WO1989003174A1

WO1989003174A1 - Cat box liner and assembly

Info

Publication number: WO1989003174A1
Application number: PCT/US1988/003132
Authority: WO
Inventors: Henry Edward Lowe
Original assignee: Lowe Henry E
Priority date: 1987-10-15
Filing date: 1988-09-09
Publication date: 1989-04-20
Also published as: GB8911516D0; NL8820731A; FR2621782B1; DK293489A; DK293489D0; BE1002253A3; SE8902144D0; FR2621782A1; GB2218889A; SE8902144L

Abstract

A bag like liner (12) of sheet plastic is slipped over a litter box (10) from one end to the other, with the upper side of the liner (12) dipping into the upper open side of the litter box (10). When the bag liner (12) has been slipped over the box (10), cat litter (46) is poured on the liner (12), causing the liner (12) to seat along the inner side of the box (10). The end of the liner (12) is then tucked beneath the box (10). The liner (12) and used litter (46) are removed from the box (10) by turning the end portion of the liner (12) at the open end circumferentially upon of the liner (12) at the open end circumferentially upon itself, and pulling the liner (12) over itself, thereby forming a bag with the used litter (46) therein. The use of multiple liners (12, 112, 212 and 312) will allow for the removal of the outermost liner (12) to expose the next liner (112) for use until all of the liners (12, 112, 212 and 312) have been used.

Description

CAT BOX LINER AND ASSEMBLY Cross-Reference to Related Applications This application is a Continuation-In-Part of application Serial No. 785,904, filed October 9, 1985. Background of the Invention Particulated materials, such as ground clay, are sold for use as cat litter to provide a convenient place and means in the home for cats to perform their natural instinct of depositing and burying their feces and urine. 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 cats 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 removal from the container a tedious and unpleasant task. Further, the litter is normally placed directly in the box, where it and the waste from the cat which is deposited in the litter can contact the inside surface of the walls and bottom of the box, thus contaminating those surfaces and requiring frequent cleaning of the box. In view of the difficulty involved in disposing of the waste and cleaning the cat litter container, disposable containers have been tried and used on a limited basis, but most of these have had certain inherent disadvantages, such as the unreliability of the container to retain the particulated material and the urine, instability of the container structure, particularly the side walls, and the excess expense of providing a dependable disposable container each time the litter is discarded. In addition, the cat owner often prefers to provide a more substantial and more or less permanent box which can be reused over a relatively long period of time without replacement. To minimize the cleaning difficulty, plastic liners have been tried. However, in the past, the prior liners were often disoriented, dislodged and/or torn by the cat in its normal scratching habit, thereby permitting waste and other contaminants to contact the box surfaces directly, resulting in the unpleasant task of removing the litter and cleaning the box.

Summary of the Invention It is one of the principal objects of the present invention to provide a cat box liner which fits over and around the box and into the interior, and which conveniently functions as a container for the used litter when the litter is to be changed or otherwise removed from the box.

Another object of the invention provide a liner for cat boxes, pans and similar containers, which covers the external and internal surfaces of the containers and yet will form an effective and reliable container for the litter for lifting the used litter from the container and enclosing the litter for carrying and disposing of the litter.

A further object of the invention is to provide a cat box and liner combination or assembly in which the liner fits completely around the box and seats on and along the interior side walls, minimizing the likelihood that it will be scratched and torn by the cat, and in which the liner can readily be converted toa bag for carrying and disposing of the used litter.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide a liner of the aforesaid type which provides a pleasing appearance of the cat box or similar container and liner assembly, and which imparts an odor suppressing or masking agent to the litter and to the ambient environment of the container.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following description and accompanying drawings. The inventive concept includes the use of a bag-like liner of sheet plastic or similar material, which is preferably slipped horizontally over the box from one end to the other, with one side of the liner dipping into the upper open side of the cat box and seating along the inner sides and bottom of the box. The box is preferably of a relatively rigid structure, capable of supporting the litter and cat without any appreciable distortion or deflection of the sides or bottom, the box normally being constructed of plastic or heavy cardboard. When the bag-like liner has been slipped horizontally over the box and the upper side extended substantially fully in the inner space of the box, the open end portion of liner is preferably closed by folding and tucking the end portion under the box. The end portion may, however, be tied or otherwise closed and secured, and then either tucked under the box or left protruding at the respective end of the box. After the liner has been slipped over the box and the upper side thereof pushed downwardly into the box, cat litter is poured onto the liner in the box, where the weight of the litter draws the upper side of the liner into the box and seats it firmly on the insides and bottom of the box, simultaneously drawing the liner into a neat fit around the outside surfaces and over the upper edges of the box. This arrangement creates a neat appearance and minimizes the likelihood of the liner's being scratched or torn by the cat when it enters and leaves the litter or scratches in the litter while it is using the box. The liner is normally constructed of relatively heavy plastic sheet material, which is preferably impregnated with a deodorant, or coated with one or more odor suppressant or odor masking materials, and gives effective protection to the box from the cat's waste and at the same time imparts a pleasing appearance and preferably a pleasant odor to the box-liner assembly. When the litter in the box is to be changed, the open end of the liner is opened and the portion of the bag defining the opening is folded once over itself and then pulled to the opposite end of the box. As the operation is performed, the liner enclosed the soiled litter and forms a bag-like shape, with the litter contained inside the liner, which, by this operation, has been turned inside out. The liner, now in the shape of a conventional bag and containing the used litter, can be used to carry the litter to a suitable place for disposal, usually to a trash can, pick-up location or dump. A new liner is then assembled on the box in the manner described above, and new litter is placed on the liner lying across the opening of the litter box, for filling the box for further use by the cat. Alternatively a plurality of liners of the above type may be used with the innermost liner being assembled as described. When the liner must be changed, only the outermost such liner is removed to expose the next liner and so on until the last or innermost liner is used. This construction reduces the liner change time and also prevents litter contacting the cat box in the event of a tear in the liner. Brief Description of the Drawings Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a cat litter box and a liner, embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the cat litter box and liner of Fig. 1, illustrating the manner in which the liner is assembled on the litter box;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the litter box with the liner fully assembled thereon, illustrating the addition of cat litter to the box; Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a cat litter box and liner in the assembled position with the litter ready for use by a cat;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the litter box and liner shown in the preceding figures, illustrating the manner and procedure for removing the liner from the litter box with the litter enclosed in the liner;

Fig. 6 illustrates the liner with the used litter therein, after the liner and litter have been removed from the litter box in the manner illustrated in Fig. 5; and

Fig. 7 illustrates: a modification in the assembled litter box and liner;

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the litter box and liner showing multiple liners in use; Fig. 9 is a perspective view similar to Fig. 5 showing liner removal when multiple liners are used;

Fig. 10 is a sectional view taken along line 10-10 of Fig. 8.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment

Referring more specifically to the drawings, and to Fig. 1 in particular, numeral 10 indicates generally, a litter box and numeral 12 indicates a liner for the litter box before the liner has been assembled on the box. The litter box consists of four side walls 14, 16, 18, and 20, connected to one another and to a bottom 22. The upper edge of the sidewalls is preferably provided with a bead 24, or other configuration which provides a smooth upper edge on the box. The box is preferably constructed of plastic material, forming a substantially rigid structure.

The liner 12 normally consists of two layers 30 and 32 joined to one another at their edges 34, 36, and 38, the edges 40 at end portion 42 not being joined to the respective edges of the opposite sheet in order to provide an opening into the liner. The three edges 34, 36, and 38 may be joined by heat-sealing or any other suitable joining procedure so that a continuous structure is obtained between the two sheets along those three edges. As an alternative, the two sheets may be formed integrally with one another and edges of the sheets at the end 38 joined to one another to form a complete bag-like structure, to which access is gained through the opening 44 between the two sheets at edges 40, in that these two edges are not joined to one another. The sheet material from which the liner is made is of a relatively thick and tough plastic material capable of withstanding scratching by a cat as it uses the litter in the cat box and liner assembly. The liner, consisting of the two layers 30 and 32, is preferably of a size which fits rather snugly on the box after the upper side is pushed into the box along the inside walls and bottom; however, some leeway is advisable in order to accommodate boxes of different sizes and somewhat different shapes. The sheet material is also preferably impregnated with an odor suppressing or masking material, or a material having fragrance, which will impart a pleasing odor in and around the cat box and litter after the liner has been assembled on and the litter added to the box. The bag may be impregnated with such deodorizing agents by mixing the agents into the plastic material before or at the time the material of the liner is fabricated, or the deodorizing agent may be applied to the external surface of the liner after the liner has been formed. The deodorizing agent may be of various compositions which give the desired odor or deodorizing effect to satisfy requirements.

When the liner is to be assembled on the litter box, the liner is placed in the position illustrated in Fig. 1, and then is opened at end portion 42 sufficiently wide to permit the litter box to be slipped into the envelope-shaped liner, or the liner slipped onto the box in the manner illustrated in Fig. 2. The liner and box are moved relatively toward one another until the liner fully covers the litter box, with the end portion 42 extending beyond the box. The upper sheet or layer 30, as viewed in the drawing, initially extends across the top opening of the box and is pressed downwardly into the box so that the liner. when fully assembled on the box, not only covers the inside surface of the four walls and the bottom, but is also drawn closely along the corresponding outside surfaces of the walls. With the liner assembled in the manner thus far described, litter 46 is poured, normally from a bag such as that indicated at numeral 48, on the upper side of sheet 30, where the weight of the litter pushes the sheet firmly against the inside surface of the four walls and bottom. Sufficient litter 46 is added to the box and liner assembly to provide an adequate bed of litter for the cat to use in performing its daily habit, and its natural instinct to deposit and bury the feces and urine. After the litter material has been fully added to the box and liner assembly, as illustrated in Fig. 3, the open end of the liner is normally tucked beneath the assembly 50, between the liner and the floor. The liner in this position presents a sanitary cover for the box and a pleasing appearance to the assembly.

When the litter has been used to the extent that it should be changed, the open end of the liner is removed from beneath the litter box and liner assembly and is opened up, and the edges of the sheet material defining the opening are folded peripherally back upon themselves, and the liner is pulled back over the box and the litter material, as illustrated in Fig. 5. As the liner is pulled to the left in the figure, it is turned inside out, and simultaneously encloses and retains the litter as the reversed bag is formed by this removal operation, as illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6. The liner is pulled until it is fully removed from the box and contains all the litter material therein and, when this has been accomplished, the liner forms a typical bag shape for retaining the litter, and maintains this shape while the litter and the bag are being disposed of in any suitable manner, such as in a trash can, by a trash pick-up or at a dump. With this foregoing structure and procedure, care of the cat box can be accomplished without contacting the used litter material, and the box is maintained in a sanitary condition. A new liner can now be assembled on the box in the manner previously described herein, without the need for washing or otherwise cleaning the litter box.

The embodiment illustrated in Fig. 7 is essentially the same as the embodiment disclosed in the preceding figures, the only difference being that, after the liner has been assembled in the manner illustrated in Fig. 2, the open end portion 42 is tied or clamped closed by a securing means 52, and the end portion may be left loose rather than being tucked under the box, although, if desired, the end can be tucked beneath the box in the manner illustrated in Fig. 7. It is usually advisable to place the litter on the liner in the box before the end portion 42 is tied, in that the securing means may interfere with the seating of the liner in a close fit on the inner walls and bottom of the box. When the liner is to be removed, the securing means must necessarily be removed from the end portion before the liner can be removed in the manner previously described.

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 8-10, multiple liners 12, 112, 212, and 312 are positioned in the overlying fashion shown. The innermost liner 312 is installed in the same fashion described above with the litter material being initially poured onto the outermost liner 12. When changing is required, only the outermost liner 12 is removed by the same procedure, above outlined, to expose the next liner, in this case liner 112. The process is repeated until all liners 12-312 have been used.

While only one embodiment of the present cat box and liner and the method of assembling the liner on and removing it from the litter box have been described, along with a modification, changes may be made in the structure and procedure method without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims

I Claim :

1. In combination a cat litter box and liner, said box defining a receptacle having an open top, said liner including a liner member formed of two continuous pliable sheets joined to form a bag-like container with an open end, the improvement wherein said liner includes a plurality of said liner members fitted one inside the other with said pliable sheets being adjacent, and said open ends defining an opening into said liner, said liner assembled about said box with the box inside of the liner, one of said adjacent sheets of said liner members extending across the top of said box downward into said receptacle for receiving and retaining litter thereon.

2. The combination of Claim 1 wherein each liner member is of a length substantially greater than the length of said cat litter box.

3. A method of assembling a plurality of overlapping bag-like liners on a litter box which defines a receptacle having an open top, a side wall, and a bottom wall, said method comprising slipping said plurality of overlapping liners horizontally over and around said box to substantially enclose the box with the liner extending across the open top, pouring litter into said box atop one of said plurality of liners, and removing said one liner and used litter by turning said liner circumferentially upon itself to enclose the litter and expose an underlying liner of said plurality of liners, with said one liner forming a bag-like container with the used litter contained therein.