FR2571217A1 - Hygienic container for a cat - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a hygienic container for cats. This container comprises a leaktight base 1 and a removable lid 2. The base 1 comprises lateral walls 3 joined to a lower wall 4 in order to form a leaktight ''cat box'' intended to contain an absorbent material 5. The lid 2 fitted onto the base 1 comprises an opening 6. The assembly is advantageous in that the container may be kept permanently, whereas the lid may be replaced at the same time as the absorbent material, or vice versa.

Description

HYGIENIC TRAY FOR CATS.
The present invention relates to toilets for domestic animals, and more particularly to a hygienic container for cats.

There are already known tubs of this type which, in their simplest version, are in the form of a sealed container, for example made of synthetic material containing an absorbent material such as for example sand, or dehydrated clay .

This type of toilet presents the annoyance that the animal, by scraping the absorbent product, then disperses the humidified product in the apartment.

To remedy this drawback, it has been proposed to use as a toilet a waterproof cardboard box filled with absorbent product, the upper face of the cardboard having an opening. The animal, placing its legs on the top of the box outside the opening, then avoids getting dirty. Furthermore, the opening being relatively small, it does not access the absorbent material and therefore cannot disperse it around the tank by scratching. After a few days of use, once the absorbent product is fully impregnated, everything is discarded and replaced with a new box.

If from the hygienic point of view such toilets are satisfactory, they have the disadvantage of being expensive, because the non-recoverable box must be made with care to be perfectly sealed.

The present invention proposes to overcome this drawback by producing a hygienic cat container, inexpensive in which the animal is neither likely to get its feet dirty nor to be tempted to reject the absorbent material outside the toilet.

For this purpose, the hygienic container according to the invention is characterized in that it comprises a sealed bottom, intended to receive an absorbent product, and a removable cover provided with an opening.

According to a preferred embodiment, the bottom of parallel piped shape is composed of a bottom wall and four walls the teral, for example of vinyl chloride, the whole forming a robust and rigid structure, allowing a prolonged use of the bottom . The cover, on its side, also has a parallel pedic shape and includes an upper wall, in which the opening is made, and four side walls. The cover or the bottom can be replaced at the same time as the absorbent product.

According to a possible embodiment, the cover of parallelepiped shape has an upper wall, in which the opening is made, and two side walls allowing the cover to slide longitudinally on the bottom. To allow the cover to be positioned with precision with respect to the bottom, the cover has a protruding part which engages in notches made in the upper part of a side wall of the bottom.

According to another possible embodiment, the cover is fixed to the notch on the bottom.

To reduce the cost of the bottom it can advantageously be made of synthetic material and have thin walls compared to those of the cover.

An advantage of the present invention is to provide a container, one of the elements of which can be reused while the other element is disposable.

Another advantage of the invention is that the bottom can be replaced easily and inexpensively, which avoids the problem of regular cleaning of the tank.

Other characteristics and advantages of the present invention will emerge from the description which follows, given with reference to the appended drawings and giving, by way of explanatory but in no way limiting example, an advantageous form of embodiment of a hygienic cat container. On these drawings where the same elements bear the same references these
FIG. 1A is a plan view of the preferred embodiment of a hygienic container according to the invention,
FIG. 1B is an elevation view in section of the tank represented in FIG. 1A along the line A - A,
FIG. 2A is a plan view of another embodiment of a container according to the invention,
FIG. 2B is a view in elevation and in section of the tank shown in FIG. 2A along the line B - B,
FIG. 3A is a plan view of another embodiment of a container according to the invention,
FIG. 3B is a view in elevation and in section of the tank represented in FIG. 3A along the line C - C, and
FIG. 3C is a side view in section of the tank shown in FIG. 3A.

With reference to FIGS. 1.R and 18, the hygienic container shown has a sealed bottom 1 and a cover? adapted. if this background. The bottom of parallelepiped shape has four side walls 3 integral with a bottom wall 4 forming a sealed container containing the absorbent material 5. This type of bottom, commonly sold under the name of "cat crate" is advantageously made of a synthetic material molded or thermoformed. The cover 2 is designed to fit on the bottom 1 so as to completely cover it, including the side walls 3. This cover has an opening 6 through which the cat deposits its needs in the absorbent material, without however having a contact with this material. The opening 6 can be adapted to the size of the cat so that even small cats cannot scratch in the sand and scatter it out of the crate. The cover can be made using any suitable material such as synthetic material, cardboard, etc. This cover can for example be designed to be replaced at the same time as the absorbent material.

The tray shown in Figures 2A and 2B constitutes an improvement of the previous tray. It again consists of a bottom 1 and a cover 2, but the assembly has a match box type arrangement, that is to say that the two elements are designed to slide one by compared to the other. The opening 6 therefore becomes perfectly adjustable and its size can be adjusted according to the age and size of the cat.

To facilitate this adjustment, the cover 2 may include a protruding part 7, in the form of a transverse rib arranged to engage in notches 8 formed in the side walls of the bottom 1.

Figures 3A, 3B and 3C show another variant of the tank according to the invention. As before, the tray has a bottom 1 and a cover 2 provided with an opening 6. The side walls 3 of the bottom 1 in this case have a flared upper belt 8 which allows a notched fixing of the cover 2. This embodiment makes it possible to fit a cover of relatively small thickness and low resistance on the more robust bottom 1. In this case, provision is made to replace the cover at the same time as the absorbent material. The cover is advantageously made from a sheet of synthetic material and shaped by thermoforming.

 The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described by way of nonlimiting examples, but extends to all the variants obvious to those skilled in the art.

In particular, one could envisage carrying out a variant in
which the relatively rigid cover constitutes the perma element
from the tray, while the bottom constitutes the disposable element. In
in this case, the bottom of flexible material can crease, or fold and
discard at the same time as the absorbent material. To this end, the bottom walls could include a central zone of least resistance along which folding is facilitated.

Another possible improvement concerns the cover which could for example be fitted with slides and a sliding hatch allowing the surface of the opening to be reduced or enlarged at will.

Claims (10)

Claims 1. Hygienic container for cats, characterized in that it comprises a sealed bottom (1), intended to receive an absorbent product (5), and a removable cover (2) provided with an opening (6). 2. Tray according to claim- 1, characterized in that the bottom (1) of parallelepiped shape is composed of a lower wall (4) and four side walls (3), the whole forming a robust and rigid structure, allowing prolonged use of the bottom. 3. Tray according to claim 1, characterized in that the cover (2) is designed to fit over the bottom and in that it is designed to form a rigid structure allowing prolonged use. 4. Tray according to claim 1, characterized in that the bottom (1) is replaced at the same time as the absorbent product (5). 5. Tray according to claim 1, characterized in that the cover (2) of parallelepiped shape comprises an upper wall in which is formed said opening (6), and four side walls (3). 6. Tray according to claim 1, characterized in that the cover (2) of parallelepiped shape comprises an upper wall in which is formed said opening (6), and two side walls allowing the cover to slide longitudinally on the bottom.  7. Tray according to claim 6, characterized in that the cover (2) has a projecting part arranged to engage in notches formed on the upper part of a side wall of the bottom so as to precisely position the cover by report to the merits. 8. Tray according to claim 1 or 6 characterized in that the cover (2) is fixed to the notch on the bottom. 9. Tray according to any one of claims 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8, characterized in that the walls (3) of the bottom (1) are thin relative to the walls of the cover (2). 10. Tray according to any one of claims 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 or 9, characterized in that the cover (2) is realjsé synthetic material.