Abstract:
An animal collar including a tag housing with a transparent cover. The tag housing is affixed to the collar and adapted to house one or more tags associated with the animal. The transparent cover is adapted to secure the tags against the collar while enabling viewing of information on the tags. A fastener ensures that the tags do not fall out of the tag housing.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/290,349, filed Feb. 2, 2016, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. 
     
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0002]    Aspects of the present invention generally relate to animal collars having a tag housing. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    Conventional animal collars create potentially unsafe condition for animals because tags (e.g., for identification, rabies vaccination status, etc.) hang from the collar. Hanging tags can snag in a number of potentially dangerous manners, such as entanglement with another animal&#39;s hanging tags, which may lead to animal discomfort, stress, injury, and/or death. Moreover, the sound created when multiple hanging tags contact each other can create undesirable audible noise, such as during hunting activities. 
         [0004]    Conventional collars attempt to replace hanging tags with embroidered names and attachable pouches to solve the shortcomings of hanging tags. But embroidered collars typically only include the animal&#39;s name. Even embroidered collars that include the animal&#39;s address and owner contact information still do not address the need to display rabies vaccination tags. And collars with attachable pouches do not address the entanglement issues because the pouch itself may become snagged. Moreover, the pouches are not transparent, which requires humans to approach the animal in order to obtain information on the tags. Aggressive or scared animals may not be comfortable with strangers approaching them to read the tags. 
         [0005]    Kelly (U.S. Pat. No. 1,539,744) describes the attachment of animal identification tags to a collar in such a manner that the tags are readily visible and do not make audible noise. One disadvantage of the technique described by Kelly is it requires a housing for each individual animal tag. The procedure to change a tag is inconvenient because the collar must be unbuckled and removed from the animal, the tag housing must be removed from the collar, and the housing must be disassembled. 
         [0006]    Cunningham (U.S. Pat. No. 4,178,879) describes a transparent window integral to the collar that permits insertion of an identification strip. One disadvantage of the technique of Cunningham is that it is ill-suited for use with existing animal tags and/or collars because it is designed to be used with flexible, custom-made plastic strips that will be displayed in the collar window. 
         [0007]    Castagna (U.S. Pat. No. 5,503,114) describes a specially designed message holder, attachable to a collar, upon which messages can be written. One disadvantage of Castagna is the printed labels may fall out of the disclosed label holding device because of the open slits. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0008]    Aspects of the present invention described herein enable utilization of existing tags and allow the tags to be visible from a distance without the risk of hanging tags snagging. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention result in a safer collar for the animal. Moreover, aspects of the present invention result in audible noise reduction by eliminating sounds generated by multiple hanging tags contacting each other. 
         [0009]    In an aspect, an animal collar includes a collar sized and shaped to fit around the neck of an animal and a tag housing affixed to the collar. The tag housing is adapted to house tags associated the animal. The tag housing includes a transparent cover adapted to secure the tags against the collar and enable viewing of information engraved on the tags. A width of the tag housing is substantially equal to a width of the collar to reduce the likelihood of snagging on an obstacle. 
         [0010]    In another aspect, a tag housing includes a housing body, a transparent cover, and a fastener. The housing body is adapted to house tags associated with an animal. The transparent cover is affixed to the tag housing and adapted to secure the tags against an animal collar and enable viewing of information on the one or more tags. The fastener is affixed to the tag housing and adapted to temporarily fasten opposing surfaces of the housing body while pressed together. The fastener is further adapted to permit access to the tags in the area between the animal collar and the transparent cover. 
         [0011]    In yet another aspect, an animal collar includes a collar sized and shaped to fit around the animal and a tag housing. The tag housing includes a housing body, a transparent cover, and a fastener. The housing body is affixed around the collar such that the collar extends from a first end of the housing body between a first side and a second side of the housing body to a second end of the housing body. The housing body is adapted to house a plurality of tags associated with the animal between the collar and the first side of the housing body. The transparent cover is affixed to the first side of the housing body. The transparent cover is adapted to hold the tags against the collar and enable viewing of information on the tags. The fastener is affixed to the first side of the housing body substantially near the first end of the housing body. The fastener is adapted to temporarily fasten opposing surfaces of the first side of the housing body while pressed together to reduce the likelihood of the tags exiting the housing body. The faster is also adapted to permit access to the tags in the area between the collar and the transparent cover. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0012]      FIG. 1  illustrates an exemplary animal collar and tag housing having a hook-and-loop fastener according to an embodiment. 
           [0013]      FIG. 2  illustrates an exemplary sliding capability of the animal collar of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0014]      FIG. 3  illustrates the hook-and-loop fastener of the animal collar of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0015]      FIG. 4  illustrates an exemplary animal collar and tag housing having a snap fastener according to an embodiment. 
           [0016]      FIG. 5  illustrates another exemplary animal collar and tag housing according to an embodiment. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0017]      FIG. 1  illustrates an exemplary animal collar  102  and tag housing  104  in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. The collar  102  includes a leash loop  108  and a locking mechanism  110 . The tag housing  104  includes a housing body  112 , a transparent cover  114 , and a hook-and-loop fastener  116 . 
         [0018]    The tag housing  104  is adapted to affix to the animal collar  102  and house animal tags, such as those for animal identification, vaccination status, law enforcement badges, and the like. In an embodiment, the tag housing  104  (e.g., housing body  112 , transparent cover  114 , etc.) enables utilization of existing animal tags and/or existing collars (e.g., animal collar  102 ) while allowing the tags to be visible from a distance without the risk of injury to the animal from snagging tags. In another embodiment, the tag housing  104  also reduces the likelihood of injury to the animal by sliding along animal collar  102  when it becomes tangled and/or obstructed, as illustrated by  FIG. 2 . For instance, instead of snagging when encountering an obstacle  202  (e.g., another animal, another animal&#39;s tags, a piece of furniture, etc.) while moving in direction  204 , the tag housing  104  may slide along the animal collar in direction  206 . 
         [0019]    Referring again to  FIG. 1 , the housing body  112  is adapted to affix around animal collar  102 . In an embodiment, the housing body  112  has a width, W HB , substantially equal to the width, W c , of the animal collar  102  to prevent the tag housing  104  from snagging. For example, the width of the housing body  112  may exceed the width of the animal collar  102  only by the thickness of the material comprising the housing body  112 . The width of the housing body  112  may alternatively exceed the width of the animal collar  102  by a few (e.g., about three or less) centimeters. In an embodiment, a length of the housing body  112  is long enough to accommodate a plurality of animal tags. For example, the housing body  112  may accommodate both an identification tag and a rabies vaccination tag. The housing body  112  may be comprised of vinyl polymers, leather, artificial leather (e.g., bicast leather, etc.), plastic, or the like and/or combinations thereof. 
         [0020]    The transparent cover  114  is adapted to provide pressure against the tags to keep them pressed against animal collar  102  and allow textual and/or graphical information on the tags to be viewed by a human without opening tag housing  104 . In an embodiment, the transparent cover  114  has a width, W TC , equal to or greater than the width, W AT , of the animal tag and less than the width of the housing body  112 , W HB . Moreover, the length of the transparent cover  114  is long enough to accommodate a plurality of animal tags while still being less than the length of the housing body  112  in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. The transparent cover  114  may be comprised of transparent plastic, transparent vinyl polymers, and the like and/or combinations thereof. 
         [0021]    The hook-and-loop fastener  116  (e.g., Velcro, etc.) is adapted to temporarily fasten opposing surfaces of housing body  112  while pressed together and permit access to the area between animal collar  102  and transparent cover  114  (e.g., for insertion or removal of the animal tags). As illustrated by  FIG. 3 , a hook portion  116 -A is attached (e.g., sewn, glued, etc.) to a first surface  302  of the housing body  112  and a loop portion  116 -B is attached (e.g., sewn, glued, etc.) to an opposing second surface  304  of the housing body  112 . In one or more embodiments, the hook portion  116 -A may instead be attached to the opposing second surface  304  of the housing body and the loop portion  116 -B may instead be attached to the first surface  302  of the housing body  112 . 
         [0022]      FIG. 4  illustrates another exemplary embodiment of the tag housing  104 . The tag housing of this embodiment includes the housing body  112 , the transparent cover  114 , and a snap fastener  416 . The snap fastener  416  is adapted to temporarily fasten opposing surfaces of housing body  112  while pressed together and permit access to the area between animal collar  102  and transparent cover  114  (e.g., for insertion or removal of the animal tags). An exemplary snap fastener includes a pair of interlocking discs (e.g., metal, plastic, etc.) in which a circular lip under one disc fits into a groove on the top of the other disc, holding them fast until a certain amount of force is applied. 
         [0023]    The hook-and-loop fastener  116  and snap fastener  416  enable a human to conveniently change tags without unbuckling or removing the collar  102  from the animal or removing the tag housing  104 . Moreover, the hook-and-loop fastener  116  and snap fastener  416  ensure that the animal tags do not fall out of the tag housing  104 . Although the embodiments described herein utilize hook-and-loop fastener  116  and snap fastener  416 , one having ordinary skill in the art will understand that other fastening elements may be used without departing from the scope of the present invention. 
         [0024]      FIG. 5  illustrates another exemplary embodiment of animal collar  102 , tag housing  104  (including hook-and-loop fastener  116  and/or snap fastener  416 ), leash loop  108 , and locking mechanism  110  in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. 
         [0025]    When introducing elements of aspects of the invention or the embodiments thereof, the articles “a,” “an,” “the,” and “said” are intended to mean that there are one or more of the elements. The terms “comprising,” “including,” and “having” are intended to be inclusive and mean that there may be additional elements other than the listed elements. 
         [0026]    Having described aspects of the invention in detail, it will be apparent that modifications and variations are possible without departing from the scope of aspects of the invention as defined in the appended claims. As various changes could be made in the above constructions, products, and methods without departing from the scope of aspects of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description and shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.