GB2302533A

GB2302533A - Sealable container

Info

Publication number: GB2302533A
Application number: GB9612827A
Authority: GB
Inventors: John Douglas Knight
Original assignee: Arkimedes Ltd
Current assignee: Arkimedes Ltd
Priority date: 1995-06-24
Filing date: 1996-06-19
Publication date: 1997-01-22
Anticipated expiration: 2016-06-19
Also published as: GB2302533A8; WO1997001271A1; AU6133696A; GB2302533B; GB9513016D0; GB9612827D0

Abstract

A sealable container (T) comprises a floor (1) having a spine portion (S) and triangular extensions (E1, E2) in the sidewalls (2A, 2B). Pegs (7) and sockets (8) are present in the sidewalls (2A, 2B, 3A, 3B). When the container (T) is folded the extensions (E1, E2) move outwardly and downwardly to lie in the plane of the floor (1) and the pegs and sockets are then interengaged. The container may form a cat litter tray.

Description

Agent's Ref: P01 502GB SEALABLE CONTAINER 2302533 This invention relates

to a sealable container, more particularly to a cat litter tray, and relates in particular to a tray which allows used litter to be disposed of in a clean and hygienic way.

Cat litter trays are well-known in the art, and their increasing use due to the hazards awaiting cats obliged to satisfy their toileting arrangements outdoors, e.g. theft, disease, vivisection, road accidents, etc., has been well-documented. A considerable barrier to the even wider usage of the litter tray is the unpleasant task of having to frequently clean out dirty trays and dispose of soiled cat litter. There is thus a long-felt need for a simple and efficient way of providing cats with a clean tray and litter, and at the same time eliminating the unpleasant cleaning and disposal task which currently fails to the cat owner.

US-A-4706606 published in 1987 discloses a cat litter tray, made of pliable material. The tray is generally rectangular as seen in plan, and has many transverse score lines in the floor, fan folds being present in the sidewalls. When the litter is soiled the tray is folded to bring the ends together, the score lines defining a hinge. The tray has pegs and sockets at its upper end, but on two opposite end walls only. When the ends are brought together the pegs and sockets are inter-engaged. So far as 1 am aware this proposal has not been commercialised.

2 W093121757 published in 1993 discloses a cat litter tray made of Oastics. The tray has spaced apart diagonal lines in the floor, and complementary engaging means on a ledge extending around the periphery of the tray. When the litter is soiled the tray is folded diagonally and the engaging means of facing ledges are then interengaged to seal the tray. Because of the flexibility of the tray the sidewalls bow out when the tray is folded. This litter tray has been commercialised but because it is square shaped and cat owners are used to rectangular shape litter trays its acceptance has been limited.

It is one object of this invention to provide a readily acceptable cat litter tray which is disposable in a clean and hygienic way.

According to the invention in one aspect there is provided a sealable generally rectangular container comprising a floor having upstanding sidewalls, a ledge being present at the upper margin of the sidewalls, parallel fold lines being present in the floor to define a spine portion, the container being foldable about an axis between the fold lines, whereby the sidewall at each end of the hinge line bows outwardly on folding, sealing means being present characterised in that at least one supplementary fold line is present at the end of the spine portion.

Preferably one fold line is located across an end of the spine portion. Preferably, further supplementary fold lines are present in the sidewall adjacent the end of the spine portion to define in combination with the one supplementary fold, a generally triangular shape the base of which is adjacent the spine and the apex of which is remote from the spine. Preferably a generally triangular extension portion is present at each end of the spine portion.

3 Preferably further supplementary fold lines are present in the sidewalls and extend from the base of the triangular extension to the adjacent top comers of the container. These foldlines facilitate the movement of the extensions outwardly and downwardly.

Most preferably the ledge extends around all the sidewalls of the container and is whole to provide rigidity to the container and includes a frangible portion in alignment with the spine portion. In a much preferred version the frangible portion comprises a line of weakness defined by a cut out extending inwardly from a free edge of the ledge and terminating in a preformed hole which is arranged to prevent undue propagation of the tearing.

In a preferred feature the container is rectangular as seen in plan and the spine portion extends generally parallel to the shorter sidewalls adjacent to the midpoint of the longer side walls.

Typically the sidewalls taper outwardly away from the floor.

The container may be sufficiently rigid to be self supporting but more usually it will be used as a liner to be received in a support box.

In a preferred aspect the invention provides a cat litter tray generally rectangular as seen in plan view and comprising a floor having outwardly tapering side walls parallel fold lines being present in the floor to define a spine portion the container being foldable about the fold lines, an extension being present at each end of the 4 spine portion, each extension being generally triangular in shape and having a base fold line, side fold lines which meet in an apex remote from the spine, a fold line extending from a respective end of the base fold line to an adjacent comer of the tray whereby the fold lines define a lazy W, a ledge being present at the upper margin of the sidewalls, the ledge being whole to provide rigidity to the container and having a frangible portion in alignment with the fold axis of the spine portion, interengaging means being present on ledge portions of opposite sidewalls, whereby when the frangible portion is broken and the opposite sides are moved towards each other, the fold lines cause the extensions to move outwardly and downwardly to lie in the plane of the floor and the engaging means are then interengaged.

In order that the invention may be well understood it will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of one embodiment of a cat litter tray of the invention; Figure 2 is a perspective view of the tray of Figure 1; Figure 3 is an exterior elevation of a longer side wall taken on line A shown on Figure 2, and Figures 4 (a) to (c) show stages of folding the tray into a closed and sealed condition.

The cat litter tray T comprises a thermoformed body, generally rectangular as seen in plan, made of a plastic such as polystyrene or the like. The body is an integral structure and comprises a number of walls defining a floor 1 and opposite longer side walls 2A, 213 and shorter sidewalls 3A, 3B. The sidewalls stand up from the floor but are inclined slightly outwardly. The walls are about 400 microns thick. The floor 1 has on opposite sides of its longitudinal centre two fold lines F1, F2 which between them define a spine portion S in the transverse centre of the tray.

A generally triangular extension El, E2 is present at each end of the spine portion S and is defined by fold lines F3, F4, F5 in the sidewalls 2A, 2B. The fold F3 is in the union of the floor and sidewall and extends across the spine portions and is the base of the triangle. It will be seen that the apex 4 of the triangular extensions is remote from the spine portion. As shown best in Figures 1 and 3, further fold lines F6 and F7 extend from the comers of the base of the triangular extensions upwardly to the adjacent top comer of the rim, so that the fold lines F6, F4, F5, F7 together define the shape of a lazy "W". As will be explained later these fold lines facilitate the folding and sealing of the container.

A ledge L is present at the top of all four sidewalls. The ledge is whole except that a tear line cut-out 5 is present in line with the hinge line of the spine portion S. A small hole 6 is present inwardly of the ledge in alignment with the cut-out 5. The ledge L incorporates spaced apart pegs 7 and sockets 8 therefor, the ledge on the shorter wall 3A having sockets 8 and the shorter wall 3B having pegs 7. Sockets 8 are present on the [edge L of the longer sidewalls on one side of the spine portion S and pegs 7 are present on the other side.

6 The walls of the tray have reinforcing ribs, and thickened or thinned wall portions, as appropriate.

The tray can be stood in a litter box B (see Figure 313) of suitably rigid material and appropriate size. Preferably the box B has a ledge ".

In use, and as shown in Figures 4(a), 3(b) and 3 (c), the tray T is stood in the box B, the ledge 11 resting on the upper edge Le of the box. Cat litter C is added to the tray T for use by cats. The level of the litter material is selected to be enough but not so much that litter will escape when the tray is folded later. When the litter is soiled the user tears the ledge inwardly from the cut-out 5 towards the holes 6 [see Figure 4(afl. The tear is prevented from reaching the sidewalls proper because of the holes 6. The tray is then raised to stand on the ledge 1.8 of the box B and folded along the fold lines F1, F2 to bring the opposite parts together [see Figure 4(b)]. The action of folding the tray forces the triangular extensions El, E2 which form the centre of the "W" to rotate outwards and downwards to the extent that by the time the pegs 7 and sockets 8 of the closures are close enough to be engaged these triangles have taken up a position which is in the same plane as the floor (1) and have in effect become an extension of it. This action continues until the pegs 8 are received in complementary sockets 7 so that the container is seated [see Figure 4(c)]. The fold lines F6, F7 ensure that the extensions can move outwards and downwards without resistance.

The size of the tray may be adjusted for single or multiple cat use. The shape of the tray may be rectangular, square, hexagonal, round, oval or other suitable shape as seen in plan. The edges may be engaged by means other than pegs and sockets.

7 The wall material may be of any appropriate thickness and reinforcing ribs may be present or absent.

The tray may be used for animals other than cats. The tray may also be used for cJinical human waste or for the safe, hygienic disposal of any waste material, e.g. food.

8

Claims

A sealable container (T) comprising a floor (1) having upstanding sidewalls (2A, 213; 3A, 313), a ledge (L) being present at the upper margin of the sidewalls, parallel fold lines (F1, F2) being present in the floor to define a spine portion (S), the container being foldable about an axis between the fold lines (F1, F2), whereby the sidewall at each end of the hinge line bows outwardly on folding, sealing means (7, 8) being present, characterised in that supplementary fold lines (F3, F4, F5) are present at the end of the spine portion (S).

2. A container according to Claim 1, wherein a supplementary fold line (F3) is present at one end of the spine portion and extends thereacross.

3. A container according to Claim 2, wherein supplementary fold lines (F4, F5) are present in the sidewall adjacent the end of the spine portion to define in combination with the supplementary fold line (F3), a generally triangularly shaped extension (El, E2) the base of which is adjacent the spine portion (S) and the apex (4) of which is remote from the spine portion (S).

A container according to any preceding Claim including an extension portion (El, E2), at each end of the spine portion (S).

9 5. A container according to any Claim 3 or 4, including further supplementary fold lines (F6, 177) which extend from the spine portions (El, E2) to the adjacent top comers of the container (T) to facilitate folding of the fold lines (F4, F5).

6. A container according to any preceding Claim, wherein the ledge (L) extends around all the side walls of the container and is whole to prDvide rigidity to the container and incJudes a frangible portion (5) in alignment with the axis of the spine portion (S).

7. A container according to Claim 6, wherein the frangible portion (5) comprises a line of weakness defined by a cut out (5) extending inwardly from a free edge of the ledge and terminating in a preformed hole (6) which is arranged to prevent undue propagation of the tearing.

8. A container according to any preceding Claim, wherein the container is generally rectangular as seen in plan and the spine portion (S) extends generally parallel to the shorter side walls (3A, 313) adjacent to the midpoint of the longer sidewalls (2A, 213).

9. A container according to any preceding Claim, wherein the sidewalls (2A, 213; 3A, 313) taper outwardly away from the floor (1).

10. A container according to any preceding Claim, in combination with a support box (B) therefor.

A cat litter tray (T) generally rectangular as seen in plan view and comprising a floor (1) having outwardly tapering side walls (2A; 213; 3A; 313), parallel fold lines (F1,F2) being present in the floor (1) to define a spine portion (S), the container (T) being foldable about the fold lines, an extension (E1,1E2) being present at each end of the spine portion (S), each extension being generally triangular in shape and having a base fold line (F3), side fold lines (F4, F5) which meet in an apex (4) remote from the spine (S), a fold line (F6, F7) extending from a respective end of the base fold line (F3) to an adjacent corner of the tray whereby the fold lines (F4, F5, F6, F7) define a " W, a ledge (L) being present at the upper margin of the sidewalls, the ledge (L) being whole to provide rigidity to the container (T) and having a frangible portion (5) in alignment with the fold axis of the spine portion (S), interengaging means (7,8) being present on ledge portions of opposite sidewalls, whereby when the frangible portion (5) is broken and the opposite sides (3A,313) are moved towards each other, the fold lines (F3f4fS,F6,F7) cause the extensions (El, E2) to move outwardly and downwardly to lie in the plane of the floor (1) and the engaging means (7, 8) are then interengaged.