Abstrict A portable cat litter box adjustably mountable on a toilet bowl
is provided with the litter box equipped with a trap door and trap
door opening mechanism for dumping litter from the box directly
into a toilet bowl for ease of litter disposal. A pull member connected
to the trap door is moveable from a forward trap door closed position
to a pulled out trap door opened position tilted downward from a
rear pivot mount structure. Opposite side slotted cam guide structure
for the trap door opening and closing are mounted on the bottom
of the cat litter box with rod segments mounted on a back and forth
trap door movement structure and extended into the oposite side
cam guides.
Claims We claim:
1. An animal litter box, with a trap door, mountable on a toiled
bowl comprising: a generally elongate animal litter box having sidewall
means and a bottom; mounting means for mounting of the animal litter
box on top of a toilet bowl; a sidewalled well opening with significantly
smaller cross sectional area than the bottom of said litter box
depending from the animal litter box for holding litter and waste
from an animal using the litter box; an opening and closing trap
door means on said sidewalled well opening mounted with hinge means
to the bottom of said animal litter box; and single trap door opening
and closing means mounted on said animal litter box and connected
to said trap door means for opening and closing of the trap door
means to dump litter and animal waste from said sidewalled well
opening directly into the toiled bowl when opened and to retain
litter placed in said sidewalled well opening when said trap door
means is closed; wherein said sidewalled well opening and said trap
door opening and closing means are mounted under a forward portion
of said animal litter box; said trap door opening and closing means
includes a manual pull member extending from said trap door means
to beneath a forward portion of said animal litter box; wherein
said manual pull member is a trap door bracket lever moveable from
an inner trap door means closed position to an outer trap door means
opening position; said sidewalled well opening is a rectangular
opening with parallel opposite side walls and parallel front and
back walls; said trap door means includes a hinge mounted rectangular
trap door member which is wider than, and extends beyond, said parallel
opposite side walls; said trap door bracket lever has a transversly
widened head with a forward transverse edge and upwardly extended
brackets on opposite sides thereof, and short inwardly extended
pins mounted on said brackets that together with said transverse
edge act as a guide for said trap door through a range of opening
and closing movement; said opposite side upwardly extended brackets
mounting outwardly extended cam following pins; and opposite side
cam slot means engaged by said cam following pins for guiding said
bracket lever and said trap door through its range of opening and
closing movement.
2. The animal litter box, with a trap door, mountable on a toilet
bowl of claim 1 wherein said trap door member is mounted by a plastic
transverse flex hinge as hinge means mounting said trap door member
to the bottom of said animal litter box.
3. An animal litter box, with a trap door, mountable on a toilet
bowl comprising: a generally elongate litter box having side wall
means and a bottom; nounting means for mounting of the animal litter
box on top of a toilet bowl; a sidewalled well opening with significantly
smaller cross sectional area than the bottom of said litter box
depending from the animal litter box for holding litter and waste
from an animal using the litter box; an opening and closing trap
door means on said sidewalled well opening mounted with hinge means
to the bottom of said animal litter box; and single trap door means
opening and closing means mounted on said animal litter box and
connected to said trap door means for opening and closing of the
trap door means to dump litter and animal waste from said sidewalled
well opening directly into the toilet bowl when opened and retain
litter placed in said sidewalled well opening when said trap door
is closed; wherein said sidewalled well opening and said trap door
opening and closing means are mounted beneath a forward portion
of said animal litter box; adjustable mounting means is provided
for adjusting back and forth movement through a range of position
settings for mounting said litter box on top of a toilet bowl; said
adjustable mounting means is a mounting plate mounted in place on
a toilet bowl by bolts that are the toilet seat mounting bolts;
said mounting plate having parallel opposite side slots through
which said seat mounting bolts extend with the slots providing said
range of position settings; said mounting plate including a plurality
of mounting pin openings; said animal litter box includes mounting
structure means under said animal litter box bottom; and a plurality
of mounting pins in said mounting structure means positioned for
mounting insertion in said plurality of mounting pin openings in
said mounting plate.
4. The animal litter box, with a trap door, mountable on a toilet
bowl of claim 3 wherein at least one of said plurality of mounting
pins has a slotted bottom for opposite pin slot sides to resiliently
snap outward as a snap in place fitting through an opening of said
plurality of mounting pin openings.
5. The animal litter box, with a trap door, mountable on a toilet
bowl of claim 3 wherein said mounting plate has a curved edge matching
curvature of the toilet seat such that a left in place mounting
plate is generally hidden under the toilet seat when the seat is
is in the lowered state.
Description This invention relates in general to portable cat litter boxes,
and more particularly, to an opening and closing trap door equipped
cat litter box mountable on and adjustable to various toilet bowls
at locations of convenience for cats when mounted on a toilet bowl.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The cat litter box is useable on a toilet bowl but also a litter
box standing on the floor and after use placeable on a toilet bowl
for disposing of cat waste into a toilet bowl. Cats and other animals
in the pet category have a tendency to relieve themselves out of
doors, on lawns, flower beds, streets and sidewalks with the resulting
unsatisfactory conditions annoying and inconveniencing many people.
Housing in urban areas has been changing with a trend from free
standing houses surrounded by lawns and gardens to apartments with
little if any attached lawn space. Cats have been provided with
indoor facilities such as a pan containing absorbent material, i.e.
cat litter boxes, unsatisfactory in some respects such as expense,
odor and with repeated frequent clean up being imposed. Animals
generally continue to deposit wastes on the surface of the ground
with it being an inherited trait to cover their own faces with dirt.
Man is now trying to clean up after animals, an unpleasant task,
getting rid of collected excretement by, among various disposal
approaches, throwing it into a sewage system via a toilet.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore a principal object of this invention to provide
a toilet bowl mountable cat litter making follow clean up optiminally
efficient.
Another object is to provide such a cat litter box useable standing
on the floor and mounted in place on a toilet bowl.
A further object is to provide such a cat litter box capable of
dumping used litter from the box directly into a toilet bowl.
Still another object is to minimize if not eliminate human handling
of used cat litter and to eliminate dipping of cat waste from a
cat litter box.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Features of the invention in accomplishing the above objects include,
in a toilet bowl mountable trap door equipped cat litter box, a
portable cat litter box adjustably mountable on a toilet bowl with
the litter box having a litter containing well opening bottomed
with a trap door. Opening and closing mechanism is provided for
the trap door for dumping litter and animal waste from the litter
containing well of the box directly into a toilet bowl for ease
of sanitary litter disposal. A pull member connected to the trap
door is moveable from a forward trap door closed position to a pulled
out trap door opened position tilted downward from a rear pivot
mount structure. With one embodiment opposite side slotted cam guides
for the trap door opening and closing structure are mounted on the
bottom of a cat litter box with rod segments mounted on a back and
forth trap door movement structure extended into the opposite side
cam guides.
Specific embodiments representing what are presently regarded as
the best mode of carrying out the invention are illustrated in the
accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In the drawings:
FIG. 1 represents a top plan view of a cat litter box with a mounting
bracket;
FIG. 2 a partially cut away and sectioned back elevation view
of the cat litter box with the mounting bracket lowered from the
box;
FIG. 3 a broken away and sectioned side elevation view of the
cat litter box mounted in place on the bowl of a toilet;
FIG. 4 a bottom plan view of the cat litter box;
FIG. 5 an exploded view of the mounting bracket and bolts for
the cat litter box of FIGS. 1-4;
FIG. 6 a view taken along line 6--6 of FIG. 1 showing cat litter
box mounting plate and pin detail;
FIG. 7 a top plan view of another cat litter box embodiment mounted
in place on a toilet bowl;
FIG. 8 a partial cut away and sectioned side elevation view of
the cat litter box of FIG. 7 mounted on a toilet bowl;
FIG. 9 a bottom plan view of the cat litter box of FIGS. 7 and
8;
FIG. 10 a partial cut away and sectioned side elevation view of
the cat litter box like the showing of FIG. 8 except that the trap
door opening and closing member is pulled out to the open state
from the closed state of FIG. 8; and
FIG. 11 a cut away view along line 11--11 of FIG. 9 of an adjustable
position ratchet bracket as adjustably positioned for the mounting
of a cat litter box on a toilet bowl.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The cat litter box 20 of FIGS. 1-6 is shown to be a rectangular
pan 21 molded of plastic, having a lower depending circular well
portion 22 in the rear of the bottom 23 of the rectangular pan 21.
A trap door 24 is mounted by hinges 25 on a straight transverse
forward wall 26 of the well portion subject to opening by the forces
of gravity when trap door positioning rod 27 is pulled from a trap
door closed state outward to the open state indicated in phantom
in FIG. 3. The trap door positioning rod 27 is shown to have a rounded
rear end 28 that when positioned in the rearward most trap door
closed state rests on the top of transverse member 29 of the cat
litter box bottom mounting structure 30. Rod 27 is mounted in and
slidable back and forth through elongate rod opening 31 in box bottom
boss 32. The rectangular pan 21 has a lowered forward entrance edge
33 for ease of cat entry when jumping therein and full height opposite
side edges 34 and 35 and rear edge 36. Mounting plate 37 for the
cat litter box 20 is mounted in place on a toilet bowl 38 by the
toilet seat and lid mounting bolts 41 extended through parallel
opposite side slots 42L and 42R that provide for position adjustment
of the mounting plate 37 which is left in place hidden under the
toilet seat 39 and lid 40 when the seat is in the lowered state.
Mounting plate 37 has a curved cut away front edge 43 matching
curvature of the overlying toilet seat 39 and has three mounting
pin openings 44 44R and 44L that receive, respectively, cat litter
box mounting and positioning pins 45 45R and 45L mounted in and
extending downward from transverse member 29 of mounting structure
30. It is of interest to note that the bottom of pin 45 has a slot
46 so that opposite sides 47 and 48 of the pin (mirror images of
each other) can resiliently snap outward as a snap in place fitting
through opening 44 in mounting plate 37. Cat litter 49 is placed
in circular well portion 22 filling the well up to within approximately
some quarter of an inch to one half inch from the top. This volume
of cat litter is a relatively small amount of litter 49 which is
dumped into the toilet bowl 38 each time the trap door 24 is opened
by grasping rod knob 50 and pulling the rod 27 out to the trap door
24 open state as shown in phantom in FIG. 3.
The cat litter box 20' embodiment of FIGS. 7-11 is also shown to
be, generally, a rectangular pan 21', molded of plastic, having
a lower depending rectangular well portion 22' in rear of the bottom
23' of the rectangular pan 21'. A rectangular trap door 24' is mounted
by a plastic tranverse flex hinge 25' that is thinner than the plastic
mount extension 51 and the rectangular sheet of plastic forming
the trap door 24' itself. The plastic mount extension 51 extends
through aligned slots 52 in mount members 53 fastened to the bottom
of the pan 21'. The trap door 24' opening and closing positioning
structure also includes a trap door bracket lever 54 moveable from
an inner trap door closed position to an outer open position shown
in FIG. 10.
The cat litter box 20' is placeable on the top 55 of a toilet bowl
38' and also has four corner legs 56 57 58 and 59 for placing
the box 20' on the floor or other flat surface. The four corner
legs 56 57 58 and 59 are positioned such that they clear the outside
of the top 55 of the toilet bowl 38' when placed thereon. Opposite
side bottom webs 60L, 61L, 60R and 61R rest on the toilet bowl top
55 along with the forward bottom spaced parallel webs 62L and 62R
and also cross bracket 63 mounted with webs 62L and 62 R on the
bottom of the box 20'. Cross bracket 63 is a guide permitting articulation
of the trap door bracket lever 54 in its movement from the trap
door closed state of FIGS. 8 and 9 to the open state of FIG. 10.
The forward end of bracket lever 54 under trap door 24' is in the
form of a transversly widened head 64 having a forward transverse
edge 65 and opposite side upwardly extended brackets including left
bracket 66L and a right hand bracket mounting short inwardly extended
pins 67L and 67R that along with edge 65 act as a guide for the
trap door 24' through its range of opening and closing movement.
Pins 67L and to a right hand pin overlie the edges of trap door
24' which are extended beyond the opposite sides of the rectangular
well portion 22'. The opposite side upwardly extended brackets 66L
and 66R also mount outwardly extended cam following pins 68L and
68R that extend into and ride along cam grooves 69L and a right
hand groove in opposite side cam brackets 70L and 70R that extend
downwardly from their mountings to the bottom of the pan 21'. Cam
grooves 69L and 69R each have an upper rear end portion 70 and a
lower forward end portion 71 that are joined by intermediate slanted
portion 72 to guide positioning of the trap door 24' from the closed
state to the open state and back again to the closed state.
At the rearward center portion of the cat litter box 20' there
is a bracket 73 having spaced parallel side walls 74L and 74R joined
by an interconnecting wall 75. The walls 74L and 74R have downward
fixed position extensions 76L and 76R with bottom rearwardly directed
projections 77L and 77R extended below the lip 78 of the toilet
bowl top 55. Toward the front of cat litter box 20', forward from
rectangular well portion 22', adjustable position downwardly extended
latch extensions 79L and 79R have toilet bowl rim lip 78 facing
and engaging latch projections 80L and 80R. The latch extensions
79L and 79R each have a rectangular flanged top 81 contained in
a rectangular opening 82 in a pull bracket 83 with an outer end
handle 84 and a bottom position locking detent 85 that is adjustably
positionable in any one of a series of detent grooves 86 in bracket
channel cover 87. A left channel and right channel 88R that guide
pull brackets 83 in their adjustment movements at forty five degree
angles right and left from opposite sides of the axis of lever 54
are formed in bracket members 89L and 89R fastened to the forward
half of the bottom 23' of rectangular pan 21'. The bracket channel
covers 87 are bonded in place over channels 88L and 88R and have
elongate slots 90 through which latch extensions 79L and 79R extend
throughout their full range of back and forth adjustment positioning.
Please note that the animal litter box 20' can include a pan liner
91 fitted to the pan 21' with the pan liner 91 having a depending
well opening skirt 92.
Whereas this invention has been described with respect to several
embodiments thereof, it should be realized that various changes
may be made without departure from the essential contributions to
the art made by the teachings hereof. |