Abstract:
A blocking system for pet toys or other objects to prevent such objects from inadvertently migrating to a location beneath a piece of furniture. The system can be readily assembled on site and dimensionally conform to the footprint of a particular piece of furniture. The system includes blocking members that slidingly fit together and can be varied dimensionally both horizontally and vertically. In one embodiment, the interlocking sliding connections are accomplished by a system of dovetailed grooves.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to a system for blocking pet toys or other objects from entering the space underneath a piece of furniture and, more particularly, to a system that can be readily assembled on site and be oriented under a piece of furniture to prevent pet toys or other objects from migrating underneath that furniture. 
         [0002]    Anyone who has a pet, such as a dog or cat, knows of the problem with the migration of pet toys underneath a piece of furniture. Typically, the toy is a ball or other readily mobile object that rolls under a sofa, for example, and the pet is simply unable to retrieve the object. The pet therefore creates a disturbance in trying to retrieve the object to the point that the owner is forced to take some immediate action to relieve the pet and recover the toy. 
         [0003]    As such, it is quite inconvenient for the owner to interrupt some other activity to assist the pet in retrieving the toy and the problem is exacerbated when the same occurrence happens numerous times during a typical day. 
         [0004]    It would therefore be advantageous to have a system that was relatively inexpensive and which could be assembled on site and block the area underneath a piece of furniture to prevent a pet toy or other object from inadvertently rolling underneath that furniture. It would be further advantageous if the system were adjustable, both vertically and horizontally, so that it could be assembled to differing dimensions so as to fit the particular piece of furniture. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    Accordingly, the present invention relates to a barrier or blocking system that is adapted to be readily assembled so as to surround the space beneath the underside of the furniture and the floor, that is, the area where the legs are normally located supporting that furniture. The blocking system thus is provided to extend around the perimeter of the footprint of that piece of furniture so as to prevent the passage or migration of objects, such as pet toys, from entering the space underneath the piece of furniture. 
         [0006]    With the present system, there are a plurality of blocking members that can be assembled on site and which are affixed together in a manner that the longitudinal dimension of the combined blocking system can be varied in accordance with the perimeter of the furniture footprint. As such, the present blocking system can surround, or at least partially surround, the perimeter of the footprint and yet be somewhat unobtrusive by being inset slightly behind the legs or slightly inwardly with respect to the outer perimeter of the furniture. 
         [0007]    While the blocking system can fully surround the piece of furniture, it may be that with the piece of furniture backed up to a wall, the present system only needs to be installed around three sides of the furniture perimeter, the rear side of the furniture being inaccessible to the migration of toys. 
         [0008]    With the present blocking system, therefore, there are various blocking members of different types that are assembled together with a sliding fit so as to enable the user to adjust the longitudinal dimension for the particular piece of furniture. In addition, there may be an upper and lower tier of blocking members that are also affixed together in a piggyback relationship so that the vertical height of the blocking system can be varied in accordance with the height of the area beneath the furniture. 
         [0009]    With the ease of assembly and disassembly of the present blocking system, the system can be taken down, entirely or partially, for normal chores such as vacuuming underneath the piece of furniture and just a readily reassembled again after that chore has been completed. 
         [0010]    These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent during the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the drawings herein. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0011]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a blocking system of the present invention assembled and installed underneath a piece of furniture; 
           [0012]      FIGS. 2A ,  2 B and  2 C are, respectively, a top view, a side view and a perspective view of a corner blocking member used with the present invention; 
           [0013]      FIGS. 3A ,  3 B and  3 C are, respectively, an end view, a side view and a perspective view of an outside blocking member used with the present invention; 
           [0014]      FIGS. 4A ,  4 B and  4 C are, respectively, an end view, a side view and a perspective view of a center blocking member used with the present invention; 
           [0015]      FIGS. 5A ,  5 B and  5 C are, respectively an end view, a side view and a perspective view of an upper blocking member used with the present invention; 
           [0016]      FIGS. 6A and 6B  are, respectively an end view and a perspective view of an assembly of outside blocking members, a center blocking member and upper blocking members of the present invention; and 
           [0017]      FIG. 7  is a perspective view of a completed blocking system of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0018]    Referring now to  FIG. 1 , there is shown a perspective view of a piece of furniture  10 , namely a sofa, to which the present blocking system  12  has been assembled and installed. As can be seen, the piece of furniture has conventional legs  14  that extend downwardly from the bottom  16  of the piece of furniture and which, of course, contact a floor to support the piece of furniture  10  thereby creating a space beneath the piece of furniture  10  having its perimeter generally the outer perimeter of the piece of furniture  10  and its height about the height of the legs  14 . The perimeter of the piece of furniture  10 , in the exemplary embodiment, is rectangular. 
         [0019]    It is that space beneath the piece of furniture that needs protecting against the migration of pet toys or other objects that can inadvertently reach that space and which are then difficult and annoying to recover. 
         [0020]    Accordingly, with the present blocking system  12 , there are a plurality of blocking members  18  that effectively fill the surrounding perimeter or footprint of the piece of furniture  10  and which act to prevent the ingress of toys by blocking access to the space underneath the piece of furniture  10 . 
         [0021]    As shown in  FIG. 1 , only two sides of the rectangular perimeter are illustrated having the blocking system  12  installed, it being understood that the blocking system  12  can normally take up at least three sides of the rectangular perimeter or all four sides thereof. 
         [0022]    Turning now to  FIGS. 2A-2C , there is shown a top view, a side view and a perspective view of a corner blocking member  20 , respectively, of the present invention. As can be seen, the corner blocking member  20  comprises a pair of panels  22 ,  24  that extend outwardly from a junction  26  and are oriented generally about 90 degrees apart. The corner blocking member  20  as will be seen with the further blocking members to be explained, can be constructed of molded plastic material. 
         [0023]    The panels  22 ,  24  each have an upper edge  28 ,  30  and lower edge  32 ,  34  having a bevel. All of the beveled upper edges  28 ,  30 ,  32  and  34  can be similar and, in the exemplary embodiment, are beveled at an angle A of about 45 degrees, thereby forming relatively sharp edges. In the exemplary embodiment of  FIGS. 2A-2C , the direction of the angular bevels is in the opposite direction for the panel  22  as it is for the panel  24 , that is, the sharp edges of the panel  22  are located outwardly toward the outside of the 90 degree angle while the sharp edges of the panels  24  are toward the inside  4  of the panel  24 . 
         [0024]    Turning now to  FIGS. 3A-3C , there is shown a top view, a side view and a perspective view of an outside blocking member  36 , respectively, of the present invention. The outside blocking member  36  has an upper edge  38  and a lower edge  40  and, as illustrated, there are grooves  42  and  44  formed, respectively in the upper edge  38  and the lower edge  40  on the same side of the outside locking member  36  and, in the exemplary embodiment, the groves  42 ,  44  are formed having an angle B of about 45 degrees. Again, the outside blocking member  36  can be formed of injected molded plastic. 
         [0025]    There is also an upper elongated flange  46  formed along the upper edge  38  and the purpose of the upper elongated flange  46  will be later explained and, in the exemplary embodiment, the upper elongated flange  46  is shaped in a partial circular cross section. 
         [0026]    Turning now to  FIGS. 4A-4C , there is shown a top view, a side view and a perspective view of a center blocking member  48 , respectively, of the present invention. Accordingly, as can be seen, there is an upper edge  50  and a lower edge  52 . The upper edge  50  has a pair of grooves  52 ,  56  formed on opposite sides of the center blocking member  48  and, in a similar manner, the lower edge  52  also has a pair of groves  58 ,  60  formed on opposite sides thereof. As exemplary, again, all of the grooves  52 ,  54 ,  58  and  60  can be formed at an angle C of 45 degrees. The is also an upper elongated flange  62  formed along the upper edge  52  and the purpose of the upper elongated flange  62  will be later explained and, in the exemplary embodiment, the upper elongated flange  62  is shaped in a partial circular cross section. 
         [0027]    Turning now to  FIGS. 5A-5C , there is shown a top view, a side view and a perspective view of an upper blocking member  64 , respectively, of the present invention. As can be seen, there is an upper edge  66  that is generally rounded and a lower edge  68 . There is a downwardly facing elongated lower groove  70  formed in the lower edge  68  that faces downwardly and which is a partial circular cross section to enable the upper elongated flange  46  of the outside blocking member  36  ( FIGS. 3A-3C ) and the upper elongated flange  62  of the center blocking member  48  ( FIGS. 3A-3C ) to enter into and snap into the lower groove  70  to affix the upper blocking member  64  to both the center blocking member  48  and the outside blocking member  36 . 
         [0028]    As shown, the means of attachment comprises a partial circular cross section flange that snaps into a partial circular section groove, however, it can be seen the other configurations and attachment systems could be used to secure an upper blocking member  64  to a center blocking member  48  and a outside blocking member  36 . 
         [0029]    Turning now to  FIGS. 6A and 6B , there is shown an end view and perspective view of outside blocking members  36 , a center blocking member  48  and upper blocking members  64  of the present invention assembled together. 
         [0030]    As can be seen, the outside blocking member  36  interfits into the center blocking member  48  by a meshing of the respective grooves, that is, the lower grooves  40 ,  42  of the outside blocking members  36  mesh with the grooves  58 ,  50  of the center blocking member  48  and the grooves  42  of the outside blocking members  36  mesh with the groves  54 ,  56  of the center blocking member  48  to create a dovetail arrangement wherein the respective blocking members are affixed together in a sliding relationship. 
         [0031]    Thus, as can now be seen, by sliding the outside blocking members  36  and the center blocking members  48  longitudinally, or horizontally, the linear horizontal dimension of the assembly of blocking members can be altered to suit the particular footprint of the piece of furniture on which the present blocking system is being used. 
         [0032]    As to the vertical dimension, as also can be seen, the upper blocking members  64  are simply snapped onto the center locking member  48  and outside locking members  36  by snapping the upper elongated flange  46  into the elongated lower groove of the upper locking members  64  to attach the upper blocking members  64  to the center blocking member  48  and the outside blocking members  36  when the user needs to add additional height to the blocking system such as when the legs of a piece of furniture are long. 
         [0033]    Thus, for example, the center blocking member  48  and outside blocking members  36  can have a particular convenient height, such as 1.5 inches and the upper blocking members  64  also about 1.5 inches. By such example, the over height of the assembled blocking system can be 1.5 inches or 3.0 inches depending on whether the upper blocking members  62  are used or not. As such, the height of the blocking system can be adjusted in accordance with the particular height of the space underneath the piece of furniture. 
         [0034]    Accordingly, turning finally to  FIG. 7 , taken along with all of the Figs., there is shown a perspective view of a completed blocking system  10  constructed in accordance with the present invention. In assembling the completed blocking system  10 , the corner locking members  20  are first positioned on the floor beneath the piece of furniture at the corners of the piece of furniture just inside the legs and the pre-assembled center blocking member  48  and outside blocking members  36  are affixed to the corner blocking members in a sliding relationship, the overall linear length being adjustable by the sliding affixation of the blocking members to carry out that task. 
         [0035]    The blocking system is then completed, with or without the upper blocking members  62  so as to block at least three of the sides of the generally rectangular footprint of the piece of furniture, and all of the sides if the piece of furniture is positioned away from a wall such that the fourth side too is vulnerable to toys migrating therethrough. 
         [0036]    Those skilled in the art will readily recognize numerous adaptations and modifications which can be made to the blocking system of the present invention which will result in an improved system to prevent pet toys or other objects from migrating to a location beneath a piece of furniture, yet all of which will fall within the scope and spirit of the present invention as defined in the following claims. Accordingly, the invention is to be limited only by the following claims and their equivalents.