Disposable Plastic Leggings For Dogs

Abstract

A disposable protective legging for a dog comprising a first sheet of flexible heat sealable thermoplastic material comprising the back of the legging and the bottom of the paw section of the legging and shaped to generally conform to the shape of a dog's leg, a second sheet of flexible heat sealable thermoplastic material comprising the front portion of the legging and the top section of the paw section of the legging, and also shaped to generally conform to the shape of a dog's leg, the first and second sheets being heat sealed together along their side margins and bottom margin, the sheets also defining an ankle section of the legging, the top of the legging formed by the sheets being open, adjustable securing means secured to the legging at the ankle section of the legging for gathering the legging against the leg of the dog, and an anti-friction role tread on the bottom of the paw section.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to an improved legging for animals such as dogs.

There is a great need for a disposable protective covering for the feet and legs of dogs in order to protect the feet and legs of the animal from wet, dampness, dirt, chemicals, scratches, parasites, parasite eggs, thorns, burrs, and the like. The unfilled need for an inexpensive, convenient, and sanitary, disposable legging for a dog is well known especially to those persons owning dogs which must be kept indoors. Not only is there a need for such a legging which will keep dirt, mud and moisture off the feet and legs of the animal in order to eliminate the soiling of household floors, rugs and furniture when the animal is brought indoors but, particularly in urban areas, for such a legging to provide critical protection for the soles of the animal's paws from salt and other chemicals used on city streets in the winter. Salt or other chemicals which may come in contact with minute cracks or scratches in the animal's foot can be extremely painful as well as cause serious infection.

A disposable protective legging for dogs which is inexpensive, can be put on and taken off the animal quickly and conveniently, is also greatly desired by dog owners exhibiting dogs in shows wherein once the animal has been groomed, it is important, particularly in the case of long-haired breeds, to protect the hair on the legs of the animal from dirt and moisture.

Because of the inconvenience of cleaning soiled leggings for animals after use, the availability of a very inexpensive protective legging that could be disposed of after use is extremely desirable. Another very important requirement for protective leggings for dogs is that the legging should be designed so that while providing the desired protection, it does not significantly interfere with the natural gait of the animal. Such protective legging should also be comfortable for the animal to wear and should not be so tight as to cause discomfort or annoyance, or so loose as to tend to easily fall off in use.

2. Prior Art

Protective leggings or boots for dogs have previously been relatively complex devices which were difficult to place on the animal's legs and made walking for the animal extremely awkward and at times very discomforting. In many cases, the animal's normal gait was completely disrupted by such legging. Because of the particular materials and complexity of construction used in many previous devices and the resulting expense, none of the prior art leggings or boots could be considered truly disposable. Most previous protective leggings were either stretched over the animal's legs and constricted the legs tightly in order to keep the leggings on, or adjustable binders required relatively involved procedures to adjust them to the size of the individual dog. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,446,371 Jones discloses a stretchable galosh for dogs made of stretchable material which must be stretched on to the animal's foot to fit snugly to prevent dislodgement from the leg of the animal. Such devices, besides being inconvenient to place on the animal's legs, are very disruptive of the normal gait of the animal. Other galoshes of complex sewn structure are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,443,831 Miller wherein the leggings are fastened to the leg of the animal by elastic material bands which are sewn to the legging and secured by fixed position snap fasteners. Such devices are essentially non-adjustable and also in many cases will constrict the leg of the animal to an extent to interrupt the normal gait.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a disposable protective legging for a dog which is inexpensive, convenient to use, and which is comfortable for the dog to wear and does not interfere with the normal gait of the animal. The disposable protective legging of the present invention is very simple in design and can be fabricated very easily. The protective legging of this invention can be put on and taken off the animal readily. The protective legging of this invention is secured to the leg of the animal by means which can easily be adjusted to accomodate the particular size of the individual animal wearing the legging.

The disposable protective legging of this invention comprises an upper leg portion, an intermediate leg portion, an ankle portion and a paw portion. The legging is fabricated from two flexible sheets of heat sealable thermoplastic material which are cut to generally comform to the contours of the animal's legs. One sheet comprises the back of the legging and the bottom part of the paw section thereof and the second sheet comprises the front of the legging and the top of the paw section thereof. The two sheets of plastic are heat sealed together along the side and bottom margins thereof, the top remaining open. The legging is provided with adjustable means for gently but firmly securing it to the leg of the animal. At least one of the securing means are located at the ankle section of the legging and serves to gather the material of the legging against the leg of the dog. The bottom of the foot portion of the legging is provided with an anti-friction sole tread which preferebly extends up the sides and front of the paw section to serve as means to prevent wear and as additional protection for the pad and toes of the animal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

In the accompanying drawing:

FIG. 1 is a side plan view of a disposable rear leg legging according to this invention.

FIG. 2 is a side plan view of a disposable front leg legging according to this invention.

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the legging of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view of the legging of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a front plan view of a disposable universal legging according to this invention wherein the legging is folded flat.

FIG. 6 is a side view of the flat-folded legging of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a back plan view of the legging of FIGS. 5 and 6.

FIG. 8 is a side plan view of the legging of FIGS. 5 - 7 with the legging unfolded.

FIG. 9 is a front plan view of a folded legging according to this invention, similar to that of FIG. 5 showing alternate means of securing the legging to the leg of the animal.

FIG. 10 is a back plan view of the legging of FIG. 9.

FIG. 11 is a side view of the unfolded legging of FIGS. 9 and 10 showing the gathering of the legging when it is secured to an animal's leg.

DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS

FIGS. 1 - 4 illustrate generally the basic structure of the legging of this invention.

In FIGS. 1 and 3, there is shown a plastic disposable legging for dogs according to this invention wherein the legging is specifically configured for use on the rear leg of an animal. The legging 2 comprises a generally tubular intermediate leg section 4, a foot or paw section 6, and an upper leg section 8. As described in greater detail below, the plastic legging is fabricated from two sections of flexible plastic film such as polyethylene by merely heat sealing two appropriately dimensioned sheets of plastic along the outer margins thereof except at the top 10 thereof. The top is not sealed in order to provide an opening for insertion of the animal's leg. The bottom surface 14 of the paw section 6 of the legging together with the front of the toe section 12 of the paw section 6 is covered with a non-skid sole tread 16 as shown at 18. The tread 16 may comprise a heavier gauge polyethylene plastic which has a dimpled or otherwise scored roughened outer surface which enhances the paw grip of the animal. The tread 16 can also comprise other known non-slip composite materials which may be adhesively secured to the surface 14 or preferably heat sealed where appropriate for the material employed. An adjustable securing means is shown schematically at 20 encircling the legging at intermediate section 4 of the legging as shown. This securing band serves to retain the legging on the leg of the animal by gently gathering the plastic material against the leg of the animal at that point. A corresponding legging particularly configured for the front leg of the dog is illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 4 and except for the configuration of the upper portion of the legs is substantially the same as the embodiment of FIGS. 1 - 3. Thus, the disposable front legging indicated generally at 22 comprises intermediate leg section 24, a paw section 26 having toe portion 32 and bottom 34. The tapered top of the legging is designed so that the uppermost portion 28 extends partially up the chest of the animal to afford greater protection. The bottom 34 likewise has a non-slip and wear-enhancing tread 36 heat sealed or adhesively secured thereto, and extending partway up the front of the toe section 32 as indicated at 38. As before, two sheets of polyethylene film forming the legging body are heat sealed at the margins except at the top which is in this instance tapered as shown at 30 so as to fit closely to the shoulder and chest of the dog.

In FIGS. 5 - 8, there is shown a preferred embodiment of the disposable dog legging of the present invention. This embodiment is designed for use on either the front and rear legs of the animal. The legging of this embodiment is shown folded flat in FIGS. 5 - 7 and unfolded in FIG. 8. In this embodiment, the disposable legging is indicated generally at 42 and comprises intermediate section 48 connected to the foot portion 52 by a slightly necked-in ankle portion 47. The top 50 as in previous cases in open. As best shown in FIG. 6, the legging is fabricated from two sheets of flexible 6 mil polyethylene material, a back 43 and a front 45, which are heat sealed together along the side and bottom margins. The bottom 54 of the paw portion 46 has an anti-wear and non-slip dimpled polyethylene tread 56 heat sealed thereto. Tabs 57 overlap the sides and toe portion 52 of the foot 46. A band 60 encircles the legging above the necked-in ankle portion 47. The ends of the band 60 are provided with knobbed posts 64 and 66. An elastic band or loop 64 is fitted over the knob 62 and fits over the knob 66 to gather the legging firmly against the leg of the animal. The length of the loop 64 is selected according to the size dog involved. FIG. 8 shows the legging of this embodiment unfolded as it would be with an animal's leg placed therein.

The embodiment of the disposable legging of this invention which is most particularly preferred is shown in FIGS. 9 - 11. The legging itself is in all respects the same as the legging of FIGS. 5 - 8, except that different means are provided for securing the legging to the leg of the animal. The band and loop arrangement of the previous embodiment which is somewhat expensive to manufacture is replaced by two pairs of adhesive strips which gather the plastic material to the configuration of the leg of the animal.

Referring to the drawing, the disposable legging is indicated generally at 42 and comprises upper leg section 48, which is joined to the foot section 42 by the necked-in ankle section 47. The legging is open at the top 50. The bottom 54 of the foot section 46 has the non-wear or non-slip tread 56 secured thereto and to the sides and toe section 52 by heat-sealing or is adhesively secured. The tabs 57 of the tread 56 extend up the sides and front of the foot section 46 as shown. An upper pair 68 and a lower pair 70 of adhesive tabs are provided for gathering the legging material together after the animal's leg is placed in the disposable legging. The upper tabs 68 have a backing strip 74 on the face thereof which is covered with an adhesive layer, and a removeable paperlike cover 72 which when the legging is not in use covers the adhesive face of the strip 74. In FIG. 10, the protective strip 72 is shown partially peeled back from the adhesive on the backing strip 74. In a like manner, the tabs 70 are provided with removeable protective covering 76 for the adhesive coating on the backing strip 78. The inner ends of the tabs 68 and 70 are also preferably heat sealed to the plastic material of the legging itself and conveniently may be placed between the sheets at the margins and sealed thereto in the same operation that joins the sheets together.

As illustrated in FIG. 11, once the legging is placed upon the leg of the animal, the protective covers 72 and 76 respectively are removed from the tabs 68 and 70 and the tabs 68 and 70 are gently pulled to gather the plastic material of the legging snugly around the leg of the animal and then the adhesive coating is pressed against the gathered plastic in order to secure the legging around the leg of the animal firmly but gently. This embodiment of the invention is particularly convenient to use and assures that the legging will be securely maintained on the leg of the animal but permits close adjustment to the individual animal.

The use of the adhesive tabs as means of securing the legging to the leg of the animal is very inexpensive and furthermore takes up less space than the post and loop arrangement of the previous embodiment. In addition, the degree of tightness with which the legging is gathered about the leg of the animal can be carefully controlled by the dog owner using such adhesive tabs whereas in the previous embodiments, the degree of tension is fixed and cannot be adjusted to the thickness of the leg of each animal. For these reasons, the present embodiment is particularly preferred.

It is apparent that any of the common flexible plastic materials may be utilized in the practice of this invention. I have found that polyethylene sheeting is particularly suitable. The thickness of the material can be adjusted according to the degree of durability that is desired for the disposable legging. I have found that 6 mil thick polyethylene material is most suitable although thicknesses of 2 to 10 mil are all very useful. A somewhat thicker stock may be used for the anti-wear non-skid tread if desired.

While the invention has been explained by a detailed description of certain specific embodiments, it is understood that various modifications and substitutions can be made in any of them within the scope of the appended claims which are intended also to include equivalents of such embodiments.

Claims

I claim:

1. A disposable protective legging for a dog comprising a first sheet of flexible heat sealable thermoplastic material comprising the back of said legging and the bottom of the paw section of said legging and shaped to generally conform to the shape of a dog's leg, a second sheet of flexible heat sealable thermoplastic material comprising the front portion of said legging and the top section of said paw section of said legging, and also shaped to generally conform to the shape of a dog's leg, said first and second sheets being heat sealed together along their side margins and bottom margin, said sheets also defining an ankle section of said legging, the top of said legging formed by said sheets being open, adjustable securing means secured to said legging at said ankle section of said legging for gathering said legging against the leg of the dog, said adjustable securing means comprising a pair of tabs extending from the edges of said first and second sheets, each of said tabs comprising a backing strip on one side of which is a layer of adhesive material, and a removeable protective strip covering said adhesive material, and an anti-friction sole tread on the bottom of said paw section.

2. A disposable protective legging for a dog as claimed in claim 1 wherein the backing strip of said tabs is comprised of thermoplastic material and said tab is secured to said legging by heat sealing said thermoplastic backing strip to said thermoplastic sheets.

3. A disposable protective legging for a dog as claimed in claim 1 wherein a second pair of said strips are secured to the upper portion of said legging.