Animal husbandry – Waste toilet or related device – Walled receptacle; e.g. – litter box – etc. – containing...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-29
2002-04-09
Carone, Michael J. (Department: 3643)
Animal husbandry
Waste toilet or related device
Walled receptacle; e.g., litter box, etc., containing...
Reexamination Certificate
active
06367420
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to domesticated pets. More specifically, the present invention relates to litter box accessories for domesticated cats.
2. Related Art
The use of cat litter as a defecation substrate in litter boxes has been widely used for decades. However, the major drawback with the use of cat litter has been the unwanted transfer of cat litter out of the litter box and onto the surrounding floors. Such transfer occurs in a variety of ways, including (1) litter tossed out of the litter box while the cat robustly digs with its paws in the litter box, (2) litter that gets between the toes and upon the hairs of the cat that is then transferred when the cat flips or shakes its paws to rid them of attached litter, or when the cat walks away from the litter box, and (3) cat litter that the owner of the cat drops outside the litter box as the owner cleans the litter box.
The result of this tracking, flipping, tossing and spilling is an unsightly area surrounding the litter box, grit under human foot if the floor surface is hard, tracking of cat litter throughout the pet owner's house by human and pet foot traffic, and possible staining and destruction of a carpeted floor surface. Litter deposited outside the litter box is often tracked by pet or human foot traffic to other parts of the home, resulting in further sanitation problems.
This tracking problem has been exasperated in recent years with the invention and increased use of clumping cat litter. The particulate size of individual pieces of clumping cat litter are much smaller and finer than traditional “non-clumping” cat litter, thereby resulting in an increased amount of tracking as greater numbers of the smaller particles of clumping litter are able to be carried and flipped out of the litter box by the cat.
The unsightly, gritty, and unsanitary litter scattered outside the litter box is cause for much human aggravation and has been coped with unsuccessfully by the use of a variety of devices. Some of these devices have been designed to catch only the litter tracked on the bottoms of paws and do nothing to corral litter strewn about by other means. Some of these devices are so easy for the cat to avoid stepping on or in that they are essentially ineffective. Other inventions have been cumbersome in appearance and difficult to empty.
Furthermore, these prior art devices have done little, if anything, to control the mess incurred during litter box clean-up. Prior art methods of coping with the mess have involved manual and frequent sweeping, vacuuming, scrubbing and the like.
Many devices have been invented for the reduction and elimination of the tracking problem. For instance: both U.S. Pat. No. 3,246,630 (Dearing, et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 3,885,523 (Coleman) disclose a “sanitary facility for animals” comprising litter boxes having a built-in screen upon which a cat walks to dislodge cat litter from the cat's paws. Other inventions disclose apparatuses causing the cat to walk across a grated or screened surface to remove cat litter from the cats' paws. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,042,430 (Casmira); U.S. Pat. No. 5,195,366 (Harvey); U.S. Pat. No. 5,195,464 (Mutter); U.S. Pat. No. 5,220,886 (Hyde); U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,550 (Noble); and U.S. Pat. No. 5,361,725 (Baillie, et aL).
Another device, U.S. Pat. No. 4,838,202 (Neu) discloses an “animal litter container” comprising a five-sided box into which a litter box is placed. The Neu invention also is intended to be “easily accessible through both the top and one or more of the sides.”
Other patents disclose litter boxes having sloped surfaces for the removal of cat litter from cat's paws. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,676,090 (Canady, Jr.) discloses a “scatter-resistant litter box” having a sloped front compartment with a sloped, carpeted surface for the removal of cat litter from cat's paws; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,713,302 (Walter) discloses a “pet waste containment system” alternatively having a sloped, ramp for the collection of litter.
Another U.S. Pat. No. 5,769,026 (Kohn) discloses an enclosure for a litter box having carpeted pathways for the removal of cat litter from cats' paws.
Another U.S. Pat. No. 5,797,352 (Ebert) discloses a paw cleaning litter mat for placing outside the front of a litter box for the removal of cat litter from cats' paws.
Two design patents, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 351,693 (Sutton) and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 351,693 (Evans), show other methods of collecting tracked litter, each comprising trays set in front of the litter box.
However, none of these patents disclose an enclosure for a litter box that is so simple, and yet is effective in many ways: that has an entrance that directs the cat in such a way that litter-retention inside the enclosure is optimized; that catches litter scattered by a variety of means, from being tracked on the bottom of paws and spilled from the litter box, to being flipped and tossed by the cat's paws; that is adjustable in the combined size of the litter box and apparatus; is easy to empty by merely picking the apparatus up, tilting to the side and pouring into a container; that is lightweight; that is low maintenance; that adds to the aesthetic appearance of the litter box area; that provides a work area in which to clean the litter box without spilling or dropping litter on the surrounding floor; that greatly reduces the frequency that the surrounding area must be cleaned; that provides increased sanitation for the home; and that is used in combination with an existing litter box to make that litter box more efficient.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is an apparatus for corralling cat litter before it can be scattered outside the litter box. The present invention comprises a enclosure having a front side wall, a left side wall, a right side wall, and a base. The enclosure preferably does not have a back side wall. The enclosure has a portal, preferably in the front wall or in one or both side walls near the front wall, allowing a cat to step into and out of the invented enclosure.
The preferred enclosure is adapted to cooperate with a conventional covered, one-opening cat litter box. The length and width of the enclosure is such that all approaches to the litter box, except the intended side of the litter box with its front opening, are relatively inaccessible to the cat. This feature encourages the cat to use the invented enclosure properly. Thus, there is preferably relatively less space between the enclosure side walls and the side walls of the litter box, compared to space between the front wall of the enclosure and the front opening of the litter box. Still, there may be some space between the enclosure side walls and the litter box sidewalls to give some leeway in the fit between the enclosure and the litter box for variously-sized litter boxes. For example, a single enclosure may be sized to fit with two sizes of litter box, wherein using the smaller of the two litter boxes may result in slightly more space between the litter box and the sidewalls of the enclosures.
The present invention is used by sliding or setting a standard-sized cat litter box into the enclosure formed by the three upright walls of the present invention. The litter box must be so positioned within the enclosure so that a cat entering the enclosure through the portal at or near the front of the enclosure can enter the litter box. It is preferred that enough room will be between the front side of the enclosure and the front of the litter box so that the cat can stand with all four paws outside the litter box but within the enclosure. However, if the enclosure is alternatively sized so that the cat is only able to place one paw at a time within the enclosure, the enclosure is still beneficial.
The ideal litter box position is having the front side of the litter box just inside the open back of the enclosure. However, if available space for the litter box is too small to accommodate the ideal, fully-extended litter box-enclosure comb
Abbott Yvonne R.
Carone Michael J.
Pedersen Barbara S.
Pedersen Ken J.
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