Handling: hand and hoist-line implements – Sanitary handler for pet droppings
Reexamination Certificate
1997-12-29
2001-05-22
Cherry, Johnny D. (Department: 3652)
Handling: hand and hoist-line implements
Sanitary handler for pet droppings
C294S055500
Reexamination Certificate
active
06234549
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF INVENTION
This invention relates to hand held portable devices such as trowels, and more specifically, it relates to cat-litter scoopers employed in the process of sifting out the contaminated debris.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
The basic background and purpose of virtually all cat-litter scoopers, which have been and are commonly available today, are as a trowel like tool to remove solid waste materials from cat-litter. They are all made with holes or perforations, so that the solids can be picked up, while letting the loose litter fall through. Hence, to that extent they are essentially sifters.
Up until the last few years, they were used only to remove solid, feline feces, but now since the advent of the more modern, expensive, “clumping” cat-litter, they are also used to remove urine. This is made possible because the urine turns into a solid clump which can be removed with any ordinary cat-litter scooper, even though the scooper is full of holes. A major disadvantage of this method is that this new clumping cat-litter is markedly more expensive than the regular, old-fashioned cat-litter, which does not “clump”. Usually, the clumping cat-litter is around triple the price, which is the reason the old-fashioned cat-litter is still selling quite well. Many people who have multiple cat homes have never even used the new clumping litter owing to the exorbitant price of the new material, even though they dislike the wasteful necessity of discarding the entire cat-litter box contents just to dispose of a few odorous wet-spots. Then the cat-litter box usually needs scrubbing. If there were provided a method to remove the wet-spots by some kind of improved means, then a mere small amount of fresh cat-litter could be simply added to the removed areas; a much more economical procedure.
Recently, a multitude of environmentally friendly cat-litters have been put on the market which are not made of clay like the clumping cat-litter and old-fashioned non-clumping cat-litter, which do not break down easily in the environment. These new cat-litters are made of a variety of shavings and pellets. Presently, there is no way to remove the wet spots out of them because they do not clump, otherwise, these cat-litters would likely be more commonly used.
PRIOR ART REVIEW
Cat-litter scoopers that are commonly available are generally made of a relatively inexpensive, one-piece molded-plastic construction. A small shovel shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,094,161 (Filed: October/1913) would not hold litter, since the body is made of a screen like construction.
A shovel meant to be used for sifting ashes, shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,165,574 (Filed: February/1915) would also be useless for picking up cat-litter, since it is partly made of screen like material.
In U.S. Pat. No. 1,175,192 (October/1915) is shown a hand-guard attachment for a shovel, which rises up at the rear of the shovel, but is only meant to protect the hand and would not be able to contain cat-litter.
The Cat-litter scooper in U.S. Pat. No. D233,158 (Filed: September/1972) also has many perforations on the bottom surface.
Another pet-litter retriever U.S. Pat. No. D255,951 (Filed: February/1978) would also not be useful to pick up cat-litter, since the bottom of it is made up of perforations.
Another pet scooper in U.S. Pat. No. D256,173 (Filed: March/
1978
) is curved on the bottom of both models presented. One model has holes on its bottom, and neither has a handle, which is essential for the scooping and tilting to pick up the wet cat-litter. Also, they are without any V'ed shape leading edge, and provide no transverse-bend defining a containment area, nor do they chamfer the leading-edge portion of the blade.
Another pet-litter retriever in U.S. Pat. No. D257,406 (Filed: March/1978) has no V'ed shape leading edge nor extremely thin metal leading edge which is crucial for getting under the wet litter. It lacks a triangular shaped frontal blade, which assists the particular thinness of my cat-litter scooper blade in effectively going under the wet cat-litter. Also, it has no containment-bowl portion to entrap the cat-litter without getting it on the user's hand. The patent drawings show an open area from the frontal blade, all along the handle, which if tilted back slightly, would undesirably slide the cat-litter back into ones hand. Moreover, the upturned frontal sides would merely act to shove the wet cat-litter forward, while the object of my invention is to get it on the frontal blade portion and not to shove it.
Another cat-litter scooper shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,627 (Filed: February/1990), has elongated slots along the sides and rear of the scooper, which would allow cat-litter to undesirably escape.
In reference to prior patents on file for cat-litter scoopers and trowels, a typical cat-litter scooper available now is U.S. Pat. No. D332,675 (Filed: October/1990). It is made of plastic and the scoop portion is perforated with holes, plus it has vertical teeth on the bottom so it will not touch the floor of the litter box. Both of these features render it essentially useless for removing wet litter.
Another dust-pan in U.S. Pat. No. D335,011 (Filed: December/1990) does not possess a blade that is entirely without upturned frontal sides nor frontal sides that are chamfered. It is too wide to be used in a cat-litter box. A side view shows that it is without a transverse bend. Dust-pans are generally held stationary while material is swept into it, which operation is opposite that of a moving cat-litter scooper.
A commonly available garden-trowel which many people own, typical of the many types of trowels that the instant inventor hereof has tested for the purpose of removing wet cat-litter from a cat-litter box, is shown in U.S. Pat. No. D342,426 (Filed: July/1991). This configuration is not effective in picking up cat-litter, since the frontal leading edge is not thin enough or otherwise chamfered in leading edge; it tends to merely shove wet cat-litter onto the dry clean areas, instead of the litter sliding up on the blade; a problematical tendency which was consistently repeated on the many trowels tested. Also this trowel has a curved bottom, as most others, which prevents a single sweep along the floor of the cat-litter box; plus, the arched leading edge would not fit neatly into a cat-litter box corner nor move evenly along the sides of a cat-box. A cat-litter box has generally straight sides, thus a straight line on some part of the leading edge is essential, since many times the cat urine fans out, as a wake, until it is stopped at the walls of the litter box.
The dust-pan shown in U.S. Pat. No. D345,238 (Filed: January/1992) does not have a flat bottom nor a frontal blade that is without upturned sides where it would first contact the material to be scooped up. It is too wide to be used in a cat-litter box, and its leading edges are not chamfered.
A cat-litter scoop in U.S. Pat. No. D347,497 (filed: May/1994) shows a configuration capable of picking-up both the cat's solid-feces and the newer more costly clumping type cat-litter material; -the myriad surface perforations allowing the wetted but unclumped cat-litter to fall away back via gravity into the cat-litter box. Ten underside nodules apparently serve to lift the bottom of the tool up from a countertop-surface for better drying when washed clean: yet the ten protrusions tend to cause drag in the cat-litter which is antithetic to the objectives to be set forth for the new art hereof. Since the older “cheap” type cat-litter material does not clump while absorbing the cats urine, the soiled older type cat-litter would not effectively be held captive for disposal in this scooper.
A cat-litter scoop in U.S. Pat. No. 5,738,399 (filed: October/1996) shows a configuration similar to above noted . . . 497, specifically devised to pick-up both solid cat-feces and the newer more costly “clumping”-type cat-litter material, while the myriad surface perforations allow the unwetted cat-litter to fall away via gravity back into the cat-litter box. The FIGS. 6-8 s
Cherry Johnny D.
Inventech/USA
Spencer Louis E.
VonHeck R. W.
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