Abstract:
An animal control arrangement in which there is provided a plurality of leashes which may be attached to the collars of animals to be controlled while walking, exercising, training or the like and which reduces the likelihood of the leashes becoming tangled.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    This invention relates to the animal control art and more particularly to an anti-tangling leash arrangement for controlling a plurality of animals, such as dogs, during the walking, exercising, training or other activities wherein two or more animals must be simultaneously controlled.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Prior Art  
           [0004]    A major problem that often arises when one person is required to control simultaneously a plurality of animals, such as dogs, during the walking, exercising, training or the like of the plurality of dogs is that the leashes which are attached to the dogs often become tangled and twisted together as the dogs tend to move in separate and erratic paths. Many cities in the United States have leash laws that require that dogs be restrained on a leash generally specified to be no more than a particular length, such as six feet in length, when in public. As such, the dogs cannot generally be allowed to roam freely, except in specific designated public areas which are generally designated “dog parks”. Unless a person is fortunate enough to live close to such a dog park or live in an area where there are no leash laws, most of the time that one person is required to walk, train, exercise or the like simultaneously a plurality of dogs in public, each of the dogs must be restrained on the required leash.  
           [0005]    During such simultaneous control of a plurality of dogs by one person, it is generally desired that each of the leashes be held in one hand, leaving the other hand free for other activities.  
           [0006]    There have heretofore been proposed various arrangements for the control of a plurality of dogs by one person during the walking, exercise, training or the like of the dogs while maintaining each dog on a separate leash with the desired objective of preventing the entanglement of the leashes. Such prior art arrangements have not always proven to be satisfactory in many applications. Therefore, there has long been a need for a control arrangement that allows one person to control simultaneously a plurality of animals, such as dogs, during the exercise, walking, training or the like thereof while such animals are on individual leashes and which minimizes the entangelment of the leashes.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0007]    Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved animal control arrangement.  
           [0008]    It is another object of the present invention to provide an animal control arrangement useful in the application of one person simultaneously controlling a plurality of animals.  
           [0009]    It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a multiple leash arrangement for allowing one person to control simultaneously a plurality of animals while each of the animals is restrained on an individual leash.  
           [0010]    It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a multiple leash arrangement for allowing one person to control simultaneously a plurality of animals while each of the animals is restrained on an individual leash and which reduces the occasions of the tangling of the leashes during the walking, exercising, training or the like of the animals.  
           [0011]    The above and other objects of the present invention are achieved, according to a preferred embodiment thereof by providing a body member having a plurality, such as two, (though more may be desired in many applications) of substantially rigid mounting portions in a spaced apart array. Each of said plurality of mounting portions has a preselected geometrical configuration such as bone end shaped round, quadrilateral, polygonal or other desired shapes. Each of the mounting portions has peripheral walls defining a central cavity extending therethrough and the peripheral walls have a predetermined geometrical configuration in cross section. The body member also has a rigid joining portion for connecting the mounting portions in the spaced apart array.  
           [0012]    In this embodiment of the present invention there is also provided a plurality of flexible, resilient, coil spring like members having a cental cavity therethrough defined by the coils of the spring like member and one of the plurality of flexible, resilient, coil spring like members is movably connected to each of the rigid mounting portions for sliding movement on peripheral walls thereof. There are a plurality of leash members, each of the plurality of leash members having a handle end and an attachment end. One of the plurality of leash members is threaded through the tube like members. The attachment end of each of the leash members is spaced away from the body member in a first direction and the handle end of each of the leash members extends in a second direction away from the body member whereby each of said attachment ends of the plurality of leash members may be attached to an animal, such as a dog, to be controlled and the handle end of each of leash members may be held by the person controlling the animal.  
           [0013]    A restraining member is coupled to each of said plurality of leash members intermediate the attachment end thereof and said handle end thereof for preventing the leash members from moving out of said flexible, resilient, coil spring like member in a direction toward the handle end thereof and allowing said leash member to slide through the flexible, resilient, coil spring like member in a direction toward said attachment end thereof. For the condition of an animal such as a dog attached to the attachment end of the leashes and the person controlling the dog has grasped the handle end of the leashes, the restraining member is in abutment with the body member and preventing the leashes from movement toward the handle end thereof and defining a predetermined separation of the animals from the body member.  
           [0014]    It has been found that this embodiment of the animal control arrangement reduces the tendency of the leashes to become entangled or twisted together as the animals tend to walk and wander in various directions during the walk, exercise, training or the like which the person controlling the animals desires the animals to do.  
           [0015]    The mounting portions of the body member may be made in any desired geometrical configuration as long as there are peripheral walls defining a cavity therethrough. Thus the mounting members may be in the form of a bone end, a ring, a quadrilateral such as a square, diamond, trapezoid, parallelogram, etc. or may be in the form of any desired other polygon. The mounting portions of the body member may also be in the form of a ring, an oval or other curvilinear configuration.  
           [0016]    The cross sectional configuration of the peripheral walls of the mounting members may be, for example, tubular, solid rod like, rectangular or square ribbon like or any other desired geometrical shape. Similarly, the joining portion may have a cross sectional configuration of a single tube like, rod like, ribbon like or any other desired configuration. The joining portion may be split into two or more spaced apart sections as may be desired for certain conditions.  
           [0017]    In other embodiments of the present invention the flexible, resilient, coil spring like members may be replaced by tubular members.  
           [0018]    The exact physical laws which explain why these embodiments of the invention act to reduce the tendency of the leashes to become tangled or entwined is not known.  
           [0019]    The leashes may be conventional fixed length leashes or they may be the extendible type of leash in which a controller is provided with a spring loaded reel upon which the leash is wound and a handle portion for holding the controller. Operable buttons selectively allow the leash to extend from the controller against the spring tension and be retracted into the controller by the spring action as desired. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING  
       [0020]    The above and other embodiments of the present invention may be more fully understood from the following detailed description taken together with the accompanying drawing and in which similar reference characters refer to similar elements throughout and in which:  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 1 illustrates a preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 2 illustrates a multiple leash useful in the practice of the present invention;  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 3 illustrates another multiple leash useful in the practice of the present invention.  
         [0024]    [0024]FIGS. 4A through 4I illustrate various geometrical configurations of the body member useful in the practice of the present invention;  
         [0025]    [0025]FIGS. 5A through 5D illustrate various cross sectional configurations of the peripheral walls of the mounting portion and the joining portion of the body member useful in various embodiments of the present invention;  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 6 illustrates another body member useful in the practice of the present invention;  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 7 illustrates another body member useful in the practice of the present invention; and,  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 8 illustrates another embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0029]    Referring now to the drawing there is shown in FIG. 1 a preferred embodiment of the present invention generally designated  10 . The embodiment  10  is provided with a pair of extendible leash controllers  12  and  14  which may be fixedly coupled together. The controllers  12  and  14  have a spring loaded reel portion  12   a  and  14   a,  respectively, and a handle portion  12   b  and  14   b  respectively. A leash  16  extends from the spring loaded reel portion  12  and a leash  18  extends from the reel portion  14   a.  The leashes  16  and  18  extend against the tension of the spring in the controllers and are retracted into the respective reel portion by the action of the spring loaded reel. The controllers  12  and  14  may be one of the many of the types of extendable leash arrangements such as those sold under the trademark TOP PAW® by Pacific Coast Distributing, Inc., P.O. Box 84613, Phoenix, Ariz. 85071, or those sold under the trademark SPOTLIGHT® BY Ruff &amp; Tumble Company, 21755 Ventura Blvd., Woodland Hills, Calif. 91364, or those sole under the trademark FLEXI BY Flexi ISA, 147 Circle Freeway, Cincinnati, Ohio 45246 and are useful in the practice of this embodiment of the present invention. The handle portions  12   b  and  14   b  may, for purposes of the description of the present invention be considered the handles of the leashes  16  and  18 , respectively. Buttons  12   c  and  14   c  are utilized to control the extension and retraction of the leashes  16  and  18 , respectively in a manner well known in the art and may be individually operated or jointly operated by a rocker button (not shown). While two controllers  12  and  14  are shown on FIG. 1, more than two such controllers may be conveniently joined together for appropriate operation according to the principles of the present invention.  
         [0030]    The leashes  16  and  18  extend past a body member  20 , through retainers  22  and  24  which are fixedly coupled to the leashes  16  and  18  respectively, through a separator generally designated  27  which, in the embodiment  10  are flexible, resilient, coil spring like members  26  and  28 , respectively, and terminate at the attachment ends  30  and  32 , respectively, which are connected to swivel snap fasteners  34  and  36 . The swivel snap fasteners may be attached to the collars of the animals to be controlled.  
         [0031]    The body member  20  has a pair of substantially rigid mounting portions  38  and  40  in a fixed spaced apart array and are maintained in this fixed spaced apart array by a rigid joining portion  42 . In the embodiment  10  the body member  20  is in the form of a “bone” and the mounting portions  38  and  40  are in the form of “bone ends”. As described below in connection with FIG. 4, the body member useful in various embodiments of the present invention may take a variety of configurations.  
         [0032]    Each of the mounting portions  38  and  40  have a preselected shape with a preselected geometrical configuration. The mounting portions  38  and  40  have peripheral walls  38   a  and  40   a  defining a cavity  38   b  and  40   b.  The mounting portions  38  and  40  may have any desired cross sectional configuration as described below in connection with FIG. 5.  
         [0033]    The rigid joining member  42  is, in the embodiment  10 , a pair of spaced apart joining sections  42   a  and  42   b  which may also have any desired cross sectional configuration as described below in connection with FIGS. 5A through 5D.  
         [0034]    The flexible, resilient, coil spring like members  26  and  28  are mounted on the mounting portions  38  and  40 , respectively, for sliding motion on the peripheral walls  38   a  and  40   a,  respectively, but are preferably retained by their configuration from entering the space  44  between the joining sections  42   a  and  42   b.    
         [0035]    The retaining members  22  and  24  are, as noted above, fixedly coupled to the leashes  16  and  18 , respectively, and abut against the peripheral walls  38   a  and  40   a,  respectively, thereby restraining the leashes  16  and  18  from further retraction by the reel towards the handles  12   b  and  14   b,  respectively as indicated by the arrow  46 . The retainers  22  and  24  are sized so as to be freely movable through the flexible, resilient, coil spring like members  26  and  28 , respectively, in the direction of the attachment ends  30  and  32  as indicated by the arrow  48 . Such movement in the direction of the arrow  48  is accomplished by selectively releasing the buttons  12   c  and/or  14   c  allowing the animals (not shown) connected to the snap swivels  34  and  36  to pull the leashes  16  and  18  as far out as the person controlling the animals desires.  
         [0036]    In other embodiments of the present invention it may be desired to utilize fixed length leashes. FIG. 2 illustrates the use of fixed length leashes in an embodiment  50  of the present invention. The pair of leashes  52   a  and  54  may be conventional leashes having handle ends  52   a  and  54   a  and attachment ends  52   b  and  54   b  to which are connected snap swivels  56  and  58 . The body member, retainer and flexible, resilient, coil spring like members have been omitted from FIG. 2 for clarity. If desired, the handle ends  52   a  and  54   a  may be coupled together such as by sewing, gluing, or the like.  
         [0037]    [0037]FIG. 3 illustrates another embodiment of the present invention generally designated  60  which is similar to the embodiment  50  except that a ring member  62  is utilized to provide connection of the handle end  64   a  and  66   a  of leashes  64  and  66 , respectively. A separate handle  68  is also connected to the ring member  62  and thus may provide a more comfortable handle for grasping by the person controlling the animals. The body member, retainer and flexible, resilient, coil spring like members have been omitted from FIG. 3 for clarity.  
         [0038]    [0038]FIGS. 4A through 4I illustrate various configurations of the body members which may be advantageously utilized in the practice of the present invention. The shapes and configurations as shown in FIGS. 4A through 4I are only examples: other configurations may equally well be utilized and the present invention contemplates any configuration of body member having the basic characteristecs as described herein. FIG. 4A shows the “bone shaped” body member  20  as described above in connection with embodiment  10 . Any of the mounting portions shown in FIGS. 4A through 4B may be utilized with any of the joining portions shown as may be desired for different applications.  
         [0039]    [0039]FIG. 4B shows a body member  70  having toroidal shaped mounting portions  72  and  74  with a single joining portion  76 .  
         [0040]    [0040]FIG. 4C shows a body member  78  having quadrilateral diamond shaped mounting portions  80  and  82  with a joining portion  84  having two spaced apart sections  86  and  88 .  
         [0041]    [0041]FIG. 4D shows a body member  90  having curvilinear oval shaped mounting portions  92  and  94  with a joining portion  96  having two spaced apart sections  98  and  100 . The long axis of the ovals mounting portions  92  and  94  are perpendicular to the joining member  96 .  
         [0042]    [0042]FIG. 4E shows a body member  102  having polygonal hexagonal shaped mounting portions  104  and  106  with a joining portion  108  having two spaced apart sections  110  and  112 .  
         [0043]    [0043]FIG. 4F shows a body member  114  having curvilinear oval shaped mounting portions  116  and  118  with ajoining portion  120  having two spaced apart sections  122  and  124 . The long axis of the ovals mounting portions  116  and  118  are substantially parallel to the joining member  120 .  
         [0044]    [0044]FIG. 4G shows a body member  126  having curvilinear “clover leaf” shaped mounting portions  128  and  130  with ajoining portion  132  having two spaced apart sections  136  and  138 .  
         [0045]    [0045]FIG. 4H shows a body member  138  having irregular polygonal shaped mounting portions  140  and  142  with a joining portion  146  having two spaced apart sections  148  and  150 .  
         [0046]    [0046]FIG. 4I shows a body member  152  having polygonal triangular shaped mounting portions  154  and  156  with a single joining portion  158 .  
         [0047]    Any of the above described body members may be utilized in any of the embodiments of the present invention such as embodiments  10 ,  50  and  60  described above and embodiment  200  described below in connection with FIG. 8.  
         [0048]    [0048]FIGS. 5A through 5D illustrate various cross sectional configurations that may be utilized in the fabrication of any or all portions of the body member utilized in the practice of the present invention. The mounting portions of the body member may have the same cross sectional configurations as the joining portion or they may be different. FIG. 5A shows a tube like cross sectional configuration as indicated at  160 . FIG. 5B shows a solid rod like cross sectional configuration as indicated at  162 . FIG. 5C shows a rectangular ribbon like cross sectional configuration as indicated at  64 . FIG. 5D shows a square ribbon like cross sectional configuration as indicated at  166 . Other cross sectional configurations may be utilized as desired.  
         [0049]    The present invention is not limited to arrangements for controlling two animals. That is, the structure taught herein may be adopted to control any number of animals. As noted above, more than two controllers may be fixed together so as to allow controlling of three dogs on leashes. Similarly, the multiple leash arrangements shown on FIGS. 2 and 3 may be modified by adding additional fixed length leashes as may be desired. The body member for such more than two leash arrangement applications may be modified so as to have three or more mounting portions, the number of mounting portions corresponding to the number of leashes. FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment generally designated  168  of a body member  170  having three mounting portions  172 ,  174  and  176 . A joining portion  178  with two sections  180  and  182  join mounting portions  176  and  174  and joining portion  184  with sections  186  and  188  join mounting portions  174  and  172 . The body member  170  may be provided with separator members at each mounting portion and retaining members attached to the leashes as inserted through the separator members as described above to allow control of three animals. The body member may be expanded to include as many mounting portions more than three as desired for controlling any desired number of animals.  
         [0050]    The body members utilized in the present invention may have the mounting portions lie in the same plane as the joining portion or the body member may be in an arcuate configuration. FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment  168 ′ of a three mounting portion body member similar to the body member  170  described above and wherein the entire body member is in an arcuate configuration. Any of the body members described above may also be fabricated and used in an arcuate configuration or any other non-planar arrangement..  
         [0051]    [0051]FIG. 8 illustrates a partial cross sectional view of another embodiment of the present invention generally designated  200 . In the embodiment  200 , which may be similar to the embodiment  10  described above, there is provided a leash,  202  which extends past a mounting portion  206  of a body member  204  and be provided with a retainer  210  fixed thereon. The separator member  208  is in the form of a rigid walled, curved tubular member and the separator member  208  is slidingly mounted on the mounting portion  206  which extend through an aperture  212 . The separator member may also be a flexible walled tube like member as may be desired for particular applications. The operation of the embodiment  200  is similar to the operation of the embodiment  10  described above. Other configurations of a separator member may be utilized as desired to provide the desired functions thereof.  
         [0052]    From the above it can be seen that there has been provided an improved animal control arrangement which reduces the occasions which the leashes to which the animals to be controlled are attached become tangled. Those skilled in the art may find many variations and adaptations of the present invention and the appended claims are intended to cover all such variations and adaptations falling within the scope and sprit thereof.