Animal husbandry – Waste toilet or related device – Walled receptacle; e.g. – litter box – etc. – containing...
Reexamination Certificate
2002-10-30
2004-03-09
Poon, Peter M. (Department: 3643)
Animal husbandry
Waste toilet or related device
Walled receptacle; e.g., litter box, etc., containing...
C119S161000, C119S168000, C119S165000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06701868
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of pet supplies, more particularly to cat (kitty) litter boxes, and still more particularly to self-cleaning cat (kitty) litter boxes.
2. Background Discussion
According to a 1999 poll (reportedly having a +/−3% probability of error) conducted by the American Pet Association, 31.2 million United States' households, out of a total of 102.8 million households, had at least one cat as a pet, with cats outnumbering dogs by 74,894,580 to 61,542,900.
As is well known to cat owners, most cats can be trained or taught to use specific places in the home for their toilet activities. These specific places are commonly provided with boxes (or trays) holding cat or kitty litter that is readily available in pet stores and most supermarkets.
So far as is known to the present inventor, so called self-clumping cat litter was first marketed in about the early 1990's. When a cat urinates or defecates into such type of cat litter, the moisture causes the contacted litter to aggregates into clumps that quickly harden. These hardened clumps containing the cat's urine or excrement can then be removed from the litter box by the cat owner, leaving substantially clean litter in the box for the cat's subsequent use.
The most common and inexpensive implement for removing these hardened clumps of cat litter are hand-held, slotted metal or plastic scoops. Although effective in removing the clumps of cat litter from a litter box, the use of such manual scoops requires constant personal attention to the litter boxes to keep them clean. Otherwise many or most cats will either refuse to use the litter boxes or else will paw the hardened clumps from the litter boxes onto the floor, in the process usually scattering loose cat litter all over the floor, thereby creating a messy clean-up problem. Moreover using a hand-held scoop to clean out cat litter boxes is understandably a disagreeable task for many if not most cat owners, since the individual doing the scooping must have his or her face close to the litter box and is thereby exposed to unpleasant smells.
The above-described forming of hardened clumps of cat litter containing a cat's urine or excrement lends itself to automated cleaning of litter boxes. This type of litter box is commonly referred to as a self-cleaning or self-collecting litter box. Exemplary of such self-cleaning litter boxes are those disclosed in the below-cited United States Patents.
U.S. Pat. No. Re. 36,847, issued Sep. 5, 2000 to Michael A, Waters, for example, discloses a self-cleaning cat litter box that utilizes a multi-toothed element or comb that is automatically moved linearly through a fixed litter tray to rake clumped litter from the litter tray into a waste receptacle. U.S. Pat. No. 6,378,461, issued Apr. 30, 2002 to Arnold Thaler also discloses an automated self-cleaning cat litter box that utilizes a comb automatically moved linearly through a fixed litter box to rake clumped litter from the litter tray into a waste receptacle. U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,465, issued Sep. 17, 1991 to Angelo Carlisi, discloses still another automated self-cleaning cat litter box that utilizes a comb that is moved through a fixed litter box to rake clumped litter from the litter and deposit the clumped litter into a waste receptacle.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,931,119, issued Aug. 3, 1999 to Ofer Nissim et al., discloses an automated self-cleaning cat litter box that utilizes a horizontally revolving litter tray having a retractable comb that accumulates clumped litter as the litter tray revolves under the comb. The comb is periodically pivoted upwardly to discharge the clumped litter into a waste receptacle. U.S. Pat. No. 6,401,661, issued Jun. 11, 2002 to Richard H. Emery, also discloses an automated self-cleaning cat litter box that utilizes a horizontally revolving litter tray having a fixed comb that collects clumped litter from the litter as the litter tray revolves under the comb. A screw mechanism then removes the clumped litter from the comb to a waste receptacle.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,749,318, issued May 12, 1998 to Gerard Barbot, et al., discloses a self-cleaning litter box that utilizes a screen-type conveyor belt in communication with litter in a litter tray to separate clumped litter from clean litter, the clumped litter being discharged into a waste receptacle and the clean litter being returned to the litter tray. U.S. Pat. No. 5,460,122, issued Oct. 24, 1995 to Johann C. Reimartz, discloses an automated self-cleaning cat litter box incorporating a movable litter tray floor that removes used litter from the litter tray and discharges it into a receptacle as the floor is moved in one direction, and causes fresh litter to be discharged from a litter reservoir into the litter tray as the floor is moved in the opposite direction.
Although the disclosed automatic self-cleaning cat litter boxes may be reasonably useful, most, principally the comb-type self-cleaning litter boxes, that have been commercially available, for example, in pet stores, have a disadvantage that the combs, especially the movable combs, tend to become with clogged with or by clumped litter to an extent that their operation is adversely affected.
For this and other reasons, a principle objective of the present invention is to provide an automatic self-cleaning cat litter box apparatus that is both effective and reliable in operation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a self-cleaning cat litter box apparatus that comprises a litter tray for containing a quantity of cat litter, a waste bin and a mesh basket sized for having a lower basket regions received into the litter tray. The basket is pivotally mounted relative to the litter tray for pivotal movement between a lowered position in which a lower region of the basket is immersed in cat litter contained in the litter tray and a raised, tilted position in which cat waste-containing clumped litter picked up in the basket from the litter in the litter tray is gravity dumped into the waste bin.
Included is a reversing electric basket pivoting motor connected for causing the pivoting of the basket between the lowered and raised, tilted positions. A basket frame is included to which the basket is attached, A driven gear is fixed to the basket frame, and a drive gear is connected to the electric basket pivoting motor and is in driving relationship with the driven gear.
The apparatus further comprises control means configured for causing the electric basket pivoting motor to rotate in one direction to pivot the basket from the lowered position to the raised, tilted position and for then causing the electric basket pivoting motor to rotate in an opposite direction to pivot the basket from the raised, tilted position back to the lowered position. Starting of the control means is responsive to a cat entering and subsequently leaving the litter tray, the starting being delayed for a predetermined time interval of at least about one minute after a cat enters and subsequently leaves the litter tray, and is cancelled in response to a cat entering the litter tray within the predetermined time interval.
Preferably there is included an electric basket oscillating motor connected for causing the basket to oscillate back and forth relative to the litter tray and the control means are configured for causing the basket oscillating motor to oscillate the basket back and forth relative to the litter tray when the electric basket pivoting motor starts pivoting the basket from the lowered position toward the raised, tilted position and again when the electric basket pivoting motor subsequently pivots the basket back to engagement with the litter contained in the litter tray, so as to facilitating both the raising the lower regions of the basket through litter contained in the litter tray and the subsequent immersion of the lower regions of the basket into litter contained in the litter tray.
A waste bin door is hinged for
Lambert Howard R.
Valenti Andrea M.
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