GB2153646A - Reflective attachment for animals - Google Patents

Abstract

An attachment enabling animals, e.g. dogs, to be seen or identified in conditions of poor weather or visibility, especially at night, may be in the form of a collar. The collar comprises a strip (1) of brilliant material which is readily visible during the day to which a thinner strip (4) of reflective material is secured. The strips of material are sewn together or secured by an adhesive. The collar is provided with fastening strips (2). The attachment may be adapted for use by other animals, e.g. sheep or cattle. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Animal identifying device This invention relates to devices for identifying animals and is particularly concerned with collars adapted to be worn by animals such as dogs.

With increasing vehicle traffic on the roads today, there are frequent accidents involving animals, in particular dogs, especially at night. This is because the reaction of animals to moving vehicles is unpredictable, possibly because some animals are unable to assess accurately the speed of an approaching vehicle, and animals frequently dash out into the road in the path of an oncoming vehicle.

Under conditions of poor visibility or at night, the driver of a vehicle often does not see the animal unless it is directly in front of him at which point he is faced with the choice of hitting the animal or of swerving to avoid it. In either case, an accident frequently results.

In addition, these days responsible dog owners direct their dogs to the gutter in order to avoid fouling of footpaths and in unlit road conditions the dogs are difficult to see particularly if they are black or dark-coloured. A number of dogs have been killed or seriously injured because they have been unseen by motorists.

The present invention is concerned with solving the problem of identifying and/or seeing animals, particularly at night, and aims to provide means for clearly identifying animals at night and under conditions of poor visibility.

According to the invention, there is provided a device for identifying animals which comprises a strip of material adapted to be fitted to an animal in which the strip consists of a first zone or region made of a material which is readily visible during the day and a second zone or region made of a reflective material which renders it readily visible if illuminated at night.

Preferably, the device according to the invention takes the form of a collar which is adapted to be worn by an animal such as a dog. The collar is desirably provided with means for fastening its ends together, suitable means being the product sold under the trade name VELCRO.

According to a preferred embodiment, the device consists of a strip of brilliant material which is readily visible during the day to which a thinner strip of reflective material is secured. The thinner strip of material may be secured to the main strip by any suitable means such as by sewing or an adhesive. The thinner strip may be secured in the centre of the main strip so that both side margins of the main strip are visible. Alternatively, the thinner strip may be secured along one side edge of the main strip.

According to an alternative embodiment, the main strip of material consists of reflective material and a thinner strip of brilliant material which is readily visible during the day is secured to the main strip, e.g. by sewing or by means of a suitable adhesive. Again, the thinner strip may be secured to the main strip in the centre thereof so that both sides of the main strip are visible or the thinner strip may be secured along one side edge of the main strip.

The invention will now be further described, by way of example, with reference to the drawings, in which Figure 1 is a view of the outer surface of one embodiment of a device according to the invention; and Figure 2 is a view of the inner surface of the device shown in Figure 1.

Referring to the drawings, the device takes the form of a collar consisting of a main strip 1 of a material which can readily be seen during the hours of daylight. Secured to the ends of the strip, e.g. by sewing, are two strips 2 and 3 of fastener material such as that sold under the trade name VELCRO. One strip 2 is secured to the outer surface of the strip 1, that is the surface which will face away from the animal when the collar is being worn, while the other strip 3 is secured to the inner surface of the strip 1, that is the surface which will be next to the animal when the collar is being worn. As is clear from the drawings, the strips 2 and 3 are at opposite ends of the strip 1 as well as being on opposite sides thereof.

The collar can be fastened around an animal's neck simply by placing the strip 1 around the neck and securing the ends together by means of the fastening strips 2 and 3.

While the collar will render an animal wearing it readily visible during the hours of daylight, the material of the strip 1 will not stand out at night.

To obviate this problem, a thin strip 4 of reflective material is sewn to the main strip 1 along the central region thereof. The stitches 5 can be readily seen in Figure 2. When the material of the strip 4 is illuminated, for example by the headlights of a vehicle, it will reflect back thus alerting the driver of the vehicle to the presence of the animal.

The strip 1 may be of double thickness, the edges of the strip meeting under the thin strip 4 and secured by the stitching 5. In this case, the ends of the strip should be turned over to form seams which are then stitched. The advantage of this is that the strip 1 can then be made of a thinner and cheaper material than if the strip consists of a piece of single thickness material.

The strips 1 and 4 may be of any suitable colour but it is preferred for the strip 1 to be bright yellow and for the strip 4 to be silver. The strips 1 and 4 are desirably made of a flexible plastics material such as nylon or vinyl for ease of cleaning although other materials such as textiles may be used if desired.

The strip 4 is preferably made of a material sold under the Trade Mark SCOTCHLIGHT but it is not essential to use this material and similar materials may be used if desired.

The device according to the invention is primarly intended to be worn as a collar by dogs and in this connection it should be noted that the collar is not intended as a replacement for a conventional dog's collar but to be worn as an additional collar. However, the device is not restricted to use on dogs but may also be used on other animals such as cats, sheep, cattle and horses. Further, the invention is not restricted to collars since the device according to the invention may be worn as a belt or may take the form of a harness.

In addition to warning motorists of the presence of animals wearing the device according to the invention, the device will also prove of assistance in finding animals at night and identifying them. This can be of particular assistance in, for example, the training of working sheep dogs and mountain rescue dogs.

The invention is also not restricted to the abovedescribed embodiment but variations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, the main strip 1 may if desired be made of reflective material and the thin strip 4 may be made of a brilliant material which can readily be seen during the hours of daylight. Further, the strips 2 and 3 of VELCRO may be replaced by other suitable fastening means such as press studs or a buckle and strap.

Claims (2)

1. An attachment comprising strips of brilliant material, the first strip of material readily visible during daylight hours, with a narrower night-reflective material strip (or strips) attached. The whole attachment secured with a fastening such as velcro to make a loose-fitting collar for a dog or other animal.

2. Variations of the above attachment wherein adjustment of size and fitting position is allowed for to fit other animals such as sheep or cattle.