Abstrict A disposable cat litter container having the animal litter material
prepackaged in the container. The container has a rectangularly
shaped top wall member having a central perforated tear-out portion.
Extending upwardly from the lateral edges of the top member are
a pair of inside side walls and a pair of inside end walls. The
top edges of these respective inside walls have outside side walls
and outside end walls attached to their top edges. The outside walls
have a height greater than that of the inside walls and each of
these have inwardly extending flanges along their bottom edges.
A bottom cover member covers the chamber formed between the bottom
surface of the top wall member and the inwardly extending flanges
on the outside wall members. This chamber is filled with a predetermined
amount of animal litter material. The container, with the exception
of the bottom cover member, is formed from a single integral sheet
of paperboard material.
Claims What is claimed is:
1. A disposable container with litter for animals compising:
a top wall member in the form of an elongated sheet of material
having a front edge and rear edge and lateral side edges, said top
wall member having a central perforated tear-out portion;
a pair of inside end walls and a pair of inside side walls having
their bottom edges connected to the respective side edges and end
edges of said top wall member;
a pair of outside end walls and a pair of outside side walls having
their top edges connected to the respective top edges of said inside
end walls and said inside side walls, said outside end walls and
said outside side walls having a height greater than that of said
inside end walls and said inside side walls, respectively;
means for attaching a bottom cover member to the bottom of said
outside walls comprising inwardly extending flanges;
a bottom cover member;
a chamber formed between the bottom surface of said top wall member,
said end walls, said side walls, and said bottom cover member; and
said chamber being filled with a predetermined amount of animal
litter material.
2. A disposable container as recited in claim 1 wherein said top
wall member, said pair of inside end walls, said pair of inside
side walls, said pair of outside end walls, said pair of outside
side walls, and the inwardly extending flanges of said outside wall
members are formed from a single integral sheet of material.
3. A disposable container as recited in claim 1 wherein the top
edges of said end walls and the top edges of said side walls are
longer than the bottom edges of said respective end walls and side
walls.
Description BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a container for the waste material
of trained house pets, and more particularly, to a disposable container
for cats for use in their waste elimination.
Various types of particulated materials are sold for use as cat
litter to provide a convienient place and means in the home for
cats to perform their natural instinct of burying their feces and
to provide an easy way to collect and dispose of the cat's waste.
The litter material is normally sold in bags and is emptied into
a box, pan or other container with low side walls and of sufficient
size for the cat to stand in it and scratch the litter material
without scattering the material outside the container. The litter
containers used by the cat are often difficult to clean, in that
the urine often filters down through the litter and settles in the
bottom where the litter becomes permanently moist or saturated,
making its removeable from the container a tedious and unpleasant
task. In view of the effort involved in disposing of the waste and
cleaning the cat litter container, disposable containers have been
tried and used on a limited basis, but more of these have had certain
inherent disadvantages, such as the unreliability of the container
to retain the particulated material and urine, instability of the
container, particularly the side walls, and the excess expense of
providing a dependable disposable container each time the litter
is discarded.
Is therefore one of the principal objects of the present invention
to provide a folded cat litter box which is simple to open and easy
to place in use.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a novel disposable
cat litter box that is economical to produce and sturdy in construction.
It is another object of the invention to provide a packaged disposable
cat litter container which requires no reuse washing and is convenient
for disposing of the waste.
It is another object of the invention to provide a novel disposable
cat litter container that has the cat litter material prepackaged
in the container.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a novel disposable
cat litter container which is simple and convenient to construct
from a paperboard blank.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a disposable cat litter container
formed of paperboard which is preferably waterproof coated or of
a waterproof laminate material to be waterproofed. The disposable
container has a rectangularly shaped top wall member having a central
perforated tear-out portion. Extending upwardly from the lateral
edges of the top wall member are the inside end walls and the inside
side walls. A pair of outside side walls and a pair of outside end
walls are connected to the respective top edges of the inside side
walls and inside end walls. The bottom edges of the outside side
walls and outside end walls have inwardly extending flanges. The
height of the outside walls is greater than that of the inside walls
thereby providing a chamber formed between the bottom surface of
the top wall member and the bottom edges of the outside walls. The
bottom of this chamber is closed by a bottom cover member and the
chamber is filled with a predetermined amount of animal litter material
which is moisture absorbant and also preferably contains a deodorant.
The novel disposable cat litter container, with the exception of
the bottom cover member, is formed from a single integral sheet
of paperboard material. The novel disposable container would be
purchased as a completely self contained unit and all that would
be necessary in order to put into operation, would be to tear along
the perforated line on the top surface of the top wall member to
remove the central perforated tear-out portion. When the disposable
container has been used for a sufficient amount of time, all that
is necessary is to disposed of the complete unit rather than having
to empty the litter material out and clean the container for reuse.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a blank from which the disposable
cat litter container is formed;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1
folded into its functioning configuration;
FIG. 3 is a bottom perspective view of the novel disposable cat
litter container illustrating the bottom cover member partially
installed; and
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along lines 4--4 of FIG.
2.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Applicant's novel disposable cat litter container will be described
by referring to FIGS. 1-4 of the drawings. The disposable container
is generally designated numeral 10. Disposable container 10 is formed
from two components, an elongated sheet of material 12 and the bottom
cover member 14.
The sheet of material 12 has a rectangularly shaped top wall member
16 having a central perforated tear-out portion 18. A pair of inside
end walls 20 and 21 and a pair of inside side walls 22 and 23 have
their bottom edges connected to the respective side edges and end
edges of top wall member 16. Inside end walls 20 and 21 and inside
side walls 22 and 23 are bent upwardly from top wall member 16.
Outside end walls 24 and 25 and outside side walls 26 and 27 have
their top edges connected to the respective top edges of the inside
end walls and inside side walls. The outside end walls and outside
side walls are bent downwardly and they have a height greater than
that of the inside end walls and inside side walls, respectively.
Flanges 30 and 31 are attached to the bottom edges of outside end
walls 24 and 25 and are bent inwardly. Flanges 32 and 33 are attached
to the bottom edges of outside walls 26 and 27 respectively, and
they are bent inwardly (see FIG. 4). Bottom cover member 14 covers
the chamber 40 formed between the bottom surface of top wall member
16 and the inwardly extending flanges 30-33. Chamber 40 is filled
with a predetermined amount of animal litter material 42.
It is to be understood that although the preferred embodiment is
described as being made of paperboard, there are other materials
that could be used such as plastic, styrofoam, etc. |