Litter container with rotary movement sieve

Details Litter container with rotary movement sieve Litter container with rotary movement sieve

1999-09-29

2001-09-11

Jordan, Charles T. (Department: 3644)

Animal husbandry

Waste toilet or related device

Walled receptacle; e.g., litter box, etc., containing...

C119S168000, C119S163000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06286459

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a cat litter container that is designed to ease the task of finding and removing solid waste that is in the litter.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Cat owners commonly use litter boxes for their cats to use as a bathroom. Increasingly popular fillers for these boxes are clumping cat litters. Clumping litters have the characteristic that when the granules that make up the litter are wetted; these granules will stick together to form a solid or semi solid clump. These clumps of wetted litter or waste, including the solid extrement of the animal are then removed via a scoop, essentially leaving the litter box in a clean state. The scoop is typically in the form of a sieve that lets the unused or clean litter granule pass through but not the larger clumps of waste. Typically the scoop must be run throughout the contents of the litter to find the waste as cats normally bury or cover their extrement. The scoop is normally stored somewhere outside of the litter container.
Attempts have been made to simplify the task of finding and removing the waste. Examples of such attempts are shown in the following U.S. patents.
U.S. Patent Documents
U.S. Pat. No. 5,782,203 Animal Litter Scoop Retaining System
U.S. Pat. No. 5,259,340 Automatic or semiautomatic cat litter box
U.S. Pat. No. 5,220,886 Litter box accessory
U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,388 Automated cat litter disposal system
U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,465 Self-cleaning kitty litter box
U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,464 Self cleaning litter system
U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,104 Automated cat toilet
U.S. Pat. No. 4,627,382 Disposable litter box
U.S. Pat. No. 4,327,667 Cat Toilet Assembly
U.S. Pat. No. 4,190,525 Litter and refuse receptacle and separator
U.S. Pat. No. 4,120,264 Sanitary Facility for Pets
This invention is intended to alleviate problems that have arisen with other litter boxes. These problems include unsanitary litter scoops that must be stored outside of the litter box, unsanitary litter box conditions should a person miss scooping out waste that is buried in the litter, and the time consumption needed to scoop through the entire contents of the litter box to find all of the buried excrement.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In one of its aspects the invention provides a litter box comprising a method for sieving the entire contents of a round litter box where a sieving mechanism incorporating a screen is passed throughout the entire contents of the litter box via a rotational movement trapping solid waste. In another aspect the sieving mechanism also acts as a litter scoop that can be removed from the container, and the waste contained within the screen is then disposed of. In yet another aspect the sieving mechanism can be reinserted into the litter box and rotated in the direction opposite to the trapping movement causing the sieve to lie close to the side of the litter box, relatively out of the way of an animal using the litter box.
In another aspect the invention is identical in function to that described above. However, in this embodiment, the counter-rotational movement of the sieving mechanism causes the screen to lie relatively flat against the bottom of the litter box, out of the way of an animal that may use the litter box.
In another aspect, the invention provides a litter container having a bottom wall and a continuous sidewall, said sidewall providing a track, a carriage mounted on said sidewall for travel along said track, and a sieve supported on said carriage for travel throughout the litter material and the container as said carriage travels around said sidewall.
In another aspect, the invention provides a litter container having a bottom wall and a sidewall extending around at least 180 degrees of arc, a carriage mounted on said sidewall for movement along substantially the entire length of said sidewall, and a sieve supported on said carriage for travel throughout the litter material in the container.
Further objects and aspects of the invention will appear from the following description, taken together with the accompanying drawings.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4120264 (1978-10-01), Carter
patent: 4190525 (1980-02-01), Menzel
patent: 4327667 (1982-05-01), Bilak
patent: 4627382 (1986-12-01), Muzzey
patent: 4817560 (1989-04-01), Prince et al.
patent: 4846104 (1989-07-01), Pierson, Jr.
patent: 5048464 (1991-09-01), Shirley
patent: 5048465 (1991-09-01), Carlisi
patent: 5220886 (1993-06-01), Hyde
patent: 5226388 (1993-07-01), McDaniel
patent: 5259340 (1993-11-01), Arbogast
patent: 5582134 (1996-12-01), Simmons
patent: 5782203 (1998-07-01), Tennen

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Litter container with rotary movement sieve does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Litter container with rotary movement sieve, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Litter container with rotary movement sieve will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2520918