Patent Application
20160270370
The present invention is directed to a pet toy specifically intended to captivate and intrigue cats. Activation of this device causes attractants to vigorously move within a transparent globe enabling a cat to swipe at them within the globe and to pounce upon those attractants which randomly escape its confines.
Although it is commonplace to leave cats alone within one's home for extended periods of time, they can oftentimes become bored resulting in potentially destructive behavior. Cats also have the instinctive need to swipe and pounce on prey and many pet toys intended to be used by cat owners rely upon this inherent behavioral characteristic by causing an attractant to move hoping that a cat will become engaged thus satisfying its need to swat and pounce upon prey and to alleviate boredom. However, many of such devices are complex and move an attractant in a predetermined consistent fashion. In doing so, a cat will, although initially intrigued, eventually become bored as the motion of the attractant becomes constant and predictable.
It is thus an object to the present invention to provide a pet toy which is relatively simple to fabricate and robust in its ability to withstand engagement by an aggressive cat.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a pet toy which presents to an engaged cat an attractant which is caused to move in an unpredictable and haphazard fashion thus maintaining a cat's interest for relatively prolonged periods of time.
These and further objects will be readily apparent when considering the following disclosure and appended claims.
The present invention is directed to a pet toy in the form of a substantially transparent spherical housing. A fan assembly is fixed to an interior surface of the housing, said fan assembly comprising a mass that orients said sphere as having a top and a bottom, said fan assembly residing at said bottom. The fan assembly further comprises a power source, a motor energized by the power source having a shaft extending vertically there from, a plurality of fan blades that are a fixed to said shaft such that upon rotation, the fan blades direct air toward the bottom, said sphere also having an opening in the substantially transparent housing located at its top and a plurality of attractants each of a mass and size as to randomly circulate within said substantially transparent housing upon energizing the motor.
Novel features which are characteristic of the invention, as to organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof will be better understood from the following description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawings are for illustration description only and are not intended as definitions of the limits of the invention. The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are recited with particularity in the claims.
There has been broadly outlined more important features of the invention in the summary above and in order that the detailed description which follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be appreciated. There are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form additional subject matter of the claims appended hereto. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based readily may be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important therefore, that claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Certain terminology and the derivations thereof may be used in the following description for convenience and reference only, and will not be limiting. For example, words such as “upward,” “downward,” “left,” and “right” refer to directions in the drawings to which reference is made unless otherwise stated. Similar words such as “inward” and “outward” refer to directions toward and away from, respectively, the geometric center of a device or area and designated parts thereof. Reference in the singular tense include the plural and vice versa, unless otherwise noted.
Turning to
Fan assembly 12, best depicted schematically in
Pet toy 10 can be activated by switch 15 accessible by a user on the outer surface of pet toy 10, ideally at or about bottom region 3 which in turn activates control 16. To enable a pet owner to simply activate pet toy 10 and allow his or her pet to use it without supervision, as a preferred embodiment, timer 17 is included which will interrupt power to motor 19 after the passage of a predetermined period of time. To also increase the attention grabbing and maintaining attributes of pet toy 10, integrated circuit 18 can be included to vary the speed of motor 19 and thus the speed of fan 45 encouraging the random movement of attractants 21, 22 and 23.
Fan 45 is fixed to motor shaft 25 and is rotated such that blades 24, ideally in the shape of flower petals, cause air within substantially transparent housing 11 to move downwardly. This causes air movement within substantially transparent housing 11 to suspend attractants 21, 22 and 23 and cause them to move like butterflies within the interior of substantially transparent housing 11. Further, substantially transparent housing 11 is provided with opening 13 which serves several purposes. First, opening 13 enables air to recirculate as fan 45 draws air into and pushes air out of substantially transparent housing 11. Second, fan 45 causes attractants 21, 22 and 23 to vigorously and haphazardly move within substantially transparent housing 11 such that, occasionally, one or more of the attractants escape there through encouraging the vigilant cat to pounce on it thinking that it is live prey. This again enhances the mesmerizing effect of toy 10 to a greater extent than similar toys currently available. Third, opening 13 is large enough to enable a cat to attempt to reach within the interior of substantially transparent housing 11 in its attempt to prey upon the attractants.
Attractants 21, 22 and 23 can take on various physical characteristics without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Ideally, attractants 21, 22 and 23 are light in weight composed of, for example, fabric “wings” to encourage them to remain suspended by the moving air created by fan 45 and in many ways, replicate the movement of a fluttering butterfly. Cats find such movement totally engaging and can be transfixed by the movement of attractants 21, 22 and 23 for surprisingly long periods of time.
The above disclosure is sufficient to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to practice the invention, and provides the best mode of practicing the invention presently contemplated by the inventor. While there is provided herein a full and complete disclosure of the preferred embodiments of the invention, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction, dimensions, relationships, or operations as described. Various modifications, alternative constructions, changes and equivalents will readily occur to those skilled in the art and may be employed as suitable without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention. Such changes might involve alternative materials, components, structural arrangements, sizes, shapes, forms, functions, operational features or the like. Therefore, the above description and illustration should not be considered as limiting the scope of the invention, which is defined by the appended claims.
