Abstract:
A collapsible house that can be easily erected from a compact package. The house has opposing sidewalls, opposing endwalls, a floor and roof sections. The endwalls are collapsible down against the floor. The roof sections are collapsible down against the sidewalls, and the combination of the roof sections collapsed against the sidewalls are further collapsible down against the collapsed endwalls.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a house or shelter for birds, dogs, etc. (“occupant”), which can be collapsed into a compact package for shipping or storage, and easily erected from its collapsed configuration into the house. 
     The prior art is replete with various approaches to collapsible houses or shelters for animals. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 2,445,055 describes a collapsible dog house having a floor, peaked end panels connected to the floor by hinges, side walls having lower edges which are in interlocking engagement with the floor, the upper portions of the side walls being coupled to end panels by hook and eye connectors, and roofing boards connected by hinges which are dropped into position upon the peaked faces of the end panels. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 4,109,427 describes a foldable structure useful as a dog house that includes parallel side walls connected by hinges to top members, the top members being connected by a hinge to each other, end walls connected to side walls by hinges, and a bottom extending between the side walls that is connected to one of the side walls by hinges. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 4,467,572 describes a collapsible doghouse that-includes a base, front and rear walls, opposing sidewalls and a roof positionable over the walls. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 4,903,637 describes a foldable house and carrier for small pets that includes hingeably interconnected floor, side walls and a roof. 
     U.S. Pat. 5,115,762 describes a prefabricated doghouse that includes seven prefabrication sections that are assembled by sliding them together and interlocking the sections with a plurality of slip pin fasteners and hasp fasteners. 
     U.S. Pat. 5,950,568 describes a foldable/collapsible animal shelter. The structure includes two sidewalls, each having an upper, middle and lower section. The sidewalls contain a pivot on each of the outer and inner surfaces in order that upper and middle sidewall sections collapse inwardly towards a bottom. The upper sidewalls are pivotally attached to two roof sections. A front wall and a rear wall are pivotally attached to the bottom. The roof is comprised of two roof sections pivotally attached to one another, the roof sections being collapsible downwardly along the pivotal attachment toward the bottom. 
     SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a collapsible house for creatures, such as dogs, birds, etc., that can be easily erected from a compact package. The house has opposing sidewalls, opposing endwalls, a floor and roof sections. The endwalls are collapsible down against the floor. The roof sections are collapsible down against the sidewalls, and the combination of the roof sections collapsed against the sidewalls are further collapsible down against the collapsed endwalls. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a front elevation view of the house of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a rear elevation view of the house of the present invention; 
     FIG. 3 is a right side elevation view of the house of the present invention; 
     FIG. 4 is a left side elevation view of the house of the present invention; 
     FIG. 5 is a front elevation view of the house of the present invention with the front and rear walls collapsed onto the floor; 
     FIG. 6 is a front elevation view of the house of the present invention with the left wall/roof collapsed onto the rear wall; 
     FIG. 7 is a front elevation view of the house of the present invention with the right wall/roof collapsed onto the left wall/roof; 
     FIG. 8 is an enlarged front elevation of the roofing ridge locking mechanism; 
     FIG. 9 is a partial sectional view of the front wall taken along line  9 — 9  of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 10 is a plan view of an optional cleanout door located in the bottom of the house of the present invention; 
     FIG. 11 is a right side elevation view of the house of the present invention showing the optional use of bracket members; and 
     FIG. 12 is a partial front, exploded, elevation view showing the optional bracket members. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The house  10  of the present invention has a floor  12  having upwardly extending right and left sidewall foundation flanges  14  and  16 , respectively. 
     Herein, directions such as right, left, front, rear, upper and lower are related to a theoretical viewer located inside the house standing on the floor and facing the front wall  20 . 
     As best seen in FIG. 1, front endwall  20  includes a bottom edge  22 , vertical right and left side edges  23  and  24 , respectively, and a pair of right and left sloping upper edges  25  and  26 , respectively. Sloping upper edges  25  and  26  meet at an apex  27  and form a gable. The bottom edge  22  of front wall  20  is attached to the adjacent front portion of floor  12  by a hinge member  29  in a manner adapted to allow front wall  20  to be pivoted backwards and downwards into the interior of house  10 , as shown in FIG. 5 
     An entry opening  28  is provided in front wall  20  for ingress and egress of a creature. Where the house  10  is to be used as a birdhouse, opening  28  is a circular entrance/exit opening, as shown. Optionally, a perch  120 , which can be formed from a piece of dowel stock, is held in place in groove  122  located in the surface of front wall  20 . During assembly of house  10 , perch  120  may be removed from groove  122  and inserted into perch opening  124  located just below entrance/exit opening  28  to form a perch for a bird. 
     Where the house  10  is to used as a doghouse, a typical doghouse entrance/exit opening (not shown) extending from floor  12  to a mid-portion of front wall  20  would be provided in place of circular opening  28 . 
     As best seen in FIG. 2, rear endwall  30  includes a bottom edge  32 , vertical right and left side edges  33  and  34 , respectively, and a pair of right and left sloping upper edges  35  and  36 , respectively. Sloping upper edges  35  and  36  meet at an apex  37  and form a gable. The bottom edge  32  of rear wall  30  is attached to a rear flange  18  extending upwardly from the adjacent rear portion of floor  12  by a hinge member  39  in a manner adapted to allow front wall  20  to be pivoted backwards and downwards into the interior of house  10  and on top of front wall  20 , as best seen in FIG.  5 . 
     House  10  includes right and left side walls  40  and  50 , respectively, and right and left roof sections  60  and  65 , respectively. 
     As best seen in FIG. 3, right side wall  40  includes front and rear side edges  42  and  43 , respectively, and top and bottom edges  44  and  45 , respectively. Bottom edge  45  is attached to the top edge of flange  14  by means of hinge member  46 . As best seen in FIG. 5, top edge  44  is attached to right roof section  60  by means of hinge member  47 . 
     As best seen in FIG. 4, left side wall  50  includes front and rear side edges  52  and  53 , respectively, and top and bottom edges  54  and  55 , respectively. Bottom edge  55  is attached to the top edge of flange  16  by means of hinge member  56 . As best seen in FIG. 5, top edge  54  is attached to left roof section  62  by means of hinge member  57 . 
     Right roof section  60  includes upper and lower longitudinal edges  61  and  62 , respectively, and front and rear edges  63  and  64 , respectively. A longitudinally extending channel  74 , having an upper, lower and inner wall, extends inwardly from the upper inner surface of right roof section  60 . Channel  74  is adapted to receive the upper end of left roof section  65 , as best seen in FIG.  8 . 
     Left roof section  65  includes upper and lower longitudinal edges  66  and  67 , respectively, and front and rear edges  68  and  69 , respectively. 
     The manner in which the upper longitudinal edges  61  and  66  of right and left roof sections  60  and  65 , respectively, are joined and held in place involves roof ridge latch member  70  attached to the outer surface of the upper longitudinal edge  61  of right roof section  60 . 
     As best seen in FIG. 8, roof ridge latch member  70  includes an L-shaped member comprised of right leg  71  and left leg  72 . Right leg  71  is attached to the upper longitudinal edge  61  of right roof section  60 , as shown. Left leg  72  extends a short distance that is substantially equal to the thickness of right roof section  60 . 
     A longitudinally extending latch ridge  75  extends outwardly from the upper surface of left roof section  65  adjacent the outer end thereof. 
     During assembly of house  10 , the upper end of left roof section  65  is inserted into channel  74  of right roof section  60 , and latch ridge  75  is seated in groove  77  of left roof section  65 . 
     FIGS. 1-4 show the house  10  in its fully erected position. FIGS. 5-7 show house  10  in various stages of collapse. 
     The first step in collapsing house  10  is to collapse front wall  20  inwardly and downwardly until its inner planar surface contacts the upper planar surface of bottom  12 . Next, rear wall  30  is collapsed inwardly and downwardly until its inner planar surface contacts the outer planar surface of front wall  20 , as seen in FIG.  5 . Then left roof section  65  is collapsed downwardly into contact with left side wall  50 , and left side wall  50  collapsed inwardly and downwardly, as seen in FIG.  6 . Finally, right roof section  60  is collapsed downwardly into contact with side wall  40 , and side wall  40  collapsed inwardly and downwardly, as seen in FIG.  7 . 
     In its fully collapsed configuration seen in FIG. 7, the major planes of front and rear endwalls  20  and  30 , right and left sidewalls  40  and  50 , and right and left roof sections are substantially parallel with front endwall  20  laying over floor  12 , rear wall  30  laying over front endwall  20 , left roof section  62  laying over rear wall  30 , left sidewall  50  laying over left roof section  62 , right roof section  60  laying over left sidewall  50 , and right sidewall  40  laying over right roof section  60 . 
     As seen in FIG. 7, right sidewall foundation flange  14  has a height substantially the same as the aggregate thicknesses of front wall  20 , rear wall  30 , left roof section  62 , left side wall  50  and right roof section  60 . As also seen in FIG. 7, left sidewall foundation flange  16  has a height substantially the same as the aggregate thicknesses of front wall  20 , rear wall  30  and left roof section  62 . Rear endwall foundation flange  18  has a height substantially the same as the thickness of front endwall  20  to provide that the rear endwall  30  can be folded over front endwall  20  with their major planes being substantially parallel. 
     To assemble house  10 , the steps described above would be reversed. 
     If the house  10  is to be used for birds, it would have a smaller size than if it were to be used as a dog house. 
     The material used to construct the house  10  may be any suitable material, such as cardboard, plywood, or a plastic board material (foamed or unfoamed). 
     The material selected for the various hinge members would be selected depending upon whether the house  10  is intended for disposable or permanent usage. For disposable usage, where cardboard or foamed plastic board could used for the various walls, roof, etc., the hinges could merely be tape, or paper or cloth adhered to adjacent parts by an adhesive. For a more permanent structure, where plywood or plastic panels are used for the various walls, roof, etc., the hinges could be of the piano hinge type formed of metal, or extruded plastic thin enough to be bendable and attached by adhesive or by use of fasteners. In all cases, the hinges are thin enough so as to not interfere with the collapse of house  10  into the compact package shown in FIG.  7 . 
     One optional feature is a cleanout door  80  located in the floor  12 , as best seen in FIG.  10 . Cleanout door  80  fits into an opening in floor  12 , as shown, and is pivotally attached at one end to floor  12  by hinge member  82 . A latch member  84  is located at the other end of cleanout door  80 . 
     A further optional feature for use when house  10  is used as a birdhouse are right and left brackets  90  and  90 ′, respectively. Right and left brackets  90  and  90 ′ have the configuration of a right triangle having base sides  91 ,  91 ′, altitude sides  92 ,  92 ′, and hypotenuse sides  93 ,  93 ′, respectively. Railing members  94 ,  94 ′ extend from altitude sides  92 ,  92 ′, and are adapted to slide into longitudinal slots  95 ,  95 ′ located in floor  12 . Railing members  94 ,  94 ′ and slots  95 ,  95 ′ are illustrated as having a diamond cross-section; however, any suitable cross-section may be used. Suitable cross-bracing may extend between brackets  90  and  90 ′, such as a web extending between base sides  91 ,  91 ′. Brackets  90 ,  90 ′ are adapted to help hold house  10  against a building in conjunction with a hook or other fastener (not shown) extending from or into the rear wall  30 . 
     It will be obvious to those having skill in the art that many changes may be made to the details of the above-described embodiments of this invention without departing from the underlying principles thereof. The scope of the present invention should, therefore, be determined only by the following claims.