Animal litter box

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10076098-B2
Application number	US-201214232235-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 17, 2012
Priority date	Jul 13, 2011
Publication date	Sep 18, 2018
Grant date	Sep 18, 2018

Abstract

An animal litter box has a transverse direction, a longitudinal direction and a vertical direction and includes a lower container having an opening at an upper end thereof and allocated on the lower side, an upper side cover allocated above the lower container and a liquid passable litter tray interposed between the upper side cover and the lower container and cooperating with the lower container to close the opening. The lower container has an excrement tray provided so as to be manually movable in the longitudinal direction between a put-in position at which the excrement tray is set within the receiving space below the liquid passable litter tray and a drawn out position outside the receiving space and an end opening through which the excrement tray is put into or drawn out from the receiving space.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An animal litter box having a transverse direction, a longitudinal direction, a vertical direction, and an imaginary longitudinal centerline bisecting a dimension of the litter box in the transverse direction, said litter box comprising:
a lower container having an upper opening,
an upper side cover placed on the lower container, and
a liquid passable litter tray interposed between the upper side cover and the lower container and cooperating with the lower container to close the upper opening to define a receiving space in such a manner that liquid is flowable through the liquid passable litter tray into the receiving space,

wherein
the lower container has
an excrement tray manually movable in the longitudinal direction between a put-in position at which the excrement tray is set within the receiving space below the liquid passable litter tray and a drawn out position outside the receiving space,
a bottom wall configured to be located below the excrement tray when the excrement tray is at the put-in position, and
an end opening through which the excrement tray is put into or drawn out from the receiving space,

the excrement tray has
a bottom wall, and
a plurality of side walls formed along a peripheral edge of the bottom wall and adapted to be put in contact with a flap of an absorbent structure, the flap extending along a peripheral edge of the absorbent structure when the absorbent structure is disposed in the excrement tray, and the plurality of side walls including first and second side walls formed in a tilted manner and gradually distanced away from each other as the first and second side walls extend upward,

the liquid passable litter tray has
a liquid passable region including a plurality of through-holes, and
a non-liquid passable region extending along a peripheral edge of the liquid passable region and not including the plurality of through-holes,

the excrement tray includes a groove adjacent to the first side wall, the groove configured to receive a user's finger inserted therein for manual movement of the excrement tray between the put-in position and the drawn out position,
the groove includes
a horizontal portion horizontally extending in the longitudinal direction directly from a top end of the first side wall,
a protrusion portion protruding downward from an end of the horizontal portion and facing the first side wall, wherein a dimension of the protrusion portion in the vertical direction is smaller than a dimension of the first side wall in the vertical direction, and
a concave portion between the first side wall and the protrusion portion in the longitudinal direction, the concave portion located below the non-liquid passable region of the liquid passable litter tray,

the protrusion portion of the groove of the excrement tray and the bottom wall of the lower container are spaced apart in the vertical direction to define a clearance,
the protrusion portion has an opening facing upward in the vertical direction,
the protrusion portion has an outer wall defining an outer peripheral surface of the excrement tray,
the outer peripheral surface of the excrement tray extends along and is flush with an outer peripheral surface of the lower container in the vertical direction,
a distance between an upper end of the bottom wall of the lower container and a lower end of the protrusion portion in the clearance has a maximum value on the imaginary longitudinal center line, and
the distance gradually decreases from the imaginary longitudinal center line towards the first and second side walls in the transverse direction.

2. The animal litter box according to claim 1 , wherein the first side wall extends within an imaginary region defined by a first imaginary straight line extending at an angle of 80° relative to a horizontal plane and a second imaginary straight line extending at an angle of 20° relative to the horizontal plane.

3. The animal litter box according to claim 1 , wherein
a total area of (i) the bottom wall of the excrement tray and (ii) the plurality of side walls is larger than an area of the liquid passable region, and
when the excrement tray is set at the put-in position, the liquid passable region is immediately above the bottom wall of the excrement tray and the plurality of side walls.

4. The animal litter box according to claim 3 , wherein
the area of the liquid passable region is larger than the area of the bottom wall of the excrement tray, and
when the excrement tray is set at the put-in position, the bottom wall is below the liquid passable region.

5. The animal litter box according to claim 1 , wherein
an area of the bottom wall of the excrement tray is larger than an area of the liquid passable region, and
when the excrement tray is set at the put-in position, the liquid passable region is above the bottom wall of the excrement tray.

6. The animal litter box according to claim 1 , wherein a length dimension of each of the first and second side walls along a tilted surface thereof is in a range of 15 mm to 50 mm.

7. The animal litter box according to claim 1 , wherein a length dimension of each of the first and second side walls in the vertical direction is in a range of 5.1 mm to 49.3 mm.

8. The animal litter box according to claim 1 , wherein
the bottom wall of the excrement tray is rectangular as seen in a planar view of the excrement tray, and
the liquid passable region of the liquid passable litter tray is rectangular as seen in a planar view of the liquid passable litter tray.

9. The animal litter box according to claim 1 , wherein the non-liquid passable region outside the liquid passable region is free of through holes.

10. The animal litter box according to claim 9 , wherein
a dimension of the liquid passable region in the transverse direction is greater than a dimension of the bottom wall of the excrement tray in the transverse direction, and is less than a distance between said first and second side walls in the transverse direction.

11. The animal litter box according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of side walls further includes third and fourth side walls formed in a tilted manner and gradually distanced away from each other as said third and fourth side walls extend upward.

12. The animal litter box according to claim 1 , wherein
the non-liquid passable region of the liquid passable litter tray includes
a first sloped region contiguously extending from the liquid passable region at a first angle with respect to the horizontal direction,
a second sloped region contiguously extending from a peripheral edge of the liquid passable litter tray at a second angle with respect to the horizontal direction, and
an intermediate region connecting the first and second sloped regions to each other and extending at a third angle with respect to the horizontal direction, and

the first angle, the second angle, and the third angle are different from each other.

13. The animal litter box according to claim 12 , wherein
the first angle is smaller than the second angle.

14. The animal litter box according to claim 12 , wherein
the liquid passable litter tray has two transverse sides opposing each other in the transverse direction, and two longitudinal sides opposing each other in the longitudinal direction, and
the intermediate region is provided at the two transverse sides of the liquid passable litter tray and is absent at the two longitudinal sides of the liquid passable litter tray.

15. The animal litter box according to claim 12 , wherein
the first and second sloped regions and the

Assignees

• Matsuo Takayuki
• Sogou Tatsuya
• Unicharm Corp

Inventors

• Matsuo Takayuki
• Sogou Tatsuya

Classifications

• A01K1/0114

  Litter boxes with screens for separating excrement from litter · CPC title

• A01K1/0107 Primary

  Cat trays; Dog urinals; Toilets for pets · CPC title