Animal shelter flooring apparatus

Claim 1

Slatted floor apparatus for animal housing for placement upon horizontal supporting surfaces, the apparatus comprising: a) a plurality of generally wedge shaped floor members having rectangular shaped opposed essentially parallel upper and bottom surfaces, having inwardly and downwardly inclined opposed sides extending between the upper surface and the bottom surface along the major dimension thereof, and having inwardly and downwardly inclined opposed ends extending between the upper surface and the bottom surface along the minor dimension thereof; b) a plurality of generally wedge shaped center spacers having rectangular shaped opposed essentially parallel upper and bottom surfaces with a major dimension less than the major dimension of the upper surface of the flooring member, said center spacers having outwardly and downwardly inclined opposed sides extending between the upper surface and the bottom surface along the major dimension thereof, said center spacers having opposed extensions extending outward from each inclined side a predetermined distance, said extensions being generally centered with respect to each respective inclined side, and oriented essentially perpendicular to the major dimension of the upper and bottom surfaces and essentially parallel to said surfaces; said extensions predetermined distance and size being such that with a center spacer and a first pair of floor members supported with their bottom surface planar, with their major dimensions aligned, with one of the inclined ends of the first pair of floor members being contiguous to each other such as to define a generally triangular shaped space within the adjacent inclined ends, with an inclined side of the center spaced contiguous to an inclined side of the floor members and with the major dimension of the center spacers centered with respect to the first pair of floor members, one of said extensions will extend within the triangular shaped spaced defined by the adjacent inclined ends of the first pair of floor members opposite the floor member ends; c) a plurality of generally wedge shaped end spacers having rectangular shaped opposed essentially parallel upper and bottom surfaces with a major dimension less than the major dimension of the upper surface of the floor members, said end spacers, having outwardly and downwardly inclined opposed sides extending between the upper surface and the bottom surface along the major dimension thereof, and having generally parallel and perpendicular opposed ends extending between the upper surface and the bottom surface along the minor dimension thereof, said end spacers having opposed projections attached to one end which are oriented generally perpendicular to the major dimensions of the upper and bottom surfaces and generally parallel thereto; said projections each extending outward beyond the inclined sides a predetermined distance such that a pair of floor members and an end spacer supported with their bottom surfaces planar, with their major dimensions aligned, with the floor members bracketing, one of said end spacers, with an inclined side of each floor member contiguous with an inclined side of the end spacer, and with the ends of the floor member and the end of the end spacer all being aligned in a direction perpendicular to their major dimensions, then said projections will extend at least partially across the adjacent ends of the floor members.