sections by means of a draw-cord, elastication, sliding clasp fastener or other suitable means.

The structure formed by the wall section and the bottom section may be provided with a collar or topper to give added strength and rigidity to an upper region of said wall section and/or to the wall section as a whole.

In order that the invention may be more readily understood, an embodiment thereof will now be described, by way of example, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of part of a pet bed in accordance with the invention; Figure 2 is a cross-section of a pet bed in accordance with the invention; Figure 3 is a perspective view of the bed of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a sectional elevation of part of a wall section in accordance with an alternative embodiment of the invention; Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4, but showing a variation thereof; and Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 3, but with the outer overciat removed.

Referring to the drawings and firstly to Figure 1, the pet bed includes a wall section indicated generally by reference numeral 2 and a bottom section indicated generally by reference numeral 4. The wall section will be generally circular - or it may be oval or otherwise shaped - and the shape of the bottom section 4 will be such that it matches the shape of the wall section. The bottom section 4 is adapted to fit in the wall section, at the bottom thereof, as will best be seen in Figure 2. The wall section 2 and the bottom section 4 are formed of foam material.

Referring now to Figure 2, it will be seen that the bottom section 4 is located relative to the wall section 2, and the sections are adhesively secured together at positions indicated by reference numerals 6. Such adhesive may be 'spotted' at intervals around the periphery of the bottom section, or the adhesive may be continuous around said periphery. Thus the wall section and the bottom section are permanently secured together so as to form a single structure.

Overlying said single structure formed by the wall section 2 and the bottom section 4 is an overcoat 8 which, as will be seen, completely encloses the wall section 2 and partially encloses the bottom section 4. The overcoat 8 is retained in position relative to the single structure by means of a draw-cord 10, it being understood that other means such as a sliding clasp fastener or a loop fastener such as VELCRO (RTM), or other suitable means may be used if preferred. The overcoat 8 will be formed of fabric or plush or other material.

Although not shown in the drawings, the single structure formed by the wall section 2 and the bottom section 4 may be provided with an enclosing jacket which will lie between the structure formed by the wall and bottom sections and the overcoat 8, such jacket being composed of a suitable material such as for example muslin or like material and being suitably secured around and/or to the wall and bottom sections.

A perspective view of the completed pet bed is shown in Figure 3 from which it will be seen that the wall section is provided with a centre section 12 of reduced height so as to provide easy access to the bed In an alternative embodiment of the invention, referring now to Figure 4, it will be seen that the wall section 2 is provided with a collar or topper 20 which extends around a major portion of the upper extremity of the wall section 2 and which is secured to said wall section by means of adhesive or other suitable means as previously referred to. In order to accommodate the centre section 12 of reduced height, a separate collar or topper 20A (Figure 6) is secured in position to the upper periphery of said centre section 12. Alternatively, by forming the collar or topper longer than the length of the periphery of the wall section 2, the collar or topper could be formed as a onepiece structure instead of the two pieces described.

The above-mentioned collar or topper 20 is provided to give added strength and rigidity to the upper region of the wall section 2 and indeed to the wall section as a whole.

As an alternative to the collar or topper as described with reference to and as illustrated in Figure 4, the wall section 2 - referring now to Figure 5 - may be formed to include an integral upper enlarged portion 2A. Said enlarged portion 2A - to form the collar or topper - would again extend around a major portion of the wall section 2, a seperate collar or topper being secured to the upper extremity of the centre section 12 of said wall section.

The single structure formed using either the construction shown in Figure 4 or that shown in Figure 5 is shown in Figure 6, the outer overcoat 8 having been removed for the sake of clarity.

Thus the invention provides a pet bed which is easily and conveniently manufactured, and which is economical in terms of material used for the covering or overcoat for the 'base' structure.

Finally, instead of the overcoat being of a single piece of material as shown, it may be comprised of several pieces suitably connected together by means of sliding clasp fasteners or other suitable means, and instead of the wall and bottom sections 2 and 4 being adhesively secured together, they may be suitably shaped so as to dovetail together so to form the single structure referred to above.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A pet bed comprising a wall section and a bottom section, characterised in that said wall section and said bottom section are sheathed in a single overcoat so as to totally or partially enclose said wall section and said bottom section.

2. A pet bed according to Claim 1, characterised in that said wall section and said bottom section are secured together to form a one-piece structure.

3. A pet bed according to Claim 2, characterised in that said wall section and said bottom section are permanently secured together by adhesive.

4. A pet bed according to any of Claims 1 to 3, characterised in that said wall section and said bottom section are formed of foam material.

5. A pet bed according to any of Claims 1 to 4, characterised in that said overcoat is retained in position relative to the connected wall section and bottom section by means of a draw-cord, elastication, sliding clasp fastener or other suitable means.

6. A pet bed according to any of Claims 1 to 5, characterised in that the structure formed by the wall section and the bottom section is provided with a collar or topper to give added strength to an upper region of said wall section and/or to the wall section as a whole.

7. A pet bed according to Claim 6, characterised in that said collar or topper is secured to the upper region of said wall section.

8. A pet bed according to Claim 6, characterised in that said collar or topper is formed integrally with said wall section.

9. A pet bed according to any of Claims 2 to 8, characterised in that the structure formed by the connected wall section and bottom section is provided with a jacket between said structure and said overcoat.