Patent ID: 8376320

Claim:
A retractable and extendible electric retaining system for at least partially enclosing an area having plant materials and preventing deer and other animals from eating the plant material, comprising: a scissor lift assembly moveable up and down between a retracted position and an extended position along a vertical path; the scissor lift assembly including two parallel collapsible scissor linkages connected transversely by a series of crosslinks, wherein each collapsible scissor linkage comprises a plurality of pairs of links pivotally connected at intermediate points between ends of the link, each link from each pair pivotally connected end-to-end to a link from an adjacent pair of links, wherein the ends of links from one collapsible scissor linkage are connected to corresponding ends of links from the other collapsible scissor linkage by the crosslinks, such that as the scissor lift assembly retracts and extends, the ends of each link pivot about the intermediate points of each link, and the ends of each link and each crosslink moves horizontally away and towards the vertical path; at least one set of elongated rods, for enclosing the area, the set of rods including a plurality of rods set at a plurality of vertical levels along the scissor lift assembly, wherein each rod is secured at a first end in cantilever fashion to the scissor lift assembly and having a second end projecting horizontally outwardly therefrom, and wherein as the scissor lift assembly moves up to the extended position, the vertical spacing between each rod increases, and wherein as the scissor lift assembly moves down to the retracted position, the vertical spacing between each rod decreases; a housing structure including a bottom and side walls defining a recess adapted to be supported by the ground and configured to receive and hold the scissor lift assembly when in the retracted position; a top secured to an upper portion of the scissor lift assembly and which closes the recess when the scissor lift assembly assumes the retracted position such that the housing and top enclose and protect the retracted scissor lift assembly; and an electrical power unit operatively connected to the elongated rods and providing an electrical current to the cantilevered rods.