Abstrict The embodiment of this invention is disclosed, which describes
a cat litter box, which will allow cat owners to change litter without
having to touch or manipulate the soiled litter. The device consists
of a box within a box. The inside box is made with swinging trap
doors on the bottom of the interior part of a shell of the device.
This allows the cat litter to flow freely from the interior shell
to the bottom half of the exterior shell. The bottom half of the
exterior shell contains a garbage bag, which catches the soiled
litter and allows easy disposal. The doors, which would swing open
as the cat litter box is lifted upwards, are hinged so they will
freely open and close in normal operation.
Claims What is claimed is:
1. A cat litter box, which comprises the following: a. an exterior
shell; b. an interior shell; c. a trap door mechanism; and d. clasps;
wherein the exterior shell has a top half and a bottom half; wherein
the interior shell is placed inside the device on top of the bottom
half of the exterior shell; wherein the said top half of the exterior
shell is equipped with clasps for attaching the top half of the
exterior shell to the interior shell; wherein the interior shell
is open at one end for the cat to enter the device and is equipped
with a trap door; wherein a trap door mechanism is placed on the
bottom of the interior shell; wherein a cat litter bag is placed
between the underside of the trap door and the interior surface
of the bottom half of the exterior shell.
2. The bottom half of the exterior shell as described in claim
1 wherein it houses the interior shell.
3. The interior shell as described in claim 1 which is further
comprised of the following: a bottom surface, four walls, and hinges.
4. The bottom surface of the interior shell as described in claim
3 where the cat litter is placed.
5. The four walls as described in claim 3 wherein the walls form
the sides of the interior shell.
6. The hinges as described in claim 3 which are used to allow
the trap door to open when the device is lifted.
7. The trap door mechanism as described in claim 3 is secured
by hinges to the bottom surface of the interior shell.
8. The trap door mechanism as described in claim 3 is opened by
the weight of the litter as the device is lifted in an upward direction.
Description CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
None
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH
No federal research money was used in the development of this invention.
REFERENCE TO APPENDIX
No appendix accompanies this application
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The cat litter box is a device, which is used to collect in one
location the waste products from a cat. The usual box consists of
a rectangular shape into which the cat will deposit its excrement.
Without some type of cat litter box the cat is likely to deposit
its excrement in various locations. This, of course, is not desirable
and a cat litter box centralizes the waste station. One of the byproducts
of a centralized waste station is the necessity to change the soiled
contents of the cat litter box.
This invention relates to a device, which allows the cat owner
to change the litter box without having to touch the litter. A person
who owns a cat realizes that one of the least liked jobs is changing
the litter box after the cat has deposited its waste. The job of
changing the soiled litter can be messy and smelly. The ordinary
means of disposal is to place the soiled litter into a garbage bag
or similar container and properly dispose of the waste.
In the usual litter box a garbage bag may be placed in the bottom
of the shell of the litter box and litter is poured on top of the
garbage bag. Unfortunately as the cat uses the litter box the claws
of the cat frequently tear the garbage bag. This damages the garbage
bag and destroys the effectiveness of the garbage bag because it
will no longer hold the soiled litter when the litter is to be changed.
If a garbage bag is not placed on the bottom of the shell of the
litter box, the cat owner is forced to pour the soiled litter into
a garbage bag.
This device will allow the cat owner to simply and efficiently
empty the litter in a waiting receptacle, which in this case will
be a garbage bag. This allows the cat to use the litter box without
tearing the garbage bag as it is commonly done in other types of
litter boxes. The garbage bag is placed between an interior shell
and the bottom half of the exterior shell of the cat litter box
and is not in contact with the claws of the cat. In this manner
the garbage bag is kept completely intact. This will allow a quick,
easy and neat method by which the cat owner can change a litter
box.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This cat litter box utilizes a trap door device to efficiently
and quickly empty soiled litter into a separate garbage bag, which
has been placed between an interior shell and the bottom half of
the exterior shell of the cat litter box. The invention itself contains
an interior shell, which contains the litter, the bottom half of
the exterior shell, which houses the garbage bag and the interior
shell, and a top half of the exterior shell, which is clasped to
the interior shell. An opening is also provided to allow the cat
ingress and egress.
A garbage bag is placed on the interior surface of the bottom half
of the exterior shell; the interior shell is placed on top of the
garbage bag and fits snugly within the bottom half of the exterior
shell. Cat litter is then poured into the interior shell. On the
bottom of the interior shell is a hinged mechanism consisting of
doors, which will open when the interior shell is lifted. This allows
the cat litter to dump directly into the garbage bag, which has
been placed inside the bottom half of the exterior shell. As the
interior shell is lifted, the cat litter flows through the trap
doors and into the awaiting garbage bag. The garbage bag is then
tied and neatly disposed. A new garbage bag is then placed within
the bottom half of the exterior shell. The cat litter is then refilled
within the interior shell of the device and the cat is now free
to use the litter box.
The novelty of this idea is the use of a trap door mechanism, which
allows the cat litter to freely flow from the interior shell to
the bottom half of the exterior shell. The doors themselves would
overlap one another so that the cat's claws do not get caught or
snag the inside of the shell or snag the garbage bag, which lies
underneath the doors.
Hinges are used so that the doors on the bottom of the interior
shell will freely open and close. This would allow the litter box
to be used without the owner having to contact any part of the litter.
Another advantage to this device is that the garbage bag, which
is used in this invention but is not part of the invention, is not
in contact with the claws of the cat. In some cat litter boxes,
which use garbage bags, the claws of the cat are in contact with
the garbage bag and frequently rip or tear the garbage bag. This
destroys the effectiveness of the garbage bag and forces the user
of the litter box to change the litter box in the usual fashion.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention is further described in the accompany drawings.
FIG. 1 is a front exploded view of the cat litter box.
FIG. 2 is a side exploded view of the cat litter box.
FIG. 3 is the top view of the interior shell showing the doors
of the cat litter box.
FIG. 4 is a front view of the interior shell showing the door mechanism.
FIG. 5 is the bottom view of the interior shell.
FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the device.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
FIGS. 1 and 2 show the device from the front and the side. In FIG.
1 this invention is depicted as a box within a box, which has the
top half of the exterior shell (#10) an interior shell (#20), a
swinging or trap door mechanism (#30), a garbage bag (#40) and the
bottom half of the exterior shell (#50). The trap door mechanism
consists of two separate doors, which swing open and shut through
the use of hinges (#35) (FIG. 3). The garbage bag (#40) is not part
of this invention but is used in conjunction with this device and
is positioned between the bottom half of the exterior shell (#50)
and the interior shell (#20). The bottom half of the exterior shell
(#50) is lined with the garbage bag and can accommodate the interior
shell (#20). The garbage bag is not part of the invention but is
required to be used as part of the invention. The garbage bag is
a standard size garbage bag or may be specifically fit to fit the
dimensions of the bottom half of the exterior shell.
The interior shell is equipped with the trap door or swinging door
mechanism (#30). The trap door mechanism is attached to the bottom
of the interior shell by hinges (#35) (FIG. 3 and FIG. 5), which
are located on the outside edges of the interior shell (#20). It
is contemplated that there will be two hinges (#35) per door (#30).
The hinges (#35) allow the trap doors (#30) to swing freely open
and close without the user of the litter box needing to touch the
trap door mechanism or the litter inside the interior shell (#20).
The top half of the exterior shell (#10) is secured to the interior
shell using locking clasps (#60). These locking clasps are not unique
to this invention but may be used in order to lift the top half
of the exterior shell and the interior shell when the litter is
being changed.
The top half of the exterior shell has a handle (#70), which is
used for carrying the litter box. The top half of the exterior shell
and the handle are not part of this invention.
An opening (#80) is provided in the top half of the exterior shell
(#10) to allow the cat ingress and egress to and from the box.
The cat litter is placed on top of the hinged trap doors (#30).
The doors would overlap in the center of the doors to prevent the
cat's claws from getting stuck on the trap door and prevent the
cat's claw from connecting with and tearing the garbage bag, which
lies underneath the interior shell (#20). The trap doors (#30) provide
a barrier between the cat litter and the garbage bag.
In its normal operation the cat owner would place a garbage bag
(#40) on the inside of the bottom half of the exterior shell (#50).
The interior shell (#20) is then placed over the garbage bag and
cat litter is poured on top of the trap door mechanism (#30). The
top half of the exterior shell (#10) is then clasped on the interior
shell of the litter box.
The cat would go into the cat litter box through the opening (#80)
and use the litter box. The cat owner, when it was necessary to
change the litter, would simply lift the interior shell (#20) in
an upward fashion. The interior shell (#20) can be attached to the
top half of the exterior shell (#10) by clasps (#60). This would
force the trap doors (#30) to be opened by the weight of the cat
litter and the cat litter would flow from the interior shell (#20)
to the garbage bag (#40). Once the litter has been emptied from
the interior shell the trap door mechanism would again shut because
the hinges (#35), which have been used to install the trap doors
(#30), force the doors shut.
This enables the consumer to empty a litter box without requiring
the user to handle the used or soiled litter. Once the soiled litter
has fallen into the garbage bag the bag is removed from the bottom
half of the exterior shell (#50) and a new garbage bag is inserted
in its place. The cat owner would then unclasp the top half of the
exterior shell (#10) from the interior shell (#20) and refill the
bottom of the interior shell (#20). The owner would then reattach
the top half of the exterior shell (#10) to the interior shell (#20)
and place the attached parts over the new garbage bag (#40), which
has been placed on the inside surface of the bottom half of the
exterior shell (#50). The cat is now in a position to again use
the litter box.
FIG. 3 shows a top view of the device with the sides of the interior
shell (#20), the top view of the trap doors (#30) and the hinges
(#35), which allow the doors (#30) to swing open and shut. There
are two identical doors (#35) hinged on the bottom of the interior
shell (#20). The hinges are located on the outer surface of the
bottom of the interior shell. FIG. 5 is a view of the interior (#20)
shell from the bottom. FIG. 6 shows a perspective view of the device
in an exploded view.
The choice of material is not material to this invention and the
use of existing material in the construction of cat litter boxes
may be used. |