Abstrict A cat litter box cleaner utilizes a slotted litter shovel on the
end of a hand held container. The container includes a spring loaded
door which permits a user to scoop up cat litter, shake the litter
through the slots in the shovel, and then depress a button which
releases the door so as to allow fecal material to fall into the
container. A disposable plastic bag is retained within the container
so as to facilitate the disposal of the waste material. The container
is removable from the scoop head for purposes of removing the bag.
When a bag is not used, a battery powered fan drier can be utilized
to remove moisture from the fecal material before disposal.
Claims What is claimed as being new and desired to be protected by Letters
Patent of the United States is as follows:
1. A new and improved cat litter box cleaner comprising:
container means,
shovel means for collecting litter and sifting said litter through
at least open slot formed in said shovel means, thereby to remove
fecal matter from said litter;
guide means for directing said fecal matter to a movable closure
pivotally mounted on said container means; and
opening means for pivotally opening said movable closure, whereby
said fecal matter may be collected within said container means,
said opening means comprising a slidably movable button abuttable
against an arm, said arm being pivotally attached to a retention
ring means mounted on said container means, said arm being abuttable
against said closure so as to selectively force an opening of said
closure to facilitate a collecting of fecal matter.
2. The new and improved cat box litter cleaner as described in
claim 1 wherein said closure comprises a spring loaded door mounted
on said container means.
3. The new and improved cat box litter cleaner as described in
claim 2 and further including a disposable bag selectively positionable
within said container means.
4. The new and improved cat box litter cleaner as described in
claim 2 and further including a fecal matter drying means mounted
to said container means.
5. The new and improved cat box litter cleaner as described in
claim 4 wherein said fecal matter drying means comprises a fan
assembly for facilitating a flow of air over said fecal matter to
accomplish a drying thereof.
6. A new and improved cat litter box cleaner comprising:
container means,
a retainer ring, said container means being removably connectable
to said retainer ring,
shovel means for collecting litter and sifting said litter through
at least one slot formed in said shovel means, thereby to separate
fecal matter from said litter, said shovel means being supported
by said retainer ring,
closure means movably mounted on said retainer ring and adapted
in a first position to prevent access to said container means and
in a second selectively operable position to permit access to said
container means, and
selectively operable means on said retainer ring coupled to said
closure means for movably operating said closure means between said
first position and said second position whereby said fecal matter
may be collected within said container means, and wherein said shovel
means is removably connectable to said retainer ring.
Description BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cat litter boxes and more particularly
pertains to the screening and disposal of fecal matter from cat
litter.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of fecal removing screens in cat litter boxes is well known
in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2963003 which issued
to Oberg et al. on Dec. 6 1960 discloses an indoor pet sand box
which includes a separator or sieve comprising a frame with handles
and an openwork material positioned within the frame. The openwork
material allows sand to drop into the sand box while retaining fecal
matter for the purposes of disposal. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4802442
which issued to M. Wilson on Feb. 7 1989 discloses a cat litter
screening device which utilizes a mesh material attached to handles
wherein such mesh is of a size which allows litter to drop therethrough
while capturing the fecal material to be disposed of U.S. Pat. No.
4817560 which issued to Prince et al. on Apr. 4 1989 discloses
a further litter box sifter wherein the sifter element is in the
form of a basket whereby litter may be sifted through the basket
while the retention of fecal material for disposal is made possible.
As can be appreciated, the above-described prior art devices are
functional for their intended purposes; however, all of these prior
art devices are designed to be permanently mounted within a pet
litter box and do not provide a simple means for collecting and
disposing of the fecal matter once the same has been captured within
a sieve structure. Further, these prior art devices are large and
bulky and must be permanently mounted within a litter box. Accordingly,
there would appear to exist a need for new and improved fecal matter
removing devices which could more easily and efficiently accomplish
the function of removing fecal matter from a litter container and
in this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this
need.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types
of litter box cleaners now present in the prior art, the present
invention provides an improved litter box cleaner construction wherein
the same can be utilized to remove and package fecal matter in an
easy and efficient manner. As such, the general purpose of the present
invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail,
is to provide a new and improved cat litter box cleaner which has
all the advantages of the prior art cat litter box cleaners and
none of the disadvantages.
To attain this, the present invention essentially comprises a cat
litter box cleaner which utilizes a slotted litter shovel on the
end of a hand held container. The container includes a spring loaded
door which permits a user to scoop up cat litter, shake the litter
through the slots in the shovel, and then depress a button which
releases the door so as to allow fecal material to fall into the
container. A disposable plastic bag is retained within the container
so as to facilitate the disposal of the waste material. The container
is removable from the scoop head for purposes of removing the bag.
When a bag is not used, a battery powered fan drier can be utilized
to remove moisture from the fecal material before disposal.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important
features of the invention in order that the detailed description
thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that
the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There
are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be
described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of
the claims appended hereto.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the
invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is
not limited in its application to the details of construction and
to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following
description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable
of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various
ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology
employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not
be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception,
upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as
a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems
for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention.
It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including
such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from
the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Further, the purpose of the foregoing abstract is to enable the
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially
the scientists, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not
familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine
quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the
technical disclosure of the application. The abstract is neither
intended to define the invention of the application, which is measured
by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the scope
of the invention in any way.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a
new and improved cat litter box cleaner which has all the advantages
of the prior art cat litter box cleaners and none of the disadvantages.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a new
and improved cat litter box cleaner which may be easily and efficiently
manufactured and marketed.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a new
and improved cat litter box cleaner which is of a durable and reliable
construction.
An even further object of the present invention is to provide a
new and improved cat litter box cleaner which is susceptible of
a low cost of manufacture with regard to both materials and labor,
and which accordingly is then susceptible of low prices of sale
to the consuming public, thereby making such cat litter box cleaners
economically available to the buying public.
Still yet another object of the present invention is to provide
a new and improved cat litter box cleaner which provides in the
apparatuses and methods of the prior art some of the advantages
thereof, while simultaneously overcoming some of the disadvantages
normally associated therewith.
These together with other objects of the invention, along with
the various features of novelty which characterize the invention,
are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and
forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of
the invention, its operating advantages and the specific objects
attained by its uses, reference should be had to the accompanying
drawings and descriptive matter in which there is illustrated preferred
embodiments of the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will be better understood and objects other than
those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is
given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description
makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the cat litter box cleaner comprising
the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of the invention.
FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view of the invention showing the
same in a disassembled form.
FIG. 4 is a side elevation view of a second embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the second embodiment.
FIG. 6 is an end elevation view of the invention as viewed along
the line 6--6 in FIG. 4.
FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram applicable to the second embodiment
of the invention.
FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the second embodiment of the invention
showing the same in a partially disassembled form.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to FIGS.
1-3 thereof, a new and improved cat box litter cleaner embodying
the principles and concepts of the present invention and generally
designated by the reference numeral 10 will be described.
More specifically, it will be noted that the cat box litter cleaner
10 essentially comprises a removable container or housing 12 attached
to a rectangularly shaped retention ring 14 by any conventional
means. In this regard, it is envisioned that the container 12 will
be designed to hold an unillustrated plastic bag to facilitate the
disposal of fecal matter and will be removably press fitted into
a groove formed in the retention ring 14.
The retention ring 14 is provided with an integral handle structure
16 having a button guide slot 18 formed therein. A slidable push
button 20 is positionable within the slot 18 and is selectively
abuttable against a pivot arm 22 which is pivotally attached to
the handle 16 by a pivot shaft 24. A spring loaded door 26 is pivotally
attached within the central opening 28 of the retention ring 14
with such door being attached to the retention ring 14 by a rotatable
shaft 30. A spring member 32 is attached between the retention ring
14 and the door 26 to hold the door in a normally closed position.
A shovel or scoop 34 can be of either a planar or curved construction,
and is removably attachable to the retention ring 14 through the
use of an extended arm 36. The arm 36 is engagable with an integral
slot 38 formed in and extending through the retention ring 14 with
the arm further extending into a holding slot 40 integrally formed
as a part of the container 12. A frictional grip is all that is
required to hold the arm 36 within the combined slots 3840 whereby
an easy removal of the scoop 34 is afforded simply by pulling the
same away from the retention ring 14.
While all shapes and sizes of a shovel 34 are envisioned to be
encompassed by the present invention, it can be seen that the embodiment
illustrated in FIG. 3 includes a plurality of through-extending
slots 42 which are aligned across the planar surface 44 of the scoop
34 and side edges 46 48 are designed to extend upwardly to more
effectively hold and guide a quantity of cat litter on the shovel.
With respect to the manner of operation of this first embodiment
of the invention as shown in FIGS. 1-3 it can be appreciated that
when the cat box litter cleaner 10 is in its assembled form as shown
in FIG. 1 a user can lift a quantity of cat litter from a litter
box by means of the shovel 34. Through a gentle shaking of the cleaner
10 litter will drop through the plurality of slots 42 and fecal
matter will be retained on the shovel 34. By pointing the cleaner
10 upwardly, the fecal matter will drop downwardly onto the spring
loaded door 26 and a user can then move the button 20 forwardly
so as to cause the arm 22 to pivot around its pivot shaft 24. A
bottom end portion 50 of the arm 22 will press against the door
26 so as to pivot it inwardly into the container 12 thus allowing
the fecal matter to drop into the container in a now apparent matter.
If a disposable plastic bag is used to capture the fecal matter,
it can be later removed from the container 12 and disposed of without
any soiling of the cleaner 10.
FIGS. 4-8 disclose a second embodiment of the invention which is
generally designated by the reference 52. In this embodiment, most
of the components are the same as described with reference to the
embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1-3; however, a fan drying unit
54 is now mounted in a top surface 56 of the container 12. The fan
drying unit 54 is designed to be used in those situations where
a disposable plastic bag is not available. The fan 54 can be powered
by a single battery 58 and is operated by an on/off switch 60 in
a conventional manner and as particularly illustrated in FIG. 7.
The battery 58 may be retained within a battery holding compartment
62 molded into a rear end portion 64 of the container 12 and a
plurality of screen covered air intake slots 66 can be molded into
a bottom portion 68 of the container to serve as a means of allowing
air to be drawn into the container and upwardly through the fan
54.
The manner of operation of the second embodiment of the invention
is identical to that of the first embodiment 10 with the exception
that no plastic disposal bag is utilized and the fan 54 operates
to dry the fecal matter to facilitate its later removal from the
container. More specifically, when the fan 54 is operated by the
battery 58 air is drawn inwardly through the plurality of air intake
slots 66 moves through the fecal matter so as to affect a drying
thereof, and is discharged through the topmost position screen covered
fan 54.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized
that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of the
invention, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form,
function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily
apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent
relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described
in the specification are intended to be encompassed by the present
invention.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of
the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications
and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is
not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and
operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications
and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of
the invention. |