US-12622409-B2 - Animal crate with swing or drop door

Abstract

An animal enclosure including a plurality of members defining an interior of the enclosure. The plurality of members includes a first member having a frame and a door formed by a plurality of interconnected horizontal and vertical wires. The door is pivotable with respect to the frame and a latch maintains the door in a closed position when latched. At least one of the wires of the door assembly is configured to include one of an access portion and a tab, and at least one of the wires of the frame assembly includes the other of the access portion and the tab. The latch, when moved to an open position, enables sliding movement of the door with respect to the frame. Alignment of the access portion and tab provides for opening of the door and pivoting movement of the door with respect to the frame.

Inventors

• Brad Cantwell
• Stew Kerr
• Michael Eric Greene

Assignees

• MID-WEST METAL PRODUCTS COMPANY, INC.

Dates

Publication Date

20260512

Application Date

20240715

Claims (20)

1. 1 . An animal enclosure, comprising: a plurality of members defining an interior of the enclosure, where the plurality of members includes at least a first member; a frame of the first member having a plurality of interconnected horizontal and vertical wires that define an opening for an animal to pass therethrough and to enter or exit the interior of the enclosure; a door of the first member having a plurality of interconnected horizontal and vertical wires and being coupled to the frame, the door being pivotal about a pivot wire of the frame to move between an open position, an intermediate position, and a closed position; and a door stop comprising an access portion, a blocking portion, and a tab, where the tab is fixedly coupled to the door and the access portion and blocking portion are formed by the frame; wherein, an alignment of the tab and the blocking portion at a first position of the door enables pivotal movement of the door with respect to the frame from the closed position to the intermediate position and the blocking portion contacts the tab to limit pivotal movement of the door to the open position, and wherein in a second position of the door enables pivotal movement of the door with respect to the frame from the intermediate position to the open position.
2. 2 . The animal enclosure of claim 1 wherein, during a sliding movement of the door with respect to the frame, the door is located at a position between the first position and the second position.
3. 3 . The animal enclosure of claim 1 wherein the blocking portion comprises a blocking tab, wherein the blocking tab extends from a plane defined by the frame.
4. 4 . The animal enclosure of claim 1 wherein the blocking portion comprises a blocking tab, wherein the blocking tab is at least partially formed by a first bend including an inside surface formed outside the tab when in the closed position.
5. 5 . The animal enclosure of claim 1 further comprising an extension configured to limit pivotable movement of the door to the interior of the enclosure.
6. 6 . The animal enclosure of claim 5 wherein the extension is formed by one of the plurality of interconnected wires of the door.
7. 7 . The animal enclosure of claim 5 wherein the extension is coupled to the frame.
8. 8 . An animal enclosure, comprising: a plurality of members defining an interior of the enclosure, where the plurality of members includes at least a first member; a frame of the first member having a plurality of interconnected horizontal and vertical wires that define an opening for an animal to pass therethrough and to enter or exit the interior of the enclosure; a door of the first member having a plurality of interconnected horizontal and vertical wires and being coupled to the frame, the door being pivotal about a pivot wire of the frame to move between an open position and a closed position; and a door stop comprising an access portion, a blocking portion, and a tab, where the tab is fixedly coupled to the door and the access portion and blocking portion are formed by the frame; wherein, in a first position, the tab is in alignment between a first portion and a second portion of the blocking portion, and the tab is configured to move a first distance as the door pivots relative to the frame; wherein, in a second position, the tab is in alignment with the access portion such that the tab is configured to move a second distance as the door pivots relative to the frame to the open position, where the second distance is greater than the first distance.
9. 9 . The animal enclosure of claim 8 wherein the blocking portion comprises a blocking tab wherein the blocking tab extends from a plane defined by the frame.
10. 10 . The animal enclosure of claim 8 wherein sliding movement of the door with respect to the frame positions the door between the first position and the second position.
11. 11 . An animal enclosure, comprising: a plurality of members defining an interior of the enclosure, where the plurality of members includes at least a first member; a frame of the first member having a plurality of interconnected horizontal and vertical wires that define an opening for an animal to pass therethrough and to enter or exit the interior of the enclosure; a door of the first member having a plurality of interconnected horizontal and vertical wires and being coupled to the frame, the door being pivotal about a pivot wire of the frame to move between an open position and a closed position; and a retainer coupled to the frame; wherein, in a first position of the door, one of the plurality of wires of the door engages the retainer to limit pivotable movement of the door from the closed position, and wherein in a second position of the door, the one of the plurality of wires of the door is disengaged from the retainer to enable the door to pivot from the closed position to the open position.
12. 12 . The animal enclosure of claim 11 wherein the retainer comprises a hook, in which the one of the plurality of wires of the door engages in the closed position and the one of the plurality of wires is disengaged in the open position.
13. 13 . The animal enclosure of claim 11 further comprising a latch assembly including a moveable latch selectively configured to move between a latched position and an unlatched position.
14. 14 . The animal enclosure of claim 11 wherein the one of the plurality of wires of the door is a top wire of the door.
15. 15 . The animal enclosure of claim 14 wherein the top wire of the door is a horizontal wire of the door.
16. 16 . The animal enclosure of claim 11 further comprising a doorstop including an access portion, a blocking portion, and a tab, wherein the blocking portion limits pivotable movement when in the first position of the door.
17. 17 . The animal enclosure of claim 16 wherein the access portion and the blocking portion are formed by the door.
18. 18 . The animal enclosure of claim 16 wherein the frame includes the access portion and the blocking portion.
19. 19 . The animal enclosure of claim 16 wherein the tab extends away from a plane defined by the door.
20. 20 . The animal enclosure of claim 16 wherein the tab is configured to move through the access portion or the access portion is configured to move such that the tab is passed therethrough during pivoting movement of the door with respect to the frame when the tab is aligned with the access portion.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/368,001, filed Jul. 6, 2021, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/947,045, filed Nov. 20, 2015, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an animal enclosure, and, in particular, to an animal crate having a swinging door or a drop door. BACKGROUND The use of animal cages or crate is well known. Many conventional cages have been developed over the years for housing animals of different shapes and sizes. For instance, animal cages typically house dogs and cats. Rabbits, rodents and other small animals have also been known to be housed by such cages and are quite common. In fact, such cages are also used for farm animals when needed, including ducks and chickens. As cages have been further developed, the portability and ease of use have become points of emphasis. Some conventional cages, for example, have been designed to collapse to a compact structure for portability. Others have been designed to be of light weight and from durable materials. Conventional cages have been designed for case of transporting an animal. Some conventional cages are designed as exercise pens that provide an interior space that the animal can move about, particularly outdoors. Most conventional cages include at least one door for providing access to the interior of the cage. The animal enters or exits the cage through an opening when the door is opened, and the animal can be safely contained in the cage when the door is closed. Many conventional cages include a door that is attached to the cage with a hinge. In some conventional cages, the doors swing from a side of the cage and in others the door swings from the bottom or top of the cage. This allows the door to be swung from a closed position to an open and vice versa. In cages with side or top swinging doors, the animal can walk into the cage. In cages with bottom swinging doors, the animal is typically placed into and removed from the cage by the owner. A variety of latches have been incorporated into the design of the door to allow a user to open, close, and or securely latch the door. Many of these conventional designs have limitations, however. With regards to an exercise pen, for example, the door is generally formed by an entire height and width of a panel or side member of the pen. Many of these doors are not able to be securely latched or may not prevent an animal from escaping the enclosure. In addition, due to the size of the door, it can be difficult for an owner to reach into the interior of the exercise pen and retrieve a desired animal when two or more animals are enclosed therein. Therefore, a need exists for an improved animal enclosure that provides better means for accessing the interior of the enclosure which overcomes some of the above-mentioned limitations in the prior art. SUMMARY In one exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided an animal enclosure including a plurality of members defining an interior of the enclosure, where the plurality of members includes at least a first member. A frame of the first member includes a plurality of interconnected wires that define an opening for an animal to pass therethrough and to enter or exit the interior of the enclosure. A door of the first member includes a plurality of interconnected wires and is coupled to the frame. The door is pivotable about a pivot wire of the frame to move between an open position and a closed position. A latch assembly includes a handle structure, where the handle structure is configured to pivot with respect to one of the door and the frame and to latch the door in a closed position with respect to the frame. A door stop includes an access portion and a tab, wherein one of the frame and the door includes the access portion and the other of the frame and the door includes the tab, wherein an alignment of the access portion and the tab enables pivotable movement of the door with respect to the frame from the closed position to the open position. In another embodiment, there is provided a door assembly for an animal enclosure including a frame having a plurality of interconnected horizontal and vertical wires that defines an opening for an animal to pass therethrough and to enter or exit the interior of the enclosure. A door includes a plurality of interconnected horizontal and vertical wires and is coupled to the frame. The door is pivotable about a pivot wire of the frame to move between an open position and a closed position. A latch assembly includes a handle structure, where the handle structure is configured to pivot with respect to one of the door and the frame and to latch the door in a closed position with respect to the frame. A door stop includes an access portion and a tab, wherein one of the frame and the door includes the access portion and the