IE87363B1

IE87363B1 - Animal stall partition

Info

Publication number: IE87363B1
Application number: IE20160075A
Authority: IE
Inventors: O'donovan Damien
Original assignee: Damien Odonovan
Priority date: 2015-03-11
Filing date: 2016-03-11
Publication date: 2023-01-18
Also published as: GB201604250D0; GB2538353B; IES86711B2; IE20160075A1; IES20150068A2; GB2538353A

Abstract

An animal stall partition (1) comprises a metal barrier rail for mounting in a substantially upright orientation on a support (3) to form one side of an animal stall (4). An animal comfort enhancing sleeve (5) is mounted on the rail covering at least portion of the rail that, in use, comes into contact with an animal (6) using the stall (4).

Description

“Animal Stall Partition” Introduction This invention relates to animal stalls and in particular to partitions for same.

It is known to provide a number of spaced-apart animal stall partitions in cow sheds or the like to provide a row of separate stalls for the animals. One relatively simple and robust stall partition comprises a looped tubular metal rail, typically of galvanised steel, with substantially horizontal upper and lower rail portions which is mounted in an upright orientation on a support to provide each animal stall partition.

When the cows are in the stalls they often lie against the rails, particularly against the lower rail portion. When entering the stall or getting up from a lying position in the stall the cow can easily slip and hit against the rail which may cause an injury to the animal. Also, when lying in the stall the animal may lie against the lower rail portion particularly, which can cause some discomfort due to the coldness of the metal rail. It is desirable to avoid injury to the animals and also to increase the comfort of the animals as this will have a positive effect on productivity.

In patent publication GB 2 492 219, there is disclosed a partition for an animal stall comprising an upper rail and a lower rail interconnected at each end by looped end rail portions. At least portion of the lower rail is formed from a plastics material.

Whilst this provides greater comfort for the animal it is not as robust as a steel rail and it may be damaged by the animal during use of the stall.

Another animal stall partition is disclosed in EP 2 883 446. In this case the partition comprises an upper barrier pole and a lower barrier pole of plastics material interconnected at their outer ends by a looped end rail portion of rubber material.

Such a stall partition of plastics and rubber material is not as robust as a steel stall partition.

The present invention is directed towards overcoming these problems.

Summary of the Invention According to the invention, there is provided an animal stall partition including a metal barrier rail for mounting in a substantially upright orientation on a support to form one side of an animal stall and an animal comfort enhancing sleeve mounted on said rail covering at least portion of said rail wherein the sleeve is a shrink ﬁt on the rail and comprises a reinforcing cord core encased in a body of resilient material.

Advantageously the strength of the stall partition is not compromised whilst at the same time the comfort of animals using stalls incorporating the animal stall partition of the invention is improved.

In another embodiment, the reinforcing cord is a high tenacity polyester tyre cord.

In another embodiment, the rail is of tubular construction and the sleeve has a tubular body which is engagable about the tubular rail.

In another embodiment, a bore of the sleeve body has a diameter which is less than an outside diameter of the rail.

In another embodiment, the sleeve comprises a heat insulating resilient material.

In another embodiment, the sleeve comprises a rubber or plastics material or a similar material.

In another embodiment, the sleeve comprises styrene butadiene rubber material.

In a further embodiment, the rail comprises a top rail and a bottom rail spaced-apart from the top rail and connected to the top rail at one end by an end rail.

In another embodiment, the top rail, bottom rail and end rail all lie in the same plane. in another embodiment, the bottom rail is cranked intermediate its ends.

In another embodiment, the end rail is looped.

In another embodiment, the sleeve covers at least that portion of the bottom rail which, in use, is contactable by an animal.

In another embodiment, the sleeve extends around the end rail.

In another aspect, the invention provides a method for mounting a resilient sleeve on a metal barrier rail for an animal stall which includes drawing the sleeve onto the rail by means of a vacuum. Preferably the method includes pressurising an interior of the sleeve and then drawing the sleeve onto the rail by means of a vacuum.

In another aspect, the invention provides an animal stall system comprising a plurality of the animal stall partitions mounted spaced-apart on a support to form a plurality of animal stalls.

In a further aspect, the invention provides a comfort enhancing sleeve for mounting on a metal barrier rail to form an animal stall partition as described herein.

In one embodiment, the sleeve has a reinforced body.

In another embodiment, the sleeve comprises a resilient material.

In another embodiment, the sleeve comprises a reinforcing cord core encased in a body of resilient material.

I n another embodiment, the reinforcing cord is a high-tenacity polyester tyre cord.

Brief Description of the Drawings The invention will be more clearly understood by the following description of some embodiments thereof, given by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an animal stall partition according to the invention; Fig. 2 is a detail perspective view showing a looped end of the animal stall partition; Fig. 3 is a detail cross sectional view of a sleeve forming part of the animal stall partition.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view illustrating a number of the animal stall partitions of the invention in use, mounted on a support, forming a row of animal stalls; and Fig. 5 is another perspective view of a number of the animal stall partitions of the invention, in use forming a row of animal stalls.

Qetailed Descripﬁn of the Preferred Embodiments Referring to the drawings, there is illustrated an animal stall partition according to the invention, indicated generally by the reference numeral 1. The stall partition 1 comprises a metal barrier rail 2 for mounting in a substantially upright orientation on a support 3 (Fig. 4) to form one side of an animal stall, indicated generally by the reference numeral 4. An animal comfort enhancing sleeve 5 is mounted on the rail 2 covering at least portion of the rail 2 that, in use, comes into contact with an animal 6 using the stall 4.

The barrier rail 2 is of tubular galvanised steel material and comprises a top rail 7 spaced-apart from a bottom rail 8 to which it is interconnected by a looped end rail 9.

The bottom rail 8 is cranked 10 intermediate its ends and thus the spacing between the top rail 2 and bottom rail 8 is somewhat less adjacent the end rail 9 than between the free inner ends 11, 12 of the top rail 7 and bottom rail 8. Through holes 14, 15 at the inner ends 11, 12 of the top rail 7 and the bottom rail 8 facilitate mounting the rail 2 on the support 3 by means of mounting brackets 20.

Referring in particular to Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, the sleeve 5 is a shrink ﬁt on the rail 2 and can be drawn onto the rail 2 by means of a vacuum. An interior of the sleeve 5 is pressurised and the sleeve 5 is sucked onto the rail 2 using vacuum. The sleeve 5 has a reinforced body 16 comprising, in this case, a reinforcing cord core 17 of high tenacity polyester tyre cord encased in a body 18 of resilient material, preferably rubber or plastics material or similar. In this regard, styrene butadiene rubber material has been found particularly suitable.

The rail 2 is of tubular construction and the associated sleeve 5 also has a tubular body which is engagable about the tubular rail 2. A bore 19 of the sleeve 5 body has a diameter which is less than an outside diameter of the rail 2 and thus the sleeve 5 is a shrink ﬁt on the rail 2 so that it snugly and securely clamps itself on the rail 2.

The sleeve 5 covers a greater portion of the bottom rail 8, that is at least that portion of the bottom rail 8 which comes into contact with an animal 6 during use, and also extends around the end rail 9.

In use, a number of the animal stall partitions 1 of the invention are mounted on a support 3 (Fig. 4) to form a row of juxtaposed stalls 4 for housing animals 6. It will be appreciated that the relatively soft resilient sleeve 5 provides greater comfort for the animal 6 than an exposed metal rail 2 and also prevents injury to the animal 6 if the animal 6 knocks against the rail 2, all without compromising the strength of the barrier rail 2.

It will be noted that sleeves 5 of the invention provide hard wearing rubber sleeves that can also be readily easily retroﬁtted to existing tubular metal stall partitions. This is particularly advantageous as metal barrier rails 2 of this type are in widespread use.

With the barrier rail 2 removed from the support 3 the sleeve 5 can be drawn onto the rail 2 and positioned on the rail 2 as required.

It is envisaged that other methods for securing the sleeve 5 on the rail 2 could be - 5 _ used, such as by means of adhesive for example.

The invention is not limited to the embodiments hereinbefore described which may be varied in both construction and detail within the scope of the appended claims. 1O

Claims

1. CLAIMS An animal stall partition including a metal barrier rail for mounting in a substantially upright orientation on a support to form one side of an animal stall and an animal comfort enhancing sleeve mounted on said rail covering at least portion of said rail wherein the sleeve is a shrink ﬁt on the rail and comprises a reinforcing cord core encased in a body of resilient material. The animal stall partition as claimed in claim 1, wherein the reinforcing cord is a high tenacity polyester tyre cord. The animal stall partition as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the rail is of tubular construction and the sleeve has a tubular body which is engagable about the tubular rail. The animal stall partition as claimed in claim 3, wherein a bore of the sleeve body has a diameter which is less than an outside diameter of the rail. The animal stall partition as claimed in any preceding claim, the sleeve comprises a heat insulating resilient material. The animal stall partition as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the sleeve comprises a rubber or plastics material. The animal stall partition as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the sleeve comprises styrene butadiene rubber material. The animal stall partition as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the rail comprises a top rail and a bottom rail spaced-apart from the top rail and connected to the top rail at one end by an end rail. The animal stall partition as claimed in claim 8, wherein the top rail, bottom rail and end rail all lie in the same plane. The animal stall partition as claimed in claim 8 or claim 9, wherein the bottom rail is cranked intermediate its ends. The animal stall partition as claimed in any one of claims 8 to 10, wherein the end rail is looped. The animal stall partition as claimed in any one of claims 8 to 11, wherein the sleeve covers at least that portion of the bottom rail which, in use, is contactable by an animal. The animal stall partition as claimed in any one of claims 8 to 12, wherein the sleeve extends around the end rail. An animal stall system comprising a plurality of the animal stall partitions as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 13, mounted spaced-apart on a support to form a plurality of animal stalls. A comfort enhancing sleeve for mounting on a metal barrier rail to form an animal stall partition as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 13 comprising a reinforcing cord core encased in a body of resilient material for shrink ﬁtting on the rail.