Animal husbandry – Confining or housing – Often portable – small capacity – roofed housing structure
Reexamination Certificate
2002-09-30
2003-12-16
Abbott, Yvonne (Department: 3644)
Animal husbandry
Confining or housing
Often portable, small capacity, roofed housing structure
C119S702000, C119S704000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06662752
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to an improved small animal shelter. The improved shelter has means for attaching useful devices to it for the benefit of the animals. The useful devices include feeding tubes, feeding cups, water bottles, activity equipment such as exercise wheels and Jungle Jim apparatus, challenging entertainment devices such as toys, chew items and reward treats, and the like.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Many people maintain small animals as pets or for scientific purposes. There are many commercially available homes for small animal pets. The homes are typically an aquarium style, and are made of glass or a transparent thermoplastic material, such as acrylic or polycarbonate.
An animal shelter is a smaller structure within the home, approximately 2 to 15 times the size of the animal, and serves as a nesting or hiding place for the animal. As used herein, an animal shelter is a structure that is smaller than an animal home and is typically placed within the animal home to provide comfort and a feeling of safety to the animal. These shelters are an ideal environment for hiding, sleeping, breeding and a place to raise their young. Animal care takers such as scientists, technicians, children, and parents observe these animals at various times, such as while the animals are interacting, sleeping, breeding, or caring for their young.
Small animals benefit from the presence of devices, which help promote good animal maintenance and health. Such devices typically include feeding tubes, feeding cups, water bottles, activity equipment such as exercise wheels and Jungle Jim apparatuses, entertainment devices such as toys, chew items and reward treats. Currently the devices are separate, freestanding, and take up significant space in the animal home. There is therefore, a need for an animal shelter that would allow other devices to be incorporated onto the shelter thus providing the animal with a number of items it needs while maintaining the free space within the cage.
The Mouse Igloo™ is an animal shelter that is commercially available from Bio-Serv Incorporated, Frenchtown, N.J. The shelter has several openings for animals to enter and exit the shelter. The shelter is made of polycarbonate and has a colorant that reduces light penetration or eliminates it completely. Exercise wheels are commercially available and are typically free standing such as the Habitrail Spin-Around or attached to the wall such as the Leo Braun Wheel. These wheels reduce the free floor space in the home.
In view of the disclosed prior art, there is a continuing need for an animal shelter that incorporates other devices onto its structure, thereby decreasing the number of items that are on the floor which reduce the free floor space of the home. This is an important feature as the required floor space area is mandated in the Animal Welfare Act regulations and in The National Research Council's “Guide for the Care Use of Laboratory Animals.”
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides an animal shelter having means for attaching a device to the shelter. In a preferred embodiment, the present invention provides an animal shelter, that serves as a hub, having means for attaching a device or means for attaching several devices to the shelter; and a device having means for attaching said device to said shelter; wherein said device is attached to said shelter by said means for attaching. In another embodiment, the present invention provides an exercise disc that has means for attachment to a hub.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Animal shelters are described in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 09/873,992 and 10/005,502. Both references are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
The shape of the shelter is not critical. Suitable shapes include squares, rectangles, triangles, pyramids, cones, half-spheres, half-hexagons, tepees, half-diamonds, and other shapes taught in the above-mentioned co-pending Patent Applications. Half-spheres are preferred. The size of the shelter is sufficient to house at least one small animal, preferably multiple small animals.
The shelter contains at least one opening for ingress and egress of animals. Multiple openings may be useful, for example 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 openings may be utilized. The shelter preferably contains 3 openings. The shape of the openings is not critical. Suitable shapes include, but are not limited to, circles, ellipses, squares, rectangles, triangles, and stars. The size of the openings is sufficient to enable the ingress and egress of the small animals. Generally, the height of the opening may range from about 1.25 cm to about 6.25 cm, preferably from about 2.5 cm to about 5 cm. The width of the openings generally ranges from about 1.25 cm to about 6.25 cm, preferably from about 2.5 cm to about 5 cm.
The shelters may be made by processes known in the art. One suitable process is injection molding, where plastic material is melted and injected into a mold in the shape of the shelter, then cooled. Another suitable process is thermoforming plastic sheet, where a plastic sheet is melted and molded into the suitable shape, then the openings are cut or stamped. Vacuum forming is another useful process where plastic sheet is heated and drawn by vacuum into the suitable shape, then cooled. The openings are then cut or stamped into the shelter.
The animal shelter may be made of a polymeric material that is transparent and can be autoclaved. Suitable polymeric materials include polyolefins, such as, but not limited to, high molecular weight polyethylene, ultra high molecular weight polyethylene, and polypropylene; polyphenylsulphone; styrene; acrylates and methacrylates, such as, but not limited to, methyl acrylate, methyl methacrylate, ethyl acrylate, ethyl methacrylate, butyl acrylate, butyl methacrylate, and the like; polyamides, such as, but not limited to, nylon 6, nylon 6,6, nylon 12, nylon 101, and the like; polycarbonate; combinations thereof; and copolymers thereof. Polycarbonate is preferred. The polymeric material may be provided in solid form, such as a sheet or a powder, or in liquid form, depending on the desired process for manufacturing the shelter.
A colorant may be added to the polymeric material, or coated onto the polymeric material the shelter is made from in order to inhibit specific wave lengths of light from getting into the shelter. Suitable colorants do not change the transparency of the polymeric material when combined with the polymeric material. Such colorants include, but are not limited to, red, burgundy, pink, orange, yellow, amber, green, blue, turquoise, violet, and purple. Red and amber are preferred. The colorants are commercially available as, for example, FD & C Red and the like.
When the colorants are to be combined with the polymeric materials, the colorants should be soluble in the polymeric materials. The amount of colorant utilized will vary, but is sufficient to inhibit light penetration into the shelter, yet provide a transparent shelter. Generally, the amount of colorant ranges from about 0.001 percent by weight to about 10 percent by weight, based on the total weight of the material making up the shelter.
When the colorant is placed onto the shelter, the colorant generally is contained in a plastic film or is in liquid form. The amount of colorant utilized in the plastic film or liquid will vary, but is sufficient to inhibit light penetration into the shelter, yet provide a transparent shelter. Plastic films containing colorants may be placed onto the shelter by methods known in the art, such as the use of an adhesive to adhere the plastic film to the shelter, shrink wrapping the plastic film onto the shelter, or using heat to fuse the plastic film with the shelter. Liquid colorants may be applied by methods known in the art, such as spray coating, dip coating, and brush coating.
The shelter of this invention has means for attachment that would allow a device or devices to be connected to the shelter. The shelter and the device have attachment means tha
Bonner Mark
Bonner R. Alan
Abbott Yvonne
Holton Industries t/a Bio-Serv
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