Animal husbandry – Confining or housing – For experimental purposes
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-03
2004-05-04
Price, Thomas (Department: 3643)
Animal husbandry
Confining or housing
For experimental purposes
Reexamination Certificate
active
06729266
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to an animal isolation and caging system, and more particularly to an open rack system which maximizes both cage density within the rack and useful volume within each cage while providing protection for both personnel attending to the system and the animals contained within the cages from the contamination of the cages themselves and from the release of allergens, dander or other contaminants from an individual cage or rack system housing a plurality of cages through the use of a canopy capture system.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Animal isolation and caging systems are well known in the art. Such systems include the animal isolation and caging systems provided for in the ventilated rack systems disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,349,923 and 5,165,362 assigned to Lab Products, Inc., in which an open rack system including a plurality of shelves, each formed as an air plenum, is provided. Air ventilation is provided directly to animals within each cage assembly by allowing air to travel within each shelf to a plurality of predetermined positions within the rack. At least one cage level barrier having a filter cap is positioned in a rack, so that the rack and the air conduits integral within it removes air disposed adjacent the filter cap. A cage guide is formed in substantially the same shape as the filter cap and is affixed to the bottom of a shelf of the rack holding a cage so that when the barrier cage is placed within the ventilated rack, it is positioned within the cage guide. The cage guide is separated from the filter cap of a cage by a distance. The air plenum shelf is provided with a vacuum to partially remove gases, dander, allergens and other compounds that originated in one or more cages and moving to a location outside the cage.
The prior art animal isolation and caging systems are satisfactory. However, because each shelf acted as an air plenum, each shelf required a certain height within the rack to allow for air to travel therethrough, and due to a lack of a enclosed canopy or other gas capture system, animals as well as workers maintaining cages could be exposed to high levels of allergens, disease causing agents, inappropriate chemical signaling agents (e.g., pheromones), dander or other undiserable compounds released from the animal cages themselves or present in the air in proximity to the cages. The answer provided by the prior art was to proportion the combined height of each shelfband the cage guides mounted below each shell to maximize vertical cage density, thereby maximizing the effect of negative pressure removal of contaminants, without providing for a means of creating a capture system for contaminants. Another problem provided by such prior art systems is the use of large amounts of opaque material or metal that hinder visual inspection of a high cage density rack system. A system that provided a “see through” system that would allow an operator to more easily determine the condition of individual animals and the environment in individual cages.
Filter cap assemblies for animal cages used within animal isolation and caging systems are also well known in the art. One such filter cap is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,640,228, assigned to Lab Products, Inc., in which a top body with a perforated filter cap top wall is provided. A sheet of filter material is sandwiched between a retainer and the lower surface of the perforated filter top wall of the top body. The retainer is detachably mounted inside the filter body in flush abutment with the filter material placed against the lower surface of the filter top wall of the top body. The retainer comprises a narrow border portion and flat cross arms which intersect at an integral central portion.
This prior art filter top was satisfactory. However, because the retainer was secured to the filter cap body on the interior of the filter cap body, changing a filter with an animal within the cage was inhibited because the entire filter cap required removal from the cage to remove the retainer and change the filter. Moreover, because the retainer was substantially open, the bottom side of the filter was substantially exposed to animals within the cage who might damage the filter, rendering it ineffective and resulting in contamination or requiring additional an structure such as a wire bar lid for protection of the filter.
Another solution to the filter changing problem is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,797,349, assigned to Lab Products, Inc., in which a filter changing station is provided in which the filter protecting an individual cage can be changed without opening the entire cage. The changing station disclosed in this prior art is, however, difficult to operate and often results in the ripping of a used filter or the improper placement of a new filter in the filter cap.
Another such filter cap is enclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,480,587, assigned to Lab Products. Inc., in which a cap body with an open top portion provided with a ledge and cross arms is provided. A filter Is detachably secured to the cap body by an overlaying protective plate member which is fastened over the ledge and cross arms using a plurality of fasteners, such as threaded bolts which pass through holes in the plate member, filter and cap body and secured by respective nuts.
This prior art filter cap was also satisfactory. However, because separate threaded bolt fasteners were used to mount the protective plate to the filter cap body, personnel changing a filter were required to use special tools to remove the protective plate to release the filter. The use of such tools required additional resources and was time-consuming. Moreover, because the cap body had a substantially open top and no specific filter frame, the bottom side of the filter in this design was also unprotected from animals within the who might damage the filter and render it ineffective during a filter changing operation. In addition, the substantially open top inhibited changing a filter with an animal within the cage because of the possibility that the animal could escape through the open top of the cage body during a filter changing procedure.
Typically, the cages in a rack system must be removable from the rack system to provide access to the animals for feeding and testing, and to the cages for cleaning, maintenance and transport. However, it also required that the rack air source and/or water source mate with the cage to provide air and water to the cage. To accommodate this requirement it is known in the art to provide a structure so that the valve in each cage is connected to an air and/or water plenum on the rack by a coupling system. In such a system, each cage is connected to the plenum by pushing the cage into a rack until the coupling at the rear of the cage is connected to the coupling provided on the plenum to make mating contact with a valve system containing connections to water and air sources. The couplings are disengaged by simply pulling the cage out of the rack, which closes a valve within the plenum coupling to prevent the escape and contamination of water and air.
In the prior art, cages designed for ventilated cage and rack systems also failed to provide for securely dividing a cage between two or more animals. The designs provided in the prior art, as typified by U.S. Pat. No. 6,041,741, assigned to Lab Products Inc., disclose only one source of food and water respectively within a given cage. This may be undesirable in those situations where it is desirable to more effectively utilize a cage footprint in compliance with appropriate federal guidelines and increase occupancy of a given caging system, or in situations where dividing animals is necessary for research ends' or the animals' welfare. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a double-sided ventilated caging system including a cage-level barrier cage with a specific footprint that complies with appropriate federal guidelines while simultaneously being available to house a multiplicity of different animals typically used in scientific studie
Campbell Neil
Dietrich Rick
Gabriel George S.
Gabriel Richard
Gerringer Rodney
Lab Products Inc.
Price Thomas
Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP
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