Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 6
Claim 1
Independent Claim
211 words
A slotted floor for animal enclosures particularly adapted for installation and use in overlying relationship to a waste material receiving area, said floor including: a plurality of elongate, tubular, plastic members each having top, bottom and opposed side walls; longitudinal flange means on and extending outwardly from each side wall of each member adjacent the bottom of the latter; and a plurality of separate, elongate, plastic clip and support elements disposed beneath and transversely to said members and each having first and second, longitudinally spaced pairs of longitudinally spaced and opposed notch presenting means, each of said pairs of notch presenting means receiving and gripping said opposite flange means on the side walls of a corresponding member to hold the members received by each element in laterally spaced, parallel relationship to each other with a waste clearing slot therebetween and in communication with said receiving area therebeneath, each adjacent pair of said elements being offset from each other both laterally thereof and longitudinally of said members and overlapped with each other longitudinally thereof, each adjacent pair of said elements receiving and gripping a member common to said pair of elements, whereby said members are all retained by said elements in predetermined spaced relationship to each other to present said slotted floor.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
211 words
A slotted floor for animal enclosures particularly adapted for installation and use in overlying relationship to a waste material receiving area, said floor including: a plurality of elongate, tubular, plastic members each having top, bottom and opposed side walls; longitudinal flange means on and extending outwardly from each side wall of each member adjacent the bottom of the latter; and a plurality of separate, elongate, plastic clip and support elements disposed beneath and transversely to said members and each having first and second, longitudinally spaced pairs of longitudinally spaced and opposed notch presenting means, each of said pairs of notch presenting means receiving and gripping said opposite flange means on the side walls of a corresponding member to hold the members received by each element in laterally spaced, parallel relationship to each other with a waste clearing slot therebetween and in communication with said receiving area therebeneath, each adjacent pair of said elements being offset from each other both laterally thereof and longitudinally of said members and overlapped with each other longitudinally thereof, each adjacent pair of said elements receiving and gripping a member common to said pair of elements, whereby said members are all retained by said elements in predetermined spaced relationship to each other to present said slotted floor.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
82 words
A floor as claimed in claim 1, wherein said notch presenting means of said elements are resiliently yieldable to permit reception of said members by said elements during assembly of the floor, and said elements are yieldable between said notch presenting means of each pair thereof for biasing of each pair of notch presenting means toward each other and into tighter gripping relationship with the member received thereby in response to the weight of said member and animals supported by the latter.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
53 words
A floor as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said elements includes an upstanding portion between said pair of notch presenting means therein and engageable with the proximate side wall of each of said pair of members received by said element for further supporting said pair of members in said spaced relationship.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
61 words
A floor as claimed in claim 3, wherein each of said members is of generally trapezoidal transverse configuration with the shorter base at the bottom thereof, and each of said upstanding portions is of generally trapezoidal configuration with the shorter base at the top thereof, the zones of engagement between saiD upstanding portions and said proximate side walls being substantially complementary.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
66 words
A floor as claimed in claim 1, wherein said top, bottom and side walls of each member define an open ended, uninterrupted passage therethrough, and there are provided means for effecting a fluid coupling between adjacent open ends of at least certain of said members to present a closed fluid path through said certain members, and means for circulating a temperature controlling fluid through said path.