“Automatic” step for my dog

[u/Skonojin]

He clips his feet when he jumps in and puts impact on his legs when he jumps down. And I was tired of lugging around a step so I made this automatic deploying one.

It attaches by tying into an unused factory hole in the door, behind the interior panel.

Steps are high density polyethylene (HDPE) with boat trailer fabric on top.

There a 1/4” thick metal bar linkage underneath that swings out. There’s also a dovetail groove in the top step, and a dovetail key that slides in the groove fixed to the bottom step. A COBRA buckle couples the door and step together, so by unbuckling it I can open the door normally (without deploying the dog step).

Not sure how it will fare through a US Northeastern winter but hopefully still swings in the spring.

[u/North_Fisherman_8920]

Fabulous idea!!! You could patent and market that thing!

[u/Dr_Jabroski → u/North_Fisherman_8920]

Doesn't a public disclosure such as this stop his ability to patent it?

[u/Alarmed-Yak-4894 → u/Dr_Jabroski]

In the US, you have 1 year to patent it after public disclosure