It is well known that pets, such as dogs, sometimes find it difficult to jump from the ground up into the boot or baggage space of an automobile, for instance. This may be due to illness, age, or for some other reason. It is known to use a walk ramp if the pet/dog is heavy and it is desired to transport the dog by car, for instance. In so doing, one end of the ramp is placed on the ground and its other end is placed on the edge of an open car boot or baggage space. When the ramp has a suitable length/slope, the dog itself is able to walk up and down the ramp, possibly with some assistance.

In practice, the ramp/bridge will preferably have a length of about 2 m. For ease of transport in the car, the ramp will preferably be hinged about a longitudinal centre region, said hinge means including means for stopping unfolding of the ramp when it has reached its use position, i. e. when the walk surfaces of the bridge parts are parallel.

However, known ramps/bridges of this nature are still encumbered with certain problems: One problem is that the ramp is relatively heavy and difficult to handle, for example with respect to lifting the ramp into and out of the car and also with respect to folding-up and unfolding the ramp.

Another problem is that a foldable ramp construction constitutes a risk of a dog's claws fastening in the join region between the outwardly folded parts of the ramp. The consequences of such an occurrence are serious and the problem cannot therefore be ignored.

An object of the present invention is to provide a ramp which offers a favourable solution to the aforesaid problems and which can be used with particular benefit as an animal walk ramp or overpass, for instance for dogs. The inventive ramp can, however, be used from a general aspect.

This object is achieved with a ramp constructed in accordance with Claim 1.

Further embodiments of the inventive ramp are defined in the accompanying dependent Claims.

Basically, the join between the unfolded or extended bridge parts is bridged by a tongue which extends over the width of the ramp and which is attached to one bridge part. The tongue is designed to lie in abutment with the other bridge part when the ramp is unfolded into its state of use. The tongue is preferably attached to that part of the ramp which is located lowermost in the sloping ramp when in use. When the ramp is folded up, so that the bridge parts are again generally parallel with each other, the tongue protrudes out beyond the end of the folded ramp. The tongue includes a through-penetrating opening. This opening defines together with the free edge-part of the tongue a handle which facilitates transportation/handling of the ramp and also facilitates handling of the ramp in conjunction with unfolding/folding said ramp.

The bridging tongue may be comprised of elastomeric material, but may even consist of a generally rigid, thin plate.

The hazardous join gap between said bridge parts is covered by the tongue. The opening of the tongue is located on one side of this gap in the use position of the ramp.

The invention will now be described in more detail by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a schematic, perspective view of an unfolded or extended inventive walk ramp.

Fig. 2 shows the ramp in a folded or collapsed state.

Fig. 3 is a schematic sectional view taken on the line III- III in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a schematic side view of the upper end-part of the ramp.

Fig. 5 shows a further development of the construction shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 shows the walk ramp of Fig. 5 fitted to a car.

The ramp comprises a bridge or overpass 1 that includes two parts 10,11 which are interconnected by a hinge means 12.

Each bridge part 10,11 is comprised of two mutually parallel support bars 14 and 15, each supporting a respective plywood sheet 17. The sheet 17 is covered with matting (not shown) which functions to prevent the dog from slipping. The hinge means 12 is comprised of coaxial pivot shafts 18 which are positioned so as to enable the parts 10,11 to be folded from an end position in which they lie in a common plane and in

which the sheets 17 are in butt contact with each other, through 180° to a folded or collapsed position in which the bridge parts 10,11 are essentially plane parallel with each other (Fig. 2).

One bridge part 10 carries a covering tongue 4, comprised for instance of an elastic, rubber plate. The tongue 4 extends over the width of the bridge 1 and is fastened to the lower bridge part 10 along one edge of said tongue. In the unfolded or extended state of the ramp, the tongue 4 lies flat against the upper surface of the upper bridge part 11 and includes an opening 41 which is spaced from the join between the sheets 17 in the unfolded or extended state of the ramp. The opening 41 defines a handle which projects out from one end of the folded ramp.

The upper end of the ramp includes means for securing the upper part of the ramp to a threshold member of the baggage space or boot of the car or to some like structural member.

The securing means 50 may comprise a flap 51 which is connected to the covering sheet 17 of the upper bridge part 11 by a hinge means 52. The flap 51 and the sheet 17 may be adapted to lie in butt contact when the flap and the sheet 17 of the bridge part 11 form a downwardly turned concavity which receives a boot threshold or some like structural member. As illustrated, the upper side of the sheet join in the vicinity of the hinge means 52 may be covered with a curved, flexible material, for instance matting, so as to prevent a dog's claws from fastening in the join.

The free end of the bars belonging to the lower bridge part 10 may be provided with friction enhancing means that

function to counteract slipping of the bridge part on an underlying supportive surface. The lower bridge part 10 may also have provided on its end a bridging flap which corresponds to the flap 51 but fixedly angled in the other direction.

Fig. 5 shows the flap 51 connected by hinge means 53 to a fitting 54 that includes holes 55 for receiving screws, rivets or the like.

Fig. 6 illustrates a car that includes a baggage space 60 which is delimited rearwardly by a threshold member 61. The illustrated car includes a tailgate 63 pivotally mounted at its upper edge. The fitting 54 is attached to the rear part of the floor of the baggage space. The flap/hinge means 51 and its pivotal connection 52,53 to the ramp 1 and to the fitting 54 respectively enables the threshold member 61 to be comfortably bridged and also enables the pivot means 52 to be displaced rearwardly to an extent at which the ramp proper will pass free from the rear bumper or fender and the like extending rearwardly beyond the rear limitation of the baggage space.

The lengths of the bridge parts 10,11 and the flap/link 51 are adapted so that they can be folded into and out of the baggage space, as indicated in Fig. 6. The ramp is folded up or collapsed, by first folding in the flap 51 around the hinge means 53 and then folding together the bridge parts 10, 11 by lifting the ramp by the handle 42 and swinging-in the collapsed ramp in the baggage space around the hinge means 52, to the folded position shown in broken lines, in which position the main parts of the ramp 1 are indicated through

the medium of their reference signs to which a prime has been added.

The embodiment shown in Figs. 5 and 6 thus enables any threshold member 61 to be bridged comfortably and also enables the pivot means 52 to be displaced longitudinally so as to allow the ramp to be readily extended into the baggage space and extended to an operative state without hindrance from the rear bumper and the like rearwards of the baggage space opening.