Patent ID: 8651411
Filing Date: 2014-02-18
Classification: A01K,B65H

Abstract:
1. A handheld control device for a pet leash, comprising: a hollow housing; a braking unit including a pawl unit including a pivoted end mounted pivotally in said housing about a pivot axis, and a pawl body which extends in a lengthwise direction from said pivoted end to terminate at a pawl end that is actuated by one of lever and pushbutton pressing forces to be displaced from a disengaging position, where said braking reel is rotatable in the winding and unwinding directions, to an engaging position, where said pawl end is engaged with a selected one of said ratchet teeth of said braking reel so as to disable rotation of said braking reel in the unwinding direction, said pawl body having proximate and distal regions relative to said pawl end; a locking lever pivotally mounted on said housing about a fulcrum axis parallel to the pivot axis, and including a weight end which is swingable about the fulcrum axis between an unlocked position, where said weight end is disengaged from said distal region, and a locked position, where said weight end is engaged with said distal region to exert the lever pressing force thereon, and a power end which has a cammed surface; a pushbutton which is mounted on said housing to be movable toward said proximate region along a stroke path between activating and non-activating positions, and which includes a pressure-applying end that, when displaced to the activating position, is brought into engagement with said proximate region to exert the pushbutton pressing force thereon, an actuation end which extends outwardly of said housing for manual operation, and a middle segment which is disposed between said pressure-applying end and said actuation end and which has a camming surface confronting said cammed surface, said camming surface being configured such that, when said pushbutton is moved to retrieve the stroke path to the non-activating position, a camming force generated as a result of sweeping contact of said camming surface with said cammed surface pushes said weight end to swing to the locked position; and a second biasing member disposed to bias said pushbutton toward the non-activating position; wherein the pivot axis of said pivoted end is oriented parallel to the reel axis of said braking reel; and wherein said distal region of said pawl body has outward and inward surfaces opposite to each other in a direction transverse to both the pivot axis and the lengthwise direction, said outward surface defining a bore which extends toward said inward surface, and which has larger-diameter and smaller-diameter bore segments to form a shoulder abutment therebetween that faces outwardly to permit said weight end of said locking lever to abut thereagainst in the locked position so as to counteract the camming force, thereby ensuring immobility of said weight end in radial and circumferential directions.