Abstract:
A fence post for an animal enclosure is disclosed. The fence post comprises; a first member, a second member, a collar; and a fastener. The first member and second member are substantially the same length. The second member has a cross-bore at a proximal end thereof, the collar defines an aperture, and the first member is fixedly attachable to the collar. The second member is configured to be partially received within the collar for alignment of the cross-bore and the aperture, and the second member is fixable relative to the collar by means of the fastener arranged to at least partially pass through said cross-bore and said aperture.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    The present application claims priority to United Kingdom Patent Application Ser. No. 1609760.2, filed Jun. 3, 2016, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
       FIELD 
       [0002]    One aspect of this disclosure relates to a fence post for an animal enclosure; particularly but not exclusively to a two-part fence post that comprises a first member, a second member and a fastening arrangement for coupling the first and second members together. Another aspect of the disclosure relates to an enclosure for animals that includes one or more of the aforementioned fence posts. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    Fence posts have previously been used to support metal or plastic wire netting in order to provide enclosures for livestock such as chickens, ducks and pheasants. As such livestock benefit from grazing in different areas, it is preferable for the fence posts to be movable so that the enclosure can be re-sited in alternate locations. It is also preferable that the fence posts have a lightweight structure. 
         [0004]    Known fence posts are often of a solid, wood or metal construction and are therefore relatively heavy. They also tend to be cumbersome and require considerable storage space. Another problem with such posts is that when mailed to customers, shipping and courier costs are increased due to their considerable weight and volume. 
         [0005]    The present disclosure has been devised with the foregoing problems in mind. An aim of one implementation of the teachings of the disclosure is to provide a fence post that is compact before final assembly, that is efficient, reliable, lightweight and which may be produced at relatively low cost. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0006]    In accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a two-part fence post comprising a first member, a second member and a fastening arrangement for coupling the first and second members together. 
         [0007]    The first member and second member may be substantially the same length. 
         [0008]    The second member may have a cross-bore at a proximal end thereof. 
         [0009]    The fastening arrangement for coupling the two members may include a collar and a fastener. 
         [0010]    The second member may have a cross-bore at a proximal end thereof, the collar may have an aperture. 
         [0011]    The first member may be fixedly attached to the collar. 
         [0012]    The second member may be configured to be partially received within the collar so as to align the cross-bore and the aperture. 
         [0013]    The second member may be fixable relative to the collar by means of the fastener arranged to at least partially pass through said cross-bore and said aperture. 
         [0014]    Provision of the fence post as a two-part structure allows the fence post to be packaged and stored in a shorter container prior to assembly. Providing the first member and second member at substantially the same length allows the container size to be optimised for compactness. 
         [0015]    The first member may be partially received within the collar. 
         [0016]    The first member may be fixedly attached to the collar by means of an adhesive. Alternatively, or additionally a mechanical fastener may be used. 
         [0017]    The first member may be the upper member and the second member may be the lower member. In this arrangement, in combination with the use of adhesive, a water-proof seal can be provided to prevent water ingress into the fence post, which water ingress may otherwise weather the fence post materials (either by freeze-thaw action and/or corrosion) or destabilise the fence post. 
         [0018]    The collar may include an end-stop. As the first member may be received within the collar, this arrangement prevents over-insertion of the first member during manufacture. Furthermore, the use of jigs, tools or measurement equipment is not necessary to ensure correct insertion of the first member within the collar. Furthermore, as the second member may similarly be received within the collar, this arrangement ensures the vertical alignment of the bore and aperture. 
         [0019]    The end-stop may be provided at a collar longitudinal mid-point. This arrangement provides an optimally balanced fence post assembly. 
         [0020]    The end-stop may be a dimple. By altering the collar form using a surface process, no extra components are required to provide the end-stop and thus the cost, weight and complexity of the fence post assembly is reduced. 
         [0021]    The first member may further comprise a hook for attaching a fence, the hook being arranged at a distal end of the first member. 
         [0022]    The second member may further comprise a foot, the foot being arranged at a distal end of the second member. The foot may terminate in a spike. This arrangement allows easy insertion of the fence post into the ground. 
         [0023]    The hook may define a fence plane and may include an aperture that may be aligned with the fence plane. The foot may include a side-foot, the side-foot extending with a dog leg cross-brace, extending perpendicularly relative to the cross-bore and the aperture. This arrangement provides a foot step to facilitate insertion of the fence post into the ground. Furthermore, arranging the dog leg cross-brace to extend perpendicularly relative to the cross-bore and the aperture ensures that the foot step provided by the dog leg cross-brace does not interfere with the fence plane. 
         [0024]    The side-foot may also terminate in a spike. This further facilitates insertion of the fence post into the ground. 
         [0025]    The fastener may comprise a screw. The screw may be self-tapping. The first member and or second member and or collar may be tubular. 
         [0026]    The first and or second member may be made of fibreglass. The collar may be made of metal. 
         [0027]    According to a second aspect of the present disclosure there is provided an enclosure assembly comprising a net fence and at least one fence post as hereinbefore described. The reticulated fence may be of metal or plastics. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0028]    Various aspects of the teachings of the present disclosure, and arrangements embodying those teachings, will hereafter be described by way of illustrative example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 
           [0029]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an assembled fence post; 
           [0030]      FIG. 2  is an enlarged exploded view of the fence post of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0031]      FIG. 3  is an enlarged side elevation of the assembled fence post of  FIG. 1  showing an attachment region; 
           [0032]      FIG. 4  is a vertical cross section of the fence post attachment region of  FIG. 3 ; 
           [0033]      FIG. 5  is a horizontal cross section of the fence post attachment region of  FIG. 3  taken at line A-A; 
           [0034]      FIG. 6  is a perspective view of the assembled fence post of  FIG. 1  with a net fence forming an enclosure assembly; and 
           [0035]      FIG. 7  is a side elevation of the enclosure assembly of  FIG. 6 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0036]    One implementation of the teachings of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to  FIGS. 1 to 5  of the accompanying drawings, in which there is schematically depicted a two-part fence post  10 . The two-part fence post  10  has a first member  20  and a second member  30 . The first and second members  20 ,  30  are substantially the same length. The first and second members  20 ,  30  have an annular cross-section and are tubular in form. 
         [0037]    The fence post  10  (see  FIGS. 1 and 2 ) is assembled by coupling the first member  20  and second member  30  together by means of a fastening arrangement that comprises a collar  40  and a fastener  50 . 
         [0038]    The collar  40  is tubular in form with an annular cross-section. An end-stop is provided at the longitudinal mid-point of the collar  40 . The end-stop is in the form of a dimple  44  made in the sidewall of the collar  40 . In one embodiment, the fastener  50  is a self-tapping screw, but other forms of self-tapping fasteners may be used without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. 
         [0039]    The first member  20  has a proximal end  22  and a distal end  24 . Similarly, the second member  30  has a proximal end  32  and a distal end  34 . The terms proximal and distal are used in relation to the fastening arrangement. 
         [0040]    As shown the first member  20  forms an upper member of the fence post, and the second member forms a lower member  30  of the fence post. 
         [0041]    The first member  20  is further provided with a connector, in the illustrated embodiment a hook  60 , for attaching the first member to a fence. The hook  60  is arranged at the distal end  24  of the first member  20 . 
         [0042]    The second member  30  is further provided with a foot  70  for locating and fixing the fence post  10  in the ground. The foot  70  is arranged at the distal end  34  of the second member. In this embodiment the foot terminates in a spike or other ground engaging member. The foot  70  includes a side-foot  72  extending with a dog leg cross brace  74 , and terminating in a spike extending substantially in parallel with the spike of the foot  70 . 
         [0043]    The second member  30  has a cross-bore  35  adjacent the proximal end  32 . An aperture  42  is defined in a sidewall of the collar  40 , adjacent the end thereof that couples to the proximal end of the second member (which end will be the lower end, in use). 
         [0044]    To assemble the fence post, the proximal end  22  of the first member  20  is covered in an adhesive  46 . As shown best in  FIGS. 2 to 4 , the adhesive covered proximal end  22  of the first member  20  is then inserted into an end of collar  40  furthest from the aperture  42  (the upper end, in use) until the first member abuts the end stop provided by the dimple  44 . The adhesive  46  cures to fixedly attach the first member  20  to the collar  40 . Furthermore, the cured adhesive  46  forms a waterproof seal at the tip of the collar  40 . 
         [0045]    The proximal end  32  of the second member  30  is the inserted into the opposite end (the lower end, in use) of collar  40  until it abuts the end stop provided by dimple  44 . The second member  30  is pivoted in this position until the cross-bore  35  is aligned with the aperture  42 . 
         [0046]    The fastener  50  may then be inserted into the aperture  42  and cross-bore  35 . The self-tapping screw cuts a thread in a wall of the second member  30  defining the cross-bore  35  and secures the second member  30  relative to the collar  40 , (see  FIG. 5 ). 
         [0047]    An enclosure assembly  100  is shown in  FIGS. 6 and 7 . The enclosure comprises a fence post  10  and a fence  110  comprising a reticulated mesh. In this instance the fence comprises a wire mesh, but it will be appreciated that it may equally be of plastics. The fence  110  has a lattice structure comprising horizontally and vertically extending wires, together extending in a fence plane. In this particular embodiment, the wire fence  110  has a more densely arranged lattice structure in a lower region  112  and a less densely arranged latter structure in an upper region  114 . 
         [0048]    The assembled fence post  10  is arranged such that the lowermost horizontally extending wire is hooked under the dog leg cross brace  74 , between the foot  70  and side-foot  72 . Subsequent horizontally extending wires are thread on alternate sides of the fence post  10 . The uppermost horizontally extending wire is then hooked over the hook  60 . The fence post  10  and wire fence  110  are sized so as to keep the wire fence  110  relatively taught. 
         [0049]    The enclosure  100  may be assembled in an alternate order. For example, the second member  30  may be partially inserted into the ground using the foot  70 , without engaging the side-foot  72  with the ground. The wire fence  110  may then be partially threaded over the second member  30 , with a lower end of the wire fence  110  looped under the side-foot  72 . The second member  30  may then be fully inserted into the ground such that the side-foot  72  cross-brace  74  is level with the ground. The first member  20  may then be threaded through the remainder of the wire fence  110 . The first member  20  is then connected to the second member by placing the collar  40  over the second member  30  and inserting the fastener  50 . 
         [0050]    In the exemplary embodiment the first member and second member are made of extruded fibreglass. The collar is made of metal. The use of other suitable and lightweight materials is envisaged. In alternate embodiments the first member and second member may be of plastics or metal material. 
         [0051]    In the exemplary embodiment, the first member is fixed to the collar by adhesive. In an alternate embodiment the first member may be fixed to the collar by means of a second fastening arrangement in the same manner as used to join the collar and the second member. This second fastening arrangement may be provided instead of, or in addition to the adhesive. 
         [0052]    In the exemplary embodiment, wire-mesh netting is described, however other similar lightweight fencing material may be used. 
         [0053]    It will be appreciated that whilst various aspects and embodiments of the present disclosure have heretofore been described, the scope of the present disclosure is not limited to the particular arrangements set out herein and instead extends to encompass all arrangements, and modifications and alterations thereto, which fall within the scope of the appended claims. For example, while one embodiment described herein discloses a two-part fence post, it will be apparent to persons of ordinary skill in the art that the teachings of the disclosure may readily be applied to fence posts having more than two parts. For example, the fence post could comprise three members, a first two of which are coupled together by a first collar before the third is coupled to the coupled first and second members by means of a second collar. As such, references herein to two-part fence posts should not necessarily be construed as limiting the scope of the disclosure only to fence posts having two parts. 
         [0054]    It should also be noted that while the accompanying claims set out particular combinations of features described herein, the scope of the present disclosure is not limited to the particular combinations hereafter claimed but instead extends to encompass any combination of features herein disclosed. 
         [0055]    Finally, it should be noted that any element in a claim that does not explicitly include the word “means” or explicitly state “means for” performing a specified function, or “steps for” performing a specific function, is not to be interpreted as a “means” or “step” clause as specified in 35 U.S.C. Sec. 112, par. 6. In particular, any use of “step of” in the claims appended hereto is not intended to invoke the provisions of 35 U.S.C. Sec. 112, par. 6.