Abstract:
A pet leash handle includes a hollow housing formed with a grip opening, and having a spring loaded wind up reel rotatably mounted within the housing on which a leash is wound which may be unwound against the resistance of a wind up spring, said leash extending out of said housing via a guide opening therein. An elongated water bowl is detachably mounted along a lower side of the housing in which a water bottle is nested. A bag storage cavity is provided within the housing above the lower side of the housings and a release button operates a mechanism which locks or releases the wind up reel.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application clams the benefit of U.S. provisional application No. 61/628.908, filed on Nov. 8, 2011 and U.S. provisional application No. 61/412,424 filed on Nov. 11, 2010. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention concerns pet restraints, and more particularly dog leashes which are commonly used and sometimes required by law to restrain a dog while taking the dog out on walks. 
     Local laws have imposed increased restrictions on pet control, including requiring the use of leashes and pick up of droppings using disposable plastic bags. 
     Dog leashes using wind up to reels have been proposed to allow shortening and lengthening of the leashes when out on a walk to conveniently restrict or increase the allowed range of movement of the pet while on the leash. 
     It has been proposed to provide various accessories attached to a leash handle, such as a light, water containers, etc. 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide a compact dog leash handle that effectively combines several conveniently useable features. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The above object and other objects which will be understood upon a reading of the following specification are achieved by a pet leash handle comprises of a hollow housing formed with a grip on the rear upper side of the handle, with a spring operated retractable leash reel mounted therein on which a leash is initially wound and may be pulled out against the spring resistance, its allow retraction by the spring. 
     The leash is routed out of the housing through a guide slot at the forward end. A spring loaded lock or release button is located just forward of the grip, operating a lock or release mechanism which interacts with the reel when depressed to either lock or release the reel, allowing a selected length of the unwound leash to be set or to be retracted by the extent of wind up of the reel. The mechanism allows selective engagement of the reel by a fork element to lock the leash or retract the fork element to release the reel with successive pushes of the lock or release button. 
     A water bottle is held in an elongated water bowl which is releasably held in position against a bottom side of the handle housing. A pair of retention tabs at either end of the housing are received in respective slots at either end of the bowl to attach the dish to the housing. One tab can be retracted by operation of a spring loaded release button located in the housing at one end of the lower side to release the bowl and water bottle. The water bottle is configured to be nested within the bowl with a flatten angled neck and cap at one end and a central bulge to maximize the volume of water held by the bottle. 
     An opening in a bottom wall of the housing is exposed when the dish and bottle are removed and when a closure panel is removed allows loading of a roll of plastic disposal bags into an internal cavity, the bags able to be pulled out through a port in a rear end of the housing. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a pictorial view from the rear of a leash handle according to the invention, with a leash end protruding from a guide slot on the front end, a wrist strap attached to the back, and a waste bag protrude from a feed port on the back end. 
         FIG. 2  is a front end view of the leash handle shown in  FIG. 1 , in a tilted up position. 
         FIG. 3  is a side elevational view of the leash handle shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . 
         FIG. 4  is a pictorial view from the front, with one half of the housing removed and a bottom mounted drinking dish partially broken away. 
         FIG. 5  is an enlarged fragmentary view of the leash handle showing a wind up reel locking mechanism in a released condition. 
         FIG. 6  is a view of the fragmentary view of the leash handle with the wind up reel in a locked condition. 
         FIG. 7  is an enlarged side view of components of a locking-release mechanism for the wind up reel. 
         FIG. 7A  is an exploded pictorial view of an extension-retraction mechanism included in the locking-release mechanism. 
         FIGS. 7B and 7C  are sectional views of mating components in the extension retraction mechanism. 
         FIG. 8  is an enlarged top view of a bowl release button and associated housing structure. 
         FIG. 9  is a view of the open side of one of two housing part. 
         FIG. 10  is a bottom view of the handle housing with a removable closure panel shown removed from an access opening in a bottom wall of the housing. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     In the following detailed description, certain specific terminology will be employed for the sake of clarity and a particular embodiment described in accordance with the requirements of 35 USC 112, but it is to be understood that the same is not intended to be limiting and should not be so construed inasmuch as the invention is capable of taking many forms and variations within the scope of the appended claims. 
     Referring to the drawings and particularly  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a leash handle  10  according to the invention is shown. A molded plastic two piece housing  12  includes parts  12 A,  12 B which are held together with screws  14  passed through spacer posts molded into the housing parts in the well known manner. 
     An opening  16  formed in each of the housing parts  12 A, 12 B creates a grip  18  at the top and a rear end of the housing  12 . A leash  20  is fed out through an opening guide  22  at the front of the housing  12 , with harness or collar connectors  24  attached at the free end. 
     A lock or release push button  26  projects upwardly and is used to lock or release wind up or payout of the leash  12  from a wind up reel described hereinafter. 
     An elongated drinking bowl  28  is detachably held on the bottom side of the housing  12  by retention elements as tabs  30 ,  32  received in a mating slots in each of the opposite ends of the bowl  28  from the housing. 
     The front tab  30  may be retracted by operation of a release push button  34  to enable release the bowl  28 . 
     Nested within the bowl  28  is a plastic water bottle  36  generally contoured to maximize its volume capacity, bulging up in its center to fit a concave bottom wall  32  of the housing  12 . 
     The bottle  36  is flattened at its front end with a cap  38  on a pour opening projecting from the flattened cup. This shape accommodates the presence of the release push button  34 . 
     A wrist strap  40  is also provided secured in aligned eyes  42  molded into housing parts  12 A, 12 B. 
     A disposal bag dispenser port  44  is provided at the rear of the housing  12  comprised of a round protuberance  46  found by molded features of the housing parts  12 A,  12 B, closed off by a plastic disc  48  held in a groove in the protuberance having radial cuts therein to allow a bag  50  to be pulled out from a roll of bags  52  disposed within a bag storage cavity in the housing  12  below the grip opening  16  and above and to the rear of the bottom wall of the housing  12 . 
     A wind-up reel  54  is rotatably mounted within the housing  12  on a slotted molded on mounting tube  92 , with a wind up spring  56  tensioned by pulling a leash wound on the reel  54  so that the leash  20  tends to be rewound onto the reel  54  when released. 
     A lock-release mechanism  58  is operated by successive pushes of the lock-release push button  26 . This mechanism  50  includes a fork element  60  which can be moved up and done on a fixed post  62  used to hold the housing parts together with one of the screws  14 . This movement is against the resistance of a spring  63  (FIGS.  5 , 6 ) as described hereinafter. Slots  61  in the legs  63  accommodate the movement on the post  62  while limiting the extent of movement. 
     The lock release mechanism  58  utilizes an extension-retraction mechanism  59  of a known type used in ball point pens, whereby the fork element  60  may be alternatively held extended to engage the periphery and hold the reel  54  against rotation or retracted to be free of the reel  54  to allow rotation of the reel  54 . 
     Such extension and retraction mechanisms are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,991,988; 2,905,147; 3,191,329; 3,144,005; and 3,137,276, incorporated herein by reference. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 5 and 6 , the lock and release mechanism  58  includes the fork element  60 , which has a spring  63  interposed between the post  62  and the inside of the fork element  60  urging the fork element  60  up as seen in  FIG. 5 . A guide tube  66  is fixed axially by a pair of opposite wing positions  68  each received in a slot  92 ,  94  ( FIG. 9 ) molded into the inside of a respective housing part  12 A,  12 B. 
     When the lock or release push button  26  is depressed, the fork element  60  is moved down so that legs  63  straddle the outer periphery of the reel  54 . Raised features  70  are either side of the reel  54  will engage the legs  63  to prevent the reel  54  from rotating. When the button  26  is released, the fork element  60  will retract to the position shown in  FIG. 5  to release the reel  54  or remain in engagement to maintain the locking of the reel  54  as seen in  FIG. 6 , depending on the state of the mechanism  59 . 
     As noted above the extension-retraction mechanism  59  is an application of the well known “ball point pen retraction mechanism” in which successive depressions of the push button  26  will alternately cause the fork element  60  to be retracted out of engagement with the reel  54  by the spring  62  or will be held extended in engagement therewith. This is accomplished by an upper toothed element  72  slidable in guide tube  66  which as a series of axial raised ribs  74  on its inside diameter defining slots  76  which each receive one of the teeth on the upper toothed element  72 . This prevents rotation of the upper toothed element  72  in the guide tube  66 . A shoulder  78  on the upper end of the tube  66  prevent the upper toothed element  72  from being pushed completely out of the guide tube  66 . 
     A lower toothed element  80  has a socket receiving a protuberance  61  on the fork element  62  to be engaged thereby, the spring  62  pushing up on the element  80  forcing it upward within the guide tube  66 . A tail  82  on the lower toothed element  80  is received in a bore in the upper toothed element  76  and slidable therein. 
     The teeth  81  on the lower toothed element  80  engage the ends of the ribs  74  and also the spaces between the teeth  73  on the upper toothed element  72 . The number of teeth  81  on the lower toothed element  80  is only half of the number of teeth  73  on the upper toothed element  72  and the number of slots  76  in the guide tube  66 . 
     In a similar manner of the “ball point pen retraction mechanism”, each stroking of the push button  26  causes the surfaces to cause a one tooth indexing of the lower toothed element  80  such that the teeth  81  are alternatively aligned or misaligned with the slots  76  of the guide tube  66 . When aligned the lower toothed element  80  can move up within the guide tube  66  with its teeth  81  aligned with three of the slots  76 . This is described in further detail in the patents referenced above. 
     When misaligned, the teeth  81  abut the ends of the ribs  74  so that the lower toothed element  80  cannot move all the way up the guide tube  66 . The net result is that it holds the forked element  60  in its down position preventing the force of spring  62  from disengaging it from the reel  54 , to lock the reel  54  against rotating. 
       FIG. 8  shows additional details of the bowl release push button  34  and its installation. 
     A pair of opposite side tabs  84  move within slots  88  molded in each housing part  12 A,  12 B to guide the same. A spring  86  is interposed between button  34  and a fixed post  89  fixed in the housing. A pair of slots  90  accommodate the post  88 . 
     Thus the button  34  will move back after being pushed and released to allow removal of the bowl  28  (and bottle  36 ). 
       FIG. 10  shows the bottom side of the housing  12  visible with the bowl  28  removed. An access opening  96  into a bag storage bag is normally covered with a closure panel  98 , held with tabs  100  and flexible retainer  102 . When the closure panel  98  is removed the roll of bags  52  can be loaded into a housing cavity  53  ( FIG. 4 ). 
     A curved partition  104  ( FIG. 4 ) may optionally be installed, held in slots  106  ( FIG. 9 ) formed in the housing parts  12 A, 12 B to isolate the reel  54  from cavity  53 .